Puerto Rican bikers forced to wear full protective kit

[Bob]

As the US continues to dither over whether their bikers should be forced to wear crash helmets, their US Commonwealth member, Puerto Rico has taken a much stricter view. Bikers will now be required by law to wear “protective jackets, gloves, long pants and boots”.

Riding at night will require a reflective vest to be worn.

The new law has also reduced the permitted blood-alcohol level for motorcycle and scooter riders to .02 percent, from the existing.08 percent, which remains the tolerated limit for car drivers.

Puerto Rico has gone from one of the least legislative members to having more restrictions than any of the 50 member states of the US.

[ZeroIndex]

Wow... that's quite a step up...

[Bren]

better safe than sorry...good on em

[Bob]

Just one day after the Puerto Rican government introduced legislation to force bikers to wear full protective kit… the law has been temporarily rescinded.

Legislators said they needed more time to consult scooter and motorcycle enthusiasts who object to the stricter rules. The introduction of the new law has been put back by at least three months.

Is this the shortest ever rule to hit the statute books?

[The Lone Rider]

Being a puerto rican by ethnicity.. I can't recall ever seeing a freakin motorcyclist anywhere. Maybe a scooter in the background off in the distance at most.

[Steam]

It's just a matter of time till it happens here.
Once the government realises they can cut the hospital bill by $xxxx amount by introducing compulsory gear, that'll be the end.


There are some arguments against making gear compulsory... that I could think of.

• It feels nice to be wearing nothing sometimes.
• Less people will take up biking because of the extra expense.
• Standards will be hard to enforce at the retail stage, and will require a whole lot of labelling and compliance issues in shops and factories.
• Police don't check helmets for compliance now, I can't see them checking clothing for the C.E. label or Snell rating or whatever in future.
• Farmers riding back from the muster or moving the cows etc may go by public roads, and they would require an exemption from wearing gear.
• Bike shops doing road tests after repairs or Wof's would need exemptions, or the mechanic would need to struggle in and out of gear every time he tested a bike to see if it was running right.
• Very fat people would need exemptions.
• Very tall people would need exemptions.

That's all I could think of. Can you think of a few more?

[Max Preload]

Just one day after the Puerto Rican government introduced legislation to force bikers to wear full protective kit… the law has been temporarily rescinded.

Legislators said they needed more time to consult scooter and motorcycle enthusiasts who object to the stricter rules. The introduction of the new law has been put back by at least three months.

Is this what is meant by the term 'democracy', where the people who govern do so only with the consent of the people, who can object and are actually listened to? We should introduce that here, in the Peoples Banana Republic of Aotearoa!