TESTIMONIALS   As published in EASYRIDERS Magazine The Great Richmond Helmet Caper Fight Update Nothing makes us happier than getting news of victorious court cases where the players were able to use the Easyriders v. Hannigan case as their weapon. However, this month we're even more pleased because the person responsible for the victory is a member of an often maligned breed, the personal injury attorney. Our hero this month is AIM (Aid To Injured Motorcyclists) attorney, J. Thomas (Tom) McGrath. Tom is one P.I. lawyer who believes he should be there for his clients, regardless of the type of case. Tom tries to help out any way he can, and really enjoys it when the help he can provide doesn't start with the broken body of a brother or sister of the road. This is not the first time the city of Richmond, Virginia, has surrendered to Tom. He recently won a case for transplanted Californian, Kelly Prince, who was wearing an ultra-small helmet, that nevertheless, passed muster in the courts of Richmond. But that's another story. It seems that in 1996, the city of Richmond Bureau of Police applied for and received a highway safety grant of $70,000 to enforce the helmet law. Their grant application stated that there had been 17,586 motor vehicle accidents within the city in the prior three years, of these 45 involved motorcycles. The grant was given even though motorcycles accounted for only 0.0025 percent of all accidents. The application for taxpayer money stated, "...Given the frequencies of injury to motorcyclists, there is a clear need to enforce existing helmet laws..." Many of the injuries it was asserted, were due to lack of training of motorcycle operators, misuse of the motorcycle, and failure to wear appropriate safety equipment. Under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, Tom applied for and received the motorcycle accident reports for the three years cited in the grant application. Of the 45 motorcyclists involved in accidents, 39 were injured, 69 percent of these accidents were the fault of the automobile driver. None of the motorcyclists suffered a head injury. Only one motorcyclists involved in an accident was not wearing a helmet, but he also had no motorcycle license, no operators license, registration, or insurance and crashed in his own neighborhood. It was a single vehicle accident. Further Freedom of information investigation revealed that the training received by the officers with this taxpayer money amounted to the viewing a video tape produced by the Maryland State Police (with NHTSA funds) titled "Fa* Helmets Unsafe On Any Head". Interestingly, this video which teaches officers to recognize "unsafe helmets" uses words like "usually" and "most of the time" in describing helmets that don't look like they meet FMVSS 216, the federal safety standard. This "grant" resulted in Tom's office representing 16 persons, all ticketed for failure to wear approved helmets. Each person made more than one appearance in court and several cases had to be appealed to the Circuit Court. The result of all this work and time was that none of the 16 persons represented by this office was convicted. I don't know what the cost of all this court time was to the citizen's, but I'd bet it cost another $70,000 in the man hours wasted, when you consider the numerous clerks, bailiffs, judges, prosecutors and police officers involved. Interestingly, this kickoff for spending the taxpayers money carne with the Virginia State H.O.G. Rally in Richmond. The first series of tickets was issued that weekend as motorcyclists left the rally site and crossed line entering into the city of Richmond. The courts agreed with Tom, and cited the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision in the Easyriders v. Hannigan, dismissed all the charges. This effectively put the city of Richmond on notice that just because you waste lots of the taxpayers money, doesn't mean you can jack up bikers and get away with it! Thanks Tom for F.I.G.H.T ing for the rights of motorcyclists. Return to previous page