This is just one of many different ways that NC bikers are attacking the mandatory helmet laws from all sides this year. Have fun doing it, and meet some good folks! Disclaimer: Please stay off the asphalt when your doing a helmet law border protest, and pick up after yourselves. This is a good one because it can be kickstarted by just one or two bikers, and does not require much planning and coordination. It’s most effective along the border with South Carolina, where bikers riding north often stop and strap the device on their heads. So far this year, there have been more than a dozen NC helmet law protest rallies which have had as many as 180 bikers piling helmets up on the steps of courthouses. As of May, 2008, BOLT and others have already had more than a dozen freedom rides, and there are more planned. We believe these have all been lawful acts, and estimate that of the over 15,000 total miles ridden in these freedom rides, there has been only one ticket alleging a violation of the helmet statute. That one will be fought in the courts. The state will most likely try for a dismissal, and if the courts insist, the dismissal will be repealed. If they do not take this to trial, we cannot possibly get judicial relief from the unconstitutional law. It is important to be lawful if accused of breaking the law, because that is how we will win in the courts. The appearance of conformity is not necessarily compliance with the law, and since we cannot, with certainty, ensure compliance with the helmet law, due to vagueness, some people are going to the extreme in order to appear to be in conformance. I believe that full-face helmet that makes you appear to conform does no more to ensure compliance than other helmets. We’re going to win this by attacking on all sides, and by knowing the laws and following them. In addition to lawful acts of civil disobedience, we have submitted petitions with thousands of signatures from registered voters in NC. We have become a political force to be reckoned with, by publishing an analysis of the NC general assembly candidates. We have drafted a proposed helmet repeal bill that is NO COMPROMISE, and distributed it to all members of the NC legislature. We have had group visits to legislators, and will have many individual visits, in addition to phone calls and correspondence. Almost all of these actions are being undertaken by B.O.L.T. of NC. We have proven that one person or a small number of people who gets involved can make a huge difference. At the same time, we will continue to encourage all bikers and the SMRO to get involved, because to defeat this it will eventually take us all. Yes, some of us are working hard, and some of us are hardly working, but most of us who are working hard are also having fun, and are addicted to freedom. A repeal in the legislature is the preferred way to go about ridding ourselves of the freedom-stealing statute, GS 20-140.4 . After decades of having a mandatory helmet law, it’s time we start doing all kinds of acts of lawful civil disobedience in order to hit them from all directions. Helmet law border protests are the newest thing. Do one with your group of friends this weekend or next! Hang around a while and see if some other bikers pull up. It’s kinda new, so people are going to be wondering what it is all about. Just make sure you do it lawfully and safely, and watch out for weirdos who travel the highways. If you are in a place where there seems to be some rubber neckers - they shouldn’t be rubber-necking, but you might want to move along to a better border sign. So far, the 2008 freedom rides have only yielded one ticket, which we are confident we will be found not guilty of, so the police state seems to be in no hurry to ticket you, but that could change any day. I think they want everyone to forget about it and stop all the lawful acts of civil disobedience before they start ticketing and ratcheting up the harassment. Who knows? | 
