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Brampton Sikh challenges helmet
law for motorcyclists
Takes safety test to prove that the Sikh turban does not come off at
high speeds
BRAMPTON: A Brampton
man is the first to challenge Ontario’s motorcycle helmet law saying
it unfairly excludes him from a pastime he loves because of his
religion. Baljinder Singh Badesha, 39, is fighting a $110 ticket he
was issued by Peel police in the fall of 2005 for riding his 1994
Yamaha motorcycle on Queen Street near Hwy. 10.
Badesha is a
devout Sikh and wears a turban at all times outside of his home. He
believes it is a tenant of his religion and cannot take it off to
put a helmet on. “We want an exemption for our religion,” Badesha
said outside the court. “We can’t put a helmet on it (turban).”
He has the
Ontario Human Rights Commission on his side, and the commission
presented arguments in support of Badesha in a
Brampton
courtroom yesterday and will continue today. The province is
expected to respond to the commission’s arguments today or at a
later date, and a decision on whether or not to acquit Badesha will
come some time later from Mr. Justice James Blacklock. The
commissioner’s lawyer, Scott Hutchison, told Blacklock the Highway
Traffic Act law requiring all motorcyclists to wear a helmet is
indirectly discriminatory.
 “That
requirement makes it impossible for Mr. Badesha to, like other
motorcycle riders, take advantage of that service that is otherwise
available as a normal part of life in Ontario, a service that is
available to everybody,” Hutchison told the court. There are
exceptions to motorcycle helmet laws for devout Sikhs in British
Columbia,
Manitoba,
the U.K. and Northern Ireland, the court heard. Badesha, a father of
four and owner of a used car lot on Eastern Avenue, got his
motorcycle licence in the summer of 2005 and said he did not know he
legally had to wear a helmet.
“I was riding
for three or four weeks. They caught me one day and gave me a
ticket,” he said. “I haven’t ridden since.” But he loves to ride,
and says being able to test drive motorcycles to sell on his used
car lot he has operated for the past 16 years would help his
business. He shrugs off concerns about safety, and says his wife
does not worry about him, either. “I know it (wearing a helmet) is
for safety, but people die in car accidents all the time,” he said.
 If Blacklock
acquits Badesha, it does not mean police will no longer be allowed
to enforce the helmet law, even if they stop a rider who identifies
himself as a devout Sikh, Blacklock noted. “The officer wouldn’t
know if he was dealing with a devout Sikh or not, unless he took the
word of the accused,” Blacklock noted. Hutchison also told Blacklock
that the province will present statistics to support its argument
that helmets are necessary for safety reasons.
“Whatever those
numbers are, they are a miniscule fraction of what Ontario has
chosen to allow,” Hutchison said.” Motorcycles are incredibly
dangerous,” he told the court. He said only 2 per cent of the
drivers on the road in Ontario are motorcyclists, yet they account
for 9.7 per cent of the fatalities and 8 per cent of the serious
injuries. If 24 or 50 motorcyclists die very year on Ontario roads,
“That’s the starting point. That’s what
Ontario
says it can accept, so when you measure all of these numbers, it’s
against the background of a dangerous activity that
Ontario
allows,” Hutchison argued.
Courtesy The
Brampton
Guardian
20
February 2008
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