OFF THE WIRE
Federal agents and local police swept up members of what they called a criminal motorcycle gang Tuesday morning, arresting 27 people in North Texas on drug and firearm charges.
The Texas arrests were part of multi-state sweep of the Bandido Outlaw Motorcycle Gang and its affiliates, which the Department of Justice billed as the culmination of a years-long investigation that netted nearly 40 arrests in Texas, San Francisco and Colorado this week.
The FBI claims it infiltrated the North Texas Bandido network in 2009, sending an undercover agent to finance a motorcycle repair shop, turn one member of the group into an informant and gather evidence against others.
Making machine guns for survivalists, purchasing smoke grenades and taking a three-year-old girl along to buy meth in a parking lot are among the activities described in criminal complaints.
Most of the North Texas charges were for conspiracy to distribute meth, cocaine or heroin. The arrested have nicknames like "Mexican Joe," "Leatherneck Sniper" and "Sarge." They are as young as 23, as old as 61, and live in Fort Worth, Arlington and other cities.
Nearly half of those arrested face up to life in prison if convicted.
http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/09/fbis-undercover-motorcycle-sho.html
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Texas - Two Johnson County men included in motorcycle gang arrests
OFF THE WIRE
BY: Matt Smith
cleburnetimesreview.com
BY: Matt Smith
cleburnetimesreview.com
A Burleson and an Alvarado resident were arrested Tuesday morning, along with 26 additional members of the Bandido Outlaw Motorcycle Gang and its affiliated support clubs, according to James T. Jacks, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Texas.
An investigation by the FBI, DEA and numerous other law enforcement agencies, which lasted several years, culminated in the Tuesday arrests.
The agencies were investigating the Bandidos, Rebel Riders and Los Homeboys motorcycle gangs for illicit distribution of drugs and firearms in North Texas.
During the investigation, law enforcement officials seized heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, firearms, vehicles and cash.
“These Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force arrests, the result of an excellent, well coordinated multi-agency law enforcement investigation, illustrate the success of our district’s federal, state and local law enforcement partners’ collaboration in taking down these drug trafficking networks,” Jacks said.
The suspects arrested face various charges and are scheduled to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey L. Cureton today at the Parker County Jail in Weatherford.
Timothy Richie Love, AKA Leatherneck Sniper, 39, of Burleson, faces a charge of conspiring with five others from Jan. 1, 2010, to now with intent to possess and distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine.
If convicted, Love faces a sentence of 10 years to life in prison.
Benjamin Edward Neuner, AKA Rebel Rider Ben, 58, of Alvarado, was arrested on a charge of possession of a machine gun.
The complaint alleges that Neuner provided numerous firearms, laser sights and ammunition to the Bandidos including firearms that he altered to obscure the ballistic information of any bullet fired from the firearm.
If convicted, Neuner faces a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.
A federal criminal complaint is a written statement of the essential facts of the offenses charged and must be made under oath before a magistrate judge, according to a Department of Justice release. A defendant is entitled to a presumption on innocence until proven guilty. The U.S. Attorney’s office has 30 days to present the matters to a grand jury for indictment.
An investigation by the FBI, DEA and numerous other law enforcement agencies, which lasted several years, culminated in the Tuesday arrests.
The agencies were investigating the Bandidos, Rebel Riders and Los Homeboys motorcycle gangs for illicit distribution of drugs and firearms in North Texas.
During the investigation, law enforcement officials seized heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, firearms, vehicles and cash.
“These Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force arrests, the result of an excellent, well coordinated multi-agency law enforcement investigation, illustrate the success of our district’s federal, state and local law enforcement partners’ collaboration in taking down these drug trafficking networks,” Jacks said.
The suspects arrested face various charges and are scheduled to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey L. Cureton today at the Parker County Jail in Weatherford.
Timothy Richie Love, AKA Leatherneck Sniper, 39, of Burleson, faces a charge of conspiring with five others from Jan. 1, 2010, to now with intent to possess and distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine.
If convicted, Love faces a sentence of 10 years to life in prison.
Benjamin Edward Neuner, AKA Rebel Rider Ben, 58, of Alvarado, was arrested on a charge of possession of a machine gun.
The complaint alleges that Neuner provided numerous firearms, laser sights and ammunition to the Bandidos including firearms that he altered to obscure the ballistic information of any bullet fired from the firearm.
If convicted, Neuner faces a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.
A federal criminal complaint is a written statement of the essential facts of the offenses charged and must be made under oath before a magistrate judge, according to a Department of Justice release. A defendant is entitled to a presumption on innocence until proven guilty. The U.S. Attorney’s office has 30 days to present the matters to a grand jury for indictment.
Badass Boys: Are the Pagans roaring onto the comeback trail?
OFF THE WIRE
THE PAGAN stationed on a corner of Atlantic Avenue in Wildwood stood with his burly arms crossed over his belly, guarding the infamous motorcycle club's hotel-turned-fortress like a living, breathing gargoyle. Behind him, yellow caution tape and blue tarps draped the Binns Motor Inn - a signal from the Pagan's Motorcycle Club for "citizens" and nosy cops to keep out during the 2011 Roar to the Shore biker rally this month. It's the same hotel where federal prosecutors say that leaders of the Pagan's Long Island chapter at last year's rally told their minions to prepare for death or prison as they plotted a hand-grenade attack on the rival Hells Angels.
The Pagan sentinel on the corner watched as a woman pushing a girl in a stroller passed the fluttering caution tape, heading straight toward him. Then he stepped in as crossing guard, walking into the street to block traffic for her as she and child headed toward the boardwalk.
Was it a public-relations ploy to impress the cops who were surveilling the denim-clad outlaws? Or is he, as so many locals insist about the Pagan's, just an average guy who likes to drink beer and ride Harleys?
"We're just here to have a good time," said one brawny, bald-headed Pagan, who, like every other member that the Daily News attempted to interview, would not give his name. "We've got to party somewhere."
Hobbled by federal indictments and state charges in recent years, the Pagan's Motorcycle Club is trying to replenish its ranks these days while avoiding the types of violent crimes with nonbikers that make headlines and draw heat from the cops.
They still go by names like "Cripple," "Knuckles" and "Slasher." They still label their women as "property" with patches. They're still selling drugs and shaking down strip clubs, police say.
But today's Pagan's are smarter, lawyered up and perhaps not as hard-core as their predecessors, according to law-enforcement officials and sources close to the club.
And, of course, they have a Facebook page for members, friends and family who support them.
"If there's 10 Pagans in a room, there's only three hard-core Pagans. The rest are there for the power, p---- and drugs," said Anthony "LT" Menginie, the son of a former Pagan's president and author of Prodigal Father, Pagan Son, a book about growing up in the club.
To many outside observers, the Pagan's are law-abiding outlaws. Not one arrest or altercation involving a Pagan was reported at this year's Roar to the Shore, according to the Cape May County Prosecutor's Office.
"They're a fun bunch of guys," said Ben Petrovic, owner of Atlantic County Harley-Davidson.
All weekend in Wildwood, day and night, Pagans guarded street corners near the Binns, eyeballing anyone who stared too long. Cops stood only feet away, their cruisers parked in the middle of Atlantic Avenue as loud cycles ripped up and down the strip.
Law- enforcement officials were conducting surveillance, with plainclothes officers and cameras with telephoto lenses shooting from hotel rooms. An estimated 250 Pagans attended, down slightly from past years, a source said.
But the Pagan's were joined by an increasing number of small support clubs, all with members wearing the feared and revered "P" patch on their vests.
Law- enforcement sources say that these so-called "duck" clubs are growing and may represent a proxy recruitment effort by the Pagan's as they attempt to rebuild.
They go by names like Brookers, True Brothers and Roadrunners, and they were out in force in Wildwood. Cops say that the Pagan's, seeking to avoid police scrutiny, have used the duck clubs for muscle, countersurveillance and high-risk, frontline work.
The Pagan's charge some of these clubs a "tax." Some duck club members are eventually "patched over" and become full-fledged Pagans.
"They're a bunch of knuckleheads," said a law-enforcement source who has worked undercover investigating the Pagans. "These guys end up joining these clubs because they want to emulate 'Sons of Anarchy' and the glamour part. Then the Pagan's come along and say, 'If you support us, we got your back.' "
It's rarely a choice.
Authorities say that the soaring popularity of the "Sons of Anarchy" TV show - the most-watched in FX's history - could be contributing to a disturbing trend: Weekend warriors, no longer content to simply ride together, are forming small motorcycle clubs and dabbling in the outlaw lifestyle.
In these parts, that usually means swearing allegiance to the Pagan's and stitching the "P" to the club's vests. Some cops consider them a Pagan's farm team.
"It looks to me like they're Pagan wannabes," said Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood Sr., referring to the Brookers Motorcycle Club, a new Pagan's duck club that is under police surveillance. "We monitor them closely and know where some of them live."
Now believed to have about 400 members, the Pagan's are striving for 1,000 members, a source said, always worried about their archenemy, the Hells Angels, in North Jersey and New York.
If the Wildwood bike rally was any indication, the Pagan's P.R. strategy is working. Every business owner, tourist and biker whom the Daily News interviewed gave a variation of the same line: Don't mess with the Pagan's and they won't mess with you.
"If you're gonna put your hand in the dog's cage, you're gonna get bit," said Dave "Cowboy" Moen, a U.S. Park Police K-9 officer and president of a New Jersey chapter of the Blue Knights, a law-enforcement motorcycle club that wears powder-blue vests.
"We're all on two wheels," chapter vice president Ron Gaffney said of the Pagan's and cops who belong to motorcycle clubs. "We'll be neighborly, but we're not going to invite them over for dinner."
'Nice people'
At the Binns, Pagans shuffled back and forth all weekend from the hotel to Garden State Liquors two blocks away, one hand holding onto their female "property," the other lugging a 30-pack of beer or a brown-bagged bottle of booze.
Inside, a customer approached a Pagan Friday night and said, "Ultimate respect," referring to the motorcycle club. "Thanks," the Pagan responded.
"Believe it or not, they come in here and they're very pleasant: 'Yes, sir/no, sir,' " said Bill Nelson, a longtime employee of the liquor store, located a block from where the Pagan's were allegedly plotting murders last year.
The feds dropped the hammer on that 21-month investigation just days after the 2010 Roar to the Shore, arresting 17 members from New York, New Jersey and Delaware on charges including conspiracy to commit murder, assault and drug distribution.
And the Pagan's have continued to make headlines: Dennis "Rooster" Katona, the club's national president, was busted in June near Pittsburgh on cocaine and methamphetamine charges, and one of the club's most colorful and violent past leaders, Steven "Gorilla" Mondevergine, was sent to prison last month for shooting and stabbing the chapter president in 2008.
Yet, people like Wally Lerro, who owns the Bolero Resort and started the Wildwood motorcycle rally 18 years ago, say that they don't see that side of the club. Several business owners said that they'd much rather deal with the Pagan's over the New Jersey firefighters who hold their annual convention there and tend to start more fights and stir up other trouble.
"They all work, they all have jobs," Lerro said of the Pagan's. "They're nice people."
That's what everyone would have said last year, too, while undercover ATF agents posing as Pagans partied with the club in Wildwood. One of those agents had become the Long Island chapter's sergeant-at-arms and, according to court documents, he once accompanied his Pagan brothers on a harrowing trip in New York to move what he thought was a dead body.
If it was a test to smoke him out, the agent passed, and the chapter essentially made him their bookkeeper.
Officials said that the bust "decimated" the Long Island chapter, but elsewhere it's easier than ever to become a Pagan, directly or as a supporter, sources say. Former Pagan James "Jimmy D" DiGregorio, who testified against PMC members, said that an undercover agent would have been turned-out quick in the club's heyday.
"In my day, you had to commit a crime," he said. "We made them live the life. We made them cross over."
'Last warning'
Over 16 months, the Daily News made several failed attempts at contacting members through the unlikeliest source: Facebook and MySpace. Though the club claims to value privacy, many members have profiles with their picture, club nickname and "PMC" in plain sight. One Pagan lifer responded with not-so-veiled threats: Stop asking questions about the Pagan's, period.
"Last warning motherf-----," he wrote.
In Wildwood, they were slightly more cordial, but still wouldn't talk. "You're in the wrong place," one member told a reporter outside the Binns. Another uttered a few words of frustration about a policy that bars enforce a ban on "colors" - the patched biker jackets each member wears - but he wouldn't open up. A high-ranking Pagan from South Jersey asked, "Are you Jason Nark?" - saying as he walked away that the Daily News wrote about him last year.
At a food stand, one old-school Warlocks Motorcycle Club member, his colors greasy and tattered from decades on the road, did chat with the Daily News while munching on a sausage sandwich. He said that the days of biker turf wars in Philly and South Jersey are over.
"No one wins that battle but the cops," said the Warlock, who wouldn't give his name.
When Pagans weren't at their hotels in Wildwood, they woke up early for coffee, ate breakfast in the Pink Cadillac Diner, shopped for vulgar or snarky patches and scoped tricked-out choppers.
Just like everyone else.
But with their colors on - with that top "rocker" patch, which has the word "Pagan's" stitched above an image of the Norse god Surtr - they were unlike everyone else there: they were like wolves walking among herds of sheep.
They may be endangered by the law, the Hells Angels and the changing nature of organized crime, but they still have sharp fangs and loyal followers. And they're looking to mount a comeback, not roar into the sunset.
"It ain't gonna be over until the guys that run it call everybody together and say throw it in the pile and have a big bonfire," said David "RC" Winkler, a former ranking Pagan now living in Delaware County. "It'll always go on until that day happens. And that ain't this year."
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/130673388.html?viewAll=y
THE PAGAN stationed on a corner of Atlantic Avenue in Wildwood stood with his burly arms crossed over his belly, guarding the infamous motorcycle club's hotel-turned-fortress like a living, breathing gargoyle. Behind him, yellow caution tape and blue tarps draped the Binns Motor Inn - a signal from the Pagan's Motorcycle Club for "citizens" and nosy cops to keep out during the 2011 Roar to the Shore biker rally this month. It's the same hotel where federal prosecutors say that leaders of the Pagan's Long Island chapter at last year's rally told their minions to prepare for death or prison as they plotted a hand-grenade attack on the rival Hells Angels.
The Pagan sentinel on the corner watched as a woman pushing a girl in a stroller passed the fluttering caution tape, heading straight toward him. Then he stepped in as crossing guard, walking into the street to block traffic for her as she and child headed toward the boardwalk.
Was it a public-relations ploy to impress the cops who were surveilling the denim-clad outlaws? Or is he, as so many locals insist about the Pagan's, just an average guy who likes to drink beer and ride Harleys?
"We're just here to have a good time," said one brawny, bald-headed Pagan, who, like every other member that the Daily News attempted to interview, would not give his name. "We've got to party somewhere."
Hobbled by federal indictments and state charges in recent years, the Pagan's Motorcycle Club is trying to replenish its ranks these days while avoiding the types of violent crimes with nonbikers that make headlines and draw heat from the cops.
They still go by names like "Cripple," "Knuckles" and "Slasher." They still label their women as "property" with patches. They're still selling drugs and shaking down strip clubs, police say.
But today's Pagan's are smarter, lawyered up and perhaps not as hard-core as their predecessors, according to law-enforcement officials and sources close to the club.
And, of course, they have a Facebook page for members, friends and family who support them.
"If there's 10 Pagans in a room, there's only three hard-core Pagans. The rest are there for the power, p---- and drugs," said Anthony "LT" Menginie, the son of a former Pagan's president and author of Prodigal Father, Pagan Son, a book about growing up in the club.
To many outside observers, the Pagan's are law-abiding outlaws. Not one arrest or altercation involving a Pagan was reported at this year's Roar to the Shore, according to the Cape May County Prosecutor's Office.
"They're a fun bunch of guys," said Ben Petrovic, owner of Atlantic County Harley-Davidson.
All weekend in Wildwood, day and night, Pagans guarded street corners near the Binns, eyeballing anyone who stared too long. Cops stood only feet away, their cruisers parked in the middle of Atlantic Avenue as loud cycles ripped up and down the strip.
Law- enforcement officials were conducting surveillance, with plainclothes officers and cameras with telephoto lenses shooting from hotel rooms. An estimated 250 Pagans attended, down slightly from past years, a source said.
But the Pagan's were joined by an increasing number of small support clubs, all with members wearing the feared and revered "P" patch on their vests.
Law- enforcement sources say that these so-called "duck" clubs are growing and may represent a proxy recruitment effort by the Pagan's as they attempt to rebuild.
They go by names like Brookers, True Brothers and Roadrunners, and they were out in force in Wildwood. Cops say that the Pagan's, seeking to avoid police scrutiny, have used the duck clubs for muscle, countersurveillance and high-risk, frontline work.
The Pagan's charge some of these clubs a "tax." Some duck club members are eventually "patched over" and become full-fledged Pagans.
"They're a bunch of knuckleheads," said a law-enforcement source who has worked undercover investigating the Pagans. "These guys end up joining these clubs because they want to emulate 'Sons of Anarchy' and the glamour part. Then the Pagan's come along and say, 'If you support us, we got your back.' "
It's rarely a choice.
Authorities say that the soaring popularity of the "Sons of Anarchy" TV show - the most-watched in FX's history - could be contributing to a disturbing trend: Weekend warriors, no longer content to simply ride together, are forming small motorcycle clubs and dabbling in the outlaw lifestyle.
In these parts, that usually means swearing allegiance to the Pagan's and stitching the "P" to the club's vests. Some cops consider them a Pagan's farm team.
"It looks to me like they're Pagan wannabes," said Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood Sr., referring to the Brookers Motorcycle Club, a new Pagan's duck club that is under police surveillance. "We monitor them closely and know where some of them live."
Now believed to have about 400 members, the Pagan's are striving for 1,000 members, a source said, always worried about their archenemy, the Hells Angels, in North Jersey and New York.
If the Wildwood bike rally was any indication, the Pagan's P.R. strategy is working. Every business owner, tourist and biker whom the Daily News interviewed gave a variation of the same line: Don't mess with the Pagan's and they won't mess with you.
"If you're gonna put your hand in the dog's cage, you're gonna get bit," said Dave "Cowboy" Moen, a U.S. Park Police K-9 officer and president of a New Jersey chapter of the Blue Knights, a law-enforcement motorcycle club that wears powder-blue vests.
"We're all on two wheels," chapter vice president Ron Gaffney said of the Pagan's and cops who belong to motorcycle clubs. "We'll be neighborly, but we're not going to invite them over for dinner."
'Nice people'
At the Binns, Pagans shuffled back and forth all weekend from the hotel to Garden State Liquors two blocks away, one hand holding onto their female "property," the other lugging a 30-pack of beer or a brown-bagged bottle of booze.
Inside, a customer approached a Pagan Friday night and said, "Ultimate respect," referring to the motorcycle club. "Thanks," the Pagan responded.
"Believe it or not, they come in here and they're very pleasant: 'Yes, sir/no, sir,' " said Bill Nelson, a longtime employee of the liquor store, located a block from where the Pagan's were allegedly plotting murders last year.
The feds dropped the hammer on that 21-month investigation just days after the 2010 Roar to the Shore, arresting 17 members from New York, New Jersey and Delaware on charges including conspiracy to commit murder, assault and drug distribution.
And the Pagan's have continued to make headlines: Dennis "Rooster" Katona, the club's national president, was busted in June near Pittsburgh on cocaine and methamphetamine charges, and one of the club's most colorful and violent past leaders, Steven "Gorilla" Mondevergine, was sent to prison last month for shooting and stabbing the chapter president in 2008.
Yet, people like Wally Lerro, who owns the Bolero Resort and started the Wildwood motorcycle rally 18 years ago, say that they don't see that side of the club. Several business owners said that they'd much rather deal with the Pagan's over the New Jersey firefighters who hold their annual convention there and tend to start more fights and stir up other trouble.
"They all work, they all have jobs," Lerro said of the Pagan's. "They're nice people."
That's what everyone would have said last year, too, while undercover ATF agents posing as Pagans partied with the club in Wildwood. One of those agents had become the Long Island chapter's sergeant-at-arms and, according to court documents, he once accompanied his Pagan brothers on a harrowing trip in New York to move what he thought was a dead body.
If it was a test to smoke him out, the agent passed, and the chapter essentially made him their bookkeeper.
Officials said that the bust "decimated" the Long Island chapter, but elsewhere it's easier than ever to become a Pagan, directly or as a supporter, sources say. Former Pagan James "Jimmy D" DiGregorio, who testified against PMC members, said that an undercover agent would have been turned-out quick in the club's heyday.
"In my day, you had to commit a crime," he said. "We made them live the life. We made them cross over."
'Last warning'
Over 16 months, the Daily News made several failed attempts at contacting members through the unlikeliest source: Facebook and MySpace. Though the club claims to value privacy, many members have profiles with their picture, club nickname and "PMC" in plain sight. One Pagan lifer responded with not-so-veiled threats: Stop asking questions about the Pagan's, period.
"Last warning motherf-----," he wrote.
In Wildwood, they were slightly more cordial, but still wouldn't talk. "You're in the wrong place," one member told a reporter outside the Binns. Another uttered a few words of frustration about a policy that bars enforce a ban on "colors" - the patched biker jackets each member wears - but he wouldn't open up. A high-ranking Pagan from South Jersey asked, "Are you Jason Nark?" - saying as he walked away that the Daily News wrote about him last year.
At a food stand, one old-school Warlocks Motorcycle Club member, his colors greasy and tattered from decades on the road, did chat with the Daily News while munching on a sausage sandwich. He said that the days of biker turf wars in Philly and South Jersey are over.
"No one wins that battle but the cops," said the Warlock, who wouldn't give his name.
When Pagans weren't at their hotels in Wildwood, they woke up early for coffee, ate breakfast in the Pink Cadillac Diner, shopped for vulgar or snarky patches and scoped tricked-out choppers.
Just like everyone else.
But with their colors on - with that top "rocker" patch, which has the word "Pagan's" stitched above an image of the Norse god Surtr - they were unlike everyone else there: they were like wolves walking among herds of sheep.
They may be endangered by the law, the Hells Angels and the changing nature of organized crime, but they still have sharp fangs and loyal followers. And they're looking to mount a comeback, not roar into the sunset.
"It ain't gonna be over until the guys that run it call everybody together and say throw it in the pile and have a big bonfire," said David "RC" Winkler, a former ranking Pagan now living in Delaware County. "It'll always go on until that day happens. And that ain't this year."
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/130673388.html?viewAll=y
SAN ANTONIO - Almost 40 biker gxxx members, associates arrested
OFF THE WIRE
Almost 40 members and associates of the Bandido Outlaw Motorcycle Gang have been arrested on a variety of federal drug and weapons charges.
A Justice Department statement issued Tuesday says that 28 of those arrested were charged in Dallas with conspiracy to possess and distribute heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine. One also was charged with possessing a machine gun. All were arrested Monday and Tuesday in the Dallas area but one, who was arrested Tuesday in San Francisco.
Eight others were charged in Denver with conspiracy and possessing meth and cocaine. Six were arrested in the Denver area. One was already in state custody, and another remains on the loose.
Three were arrested on assorted drug charges in San Antonio.
http://www.chron.com/news/article/Almost-40-biker-gang-members-associates-arrested-2192038.php
Almost 40 members and associates of the Bandido Outlaw Motorcycle Gang have been arrested on a variety of federal drug and weapons charges.
A Justice Department statement issued Tuesday says that 28 of those arrested were charged in Dallas with conspiracy to possess and distribute heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine. One also was charged with possessing a machine gun. All were arrested Monday and Tuesday in the Dallas area but one, who was arrested Tuesday in San Francisco.
Eight others were charged in Denver with conspiracy and possessing meth and cocaine. Six were arrested in the Denver area. One was already in state custody, and another remains on the loose.
Three were arrested on assorted drug charges in San Antonio.
http://www.chron.com/news/article/Almost-40-biker-gang-members-associates-arrested-2192038.php
Pennsylvania Reconsidering Repealed Motorcycle Helmet Law
OFF THE WIRE
http://www.newsjunkyjournal.com/pennsylvania-reconsidering-repealed-motorcycle-helmet-law/2519980 Pennsylvania Reconsidering Repealed Motorcycle Helmet Law
Previously Repealed Helmet Law Reconsidered In Pennsylvania
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, only 21 states have laws requiring motorcyclists of any age to wear helmets. Twenty-four require a helmet for anyone on a bike under a certain age, and three states have no legislation at all.
Pennsylvania is among those states requiring anyone under the age of 21 to have a helmet while riding or operating a motorcycle. During the 2011 legislative session, however, the Daily Local News (DLN) of Chester County reported that Rep. Dan Frankel tried to repeal this law, which has been in effect since 2003.
Legislative Opposition
Rep. Frankel quoted a University of Pittsburgh study to the DLN which found motorcycle deaths from head injuries increased by 66 percent after the current law was passed. He defends his new bill because “studies show helmets save lives and the increase in deaths necessitate a change in the law.”
Of course, as with most new laws, there was opposition. The Alliance of Bikers Aimed Toward Education of Pennsylvania (Alliance) voiced their disapproval of the bill by arguing the studies Rep. Frankel relied upon were conducted before the bill was passed in 2003 and led to faulty conclusions.
The DLN notes that the state of Pennsylvania conducted its own study showing the fatality rate remained nearly unchanged after the 2003 bill passed. Also, many believe the primary reason the number of deaths has gone up is because there are more riders on the road, but the percentage of riders killed has actually gone down. Likewise there are those who believe deaths do not result from head trauma, but from trauma to the rest of the body.
Two Other Helmet Bills
In case his bill failed, Rep. Frankel also introduced two other bills with his helmet proposal. One of the bills would require more insurance for riders who chose not to wear helmets and the other would require special license plates for police to easily identify drivers who are under the age of 21.
Regardless of whether motorcyclists wear a helmet or not, it is important to maintain safe riding practices to ensure the safety of everyone on the road. If someone has been involved in a motorcycle accident, or has questions about the current law in Pennsylvania, they are encouraged to speak with an experienced personal injury lawyer.
http://www.newsjunkyjournal.com/pennsylvania-reconsidering-repealed-motorcycle-helmet-law/2519980 Pennsylvania Reconsidering Repealed Motorcycle Helmet Law
Previously Repealed Helmet Law Reconsidered In Pennsylvania
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, only 21 states have laws requiring motorcyclists of any age to wear helmets. Twenty-four require a helmet for anyone on a bike under a certain age, and three states have no legislation at all.
Pennsylvania is among those states requiring anyone under the age of 21 to have a helmet while riding or operating a motorcycle. During the 2011 legislative session, however, the Daily Local News (DLN) of Chester County reported that Rep. Dan Frankel tried to repeal this law, which has been in effect since 2003.
Legislative Opposition
Rep. Frankel quoted a University of Pittsburgh study to the DLN which found motorcycle deaths from head injuries increased by 66 percent after the current law was passed. He defends his new bill because “studies show helmets save lives and the increase in deaths necessitate a change in the law.”
Of course, as with most new laws, there was opposition. The Alliance of Bikers Aimed Toward Education of Pennsylvania (Alliance) voiced their disapproval of the bill by arguing the studies Rep. Frankel relied upon were conducted before the bill was passed in 2003 and led to faulty conclusions.
The DLN notes that the state of Pennsylvania conducted its own study showing the fatality rate remained nearly unchanged after the 2003 bill passed. Also, many believe the primary reason the number of deaths has gone up is because there are more riders on the road, but the percentage of riders killed has actually gone down. Likewise there are those who believe deaths do not result from head trauma, but from trauma to the rest of the body.
Two Other Helmet Bills
In case his bill failed, Rep. Frankel also introduced two other bills with his helmet proposal. One of the bills would require more insurance for riders who chose not to wear helmets and the other would require special license plates for police to easily identify drivers who are under the age of 21.
Regardless of whether motorcyclists wear a helmet or not, it is important to maintain safe riding practices to ensure the safety of everyone on the road. If someone has been involved in a motorcycle accident, or has questions about the current law in Pennsylvania, they are encouraged to speak with an experienced personal injury lawyer.
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