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Canadian turban court case tests motorcycle helmet law
By the Staff of Clutch and Chrome
February 15th, 2008
Bikers eye's worldwide are
looking to a case playing out in Canadian courts over
motorcycle helmet laws infringing on human rights
and religious freedoms.
Baljinder Badesha, a
39-year-old father of four who immigrated to Canada in 1989
and had been an avid motorcyclist in his native India, was
charged by Peel police in September 2005 with failing to
wear a helmet. He had been riding about a month his newly
purchased 2003 Honda Shadow.
At stake in the court case
is a $110 ticket and the right to ride without a helmet.
Having previously resided in British Columbia, where Sikhs
are exempt from wearing helmets, he said he didn't know it
was against the law in Ontario. Court heard that Manitoba
also makes the exemption as does the United Kingdom, Hong
Kong and India.
"I know it is for safety,
but people die in car accidents all the time," the
39-year-old owner of a used car dealership told reporters
outside a Brampton court.
 Mr. Badesha has a powerful
ally in his case, the Ontario Human Rights Commission who
has ridden to the defense of the practicing Sikh.
"Telling Mr. Badesha to
choose between his religion or participating in the normal
life of Ontario is discrimination," Scott Hutchison, an
attorney for the human rights commission, told a Brampton
court yesterday.
"Roads and riding a
motorcycle are something that is available to everybody in
Ontario provided they wear a helmet. But that condition
makes it impossible for Mr. Bedesha and everybody of the
Sikh religion. That amounts to discrimination."
In an affidavit entered in
court, Badesha said he had a "sincere" belief that he was
obligated under the tenets of his faith to wear a turban at
all times when outside his home.
"We want an exemption for our religion," Mr. Badesha said
outside court.
The case has taken some
unusual turns.
The court declared that an expert it had hired proved that turbans unravel rapidly in 100 km/h winds. The professional engineer allegedly purchased
a mannequin head, mounted it on a stick and then placed the
assemblage in a wind tunnel.
However, Mr. Hutchison, an attorney for the human rights
commission was unable to find a documented case
anywhere in the world where a Sikh motorcyclist's turban had
unraveled and persuaded the OHRC to authorize
its own test.
After he confronted the Crown with the dramatically
different test result, prosecutors conceded that their
engineer had grossly miscalculated the force of the wind he
had generated to batter the imitation head, Mr. Hutchison
said.
In fact, the device had been subjected to a 300 km/h wind.
Badesha hasn't ridden his
motorcycle since he received his ticket.
The case continues. |
