Motorcycle Only Check Points in NY

Sorry if this is 205 but came across it this week.

Although this isn't new NY has been setting up motorcycle only check points near the state border. They are checking for legal helmets, aftermarket exhaust, and other safety violations...of course while they got you they can check insurance, endorsement and DUI....

Apparently it was fought a few years ago but was upheld by a Federal Judge as constitutional .

A few states have banned the practice.... Virginia, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Illinois, California -- and legislation to prohibit them has been introduced in Missouri and New Jersey. LEO claims its no different than seat belt checkpoints where they waive motorcycle through....however if you ride through without a helmet I bet you get stopped...

http://www.americanmotorcyclist.com/rights/motorcycleonlycheckpoints.aspx

I guess NY is aptly named the EMPIRE STATE! The Death Star is still under construction near the forest moon of Albany....I'd use the Chewbaca defense...

The requirements of probable cause to initiate a traffic stop are so incredibly thin in any state you need not target any particular group with a "safety" inspection.

This whole safety inspection topic is very elementary - much like traffic cops.

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So long as they do not lecture anyone, they can stop you for a safety check if they want as far as I am concerned.

Personally I do not care as long as it doesn't hold me up for long. I have a license and insurance, and my bike is properly registered. I also always wear a helmet. :shrug

Jim

Empire State?

Vampire State.

We got motorcycle only checkpoints outlawed here in California last year, but they've just changed their tactics. Now LEO's are conducting saturation patrols in areas that motorcyclists congregate. I don't mind them pulling over motorcyclists for doing dumb shit, as long as they pull over cars for doing the same thing.

Probable cause is in the eye of the beholder, but I don't like being singled out just because I'm on a motorcycle. That's harassment.

It's cuz you're black.

Or white.

Or whatever.



Seriously though, anything that singles out motorcyclists is bullshit. A "Safety checkpoint" should be stopping EVERYONE. How often do motorcyclists CAUSE accidents in comparison with distracted drivers? Pretty hard to fuck with a cell phone, or really do much of anything else other than ride while riding along.

Issues like this are just the canaries that are telling you that your coal mine is filling up with methane and about to explode. If I lived in NY, I'd leave. I used to live in CA, and I left. Crap like this has a lot to do with why.

PhilB

No disrespect but this argument is like burying your head in the sand. How many times have we heard from officials....if your not doing anything wrong you have nothing to worry about:huh its an intrusion and in my opinion goes against the 4th amendment...

Basically the Right to be left alone....

Motorcycle-only check points do NOT involve "probable cause". Neither do DUI checkpoints. The entire rationale is the opposite, whether or not there is probably cause is NOT a factor when you stop every car or every motorcycle, every 3rd one or 5th one, etc. To make these checkpoints legal they are pretty much required to set them up NOT to depend on probable cause.

If you set up a mini van only check point, you would have a big problem. How is the single vehicle type inspection any different than a Truck Weigh Station?
What happens if I ride into NY on my ZX-14 an the Full Brocks Mega phone system?

I believe the difference (in the eyes of the law) is that weigh stations focus exclusively on commercial vehicles... so it's regulation of commerce.

I'm not arguing the merits of that position, merely stating the argument as I understand it.

i'm going to second offcambers opinion here and philbs. that attitude is dangerous to our freedoms. i.e. the saying "when they came for the jews i did not object because i was not a jew." don't let your rights slip away a little at a time.

The REAL crime here is that NY state is using federal SAFETY FUNDING GRANTS to pay for police time to pull over motorcyclists.

Police can choose to pull over a particular type of vehicle. Commercial trucks get pulled over, for example. It sucks, but motorcyclists are not a protected class.

The thing about the safety funding is that NY state has a federal obligation to have a program to improve motorcycle safety. Instead of, say, making MSF classes free, or giving away free gear, or creating a compelling film about safety, NY state does checkpoints.

Better use of safety funding:

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That is such crap! No one complains when the Border Patrol stops every car at the 25 mile checkpoint looking for illegals, been done forever.

I reiterate, what rights to privacy are you giving up? You are showing nothing other than you have the appropriate documents to be legally riding a motorcycle on the streets, AS THE LAW STATES YOU MUST AT ALL TIMES!

Comparring this to the holocaust is such crap. It only makes you look like a paranoid fool!

Jim

Where in what you quoted does it say they cannot ask you for your driver's liscense? Right to not be "searched" is not the same as asking to show proof you are legally riding on a motorcycle.

You are making the law say what you want it to say, not what it does.

Jim

I assume you are talking about the check points with in the US and not at the borders...I do not approve of that, its the same thing...no reason to stop me or anyone else. I never saw the point of those anyway....seems like a drag net approach....catch everything and hope you get something worth while....doesn't seem cost effective.

They only get away with this because you're in (or on) a vehicle...apparently when you get a licenses in this country you have to give up some of your rights...

His example may have been a bit extreme but its the attitude that I'm compliant so I have no problem with it doesn't wash....its like the current scandal with the Government getting every Verizon customers phone records....Sorry they have no reason to be looking at my phone records...Call me paranoid but I don't trust our Government to do the right thing.

Wow...this really is disturbing....

Is 30-40 minutes considered long to you? That's a typical length of delay at one of these checkpoints.

All motorcycles are pulled off the highway. You stop, wait, and queue. Eventually, if you have all your papers, your gear is spot on, and you pass a road-side inspection (all your lights working? visible "DOT" stamp on exhaust?) you'll be freed to go on your way.

If you have, say, a broken turn indicator, it is not at all uncommon for your motorcycle to be loaded into a flatbed, and you walk with your helmet in hand to the train station. "Fix it" tickets are not always given out to motorcyclists.

Good piece of advice if you get culled in a checkpoint: Be sure to be REEEEEAL polite to the police. Don't go mouthing off about your "rights" or they may just find a broken bit you didn't know about, and tow you.

Some people, those with principles and who remember what liberty is about, DO complain about when the Border Patrol stops every car at the 25 mile checkpoint looking for illegals. That's wrong, and a violation of our rights and the 4th Amendment, as well. It's not the holocaust, no. But it's the slippery slope, and the principle is the same -- we have to help defend each others' rights, all of them, or there will be no one to help defend ours.

Just "showing nothing other than you have the appropriate documents", eh? What else began with "show me your papers"?

PhilB