As if riding your motorcycle wasnt dangerous enough, there are now also many unseen dangers for motorcyclists. Especially motorcyclists who dont know the law. And unfortunatley, ignorance is no excuse.

Personally, I had always thought ignorance was bliss, but definetly NOT when it comes to the law!

In my state, helmets are not required to be worn by law, BUT only under certain circumstances, such as IF you have a sticker on your license plate which you can only get IF you carry at least 10,ooo dollars in personal medical insurance. If thats designed to pay for the head injury I dont see it happening, but regardless. Most motorcylcist are under the impression that there is NO helmet law in Texas.

Technically there IS a helmet law, just not one that states EVERYONE must wear a helmet. We in Texas apparently like to discriminate so that Only the poor / underinsured people have to wear a helmet?! And most people dont know the details of this law until they get pulled over for it, (as with most new laws) usually getting a ticket for something they probably carry already anyways!

The legal ramifications arent huge BUT it is the sneaky underhanded used car salesman feel to these kind of laws that gets to me! Why not announce this all over the news instead of octo mom and john and kate updates? I want to obey the law, but they make it such a hassle to comply with all these secretive rules? sheesh! who ever heard of a special sticker in leau of a helmet?

Another legal danger I have recently heard complaints of is that some insurance companies that carry bike insurance say that claims will not be paid if you dont carry a current motorcyle license. My husband has been riding since he was 15 years old, which was over 20 years ago, but he has never had a motorcycle license.

He has ALWAYS had motorcyle insurance though. And If an insurance company doesnt ask for my license at the time they insure me, then that fact should be irrelevant when there is a claim on my policy. My husband has been pulled over and it has never been a big deal that he doesnt have a motorcycle license. He has not been ticketed for it. The only problem we have personally encountered from not having one, is that we cannot RENT a harley anywhere. But who cares, because we would rather ride our own anyway.

Another unseen danger is that if you ARE injured on your bike, (God forbid), then you face the very real threat of skyrocketing insurance rates from your accident and injuries. Especially if you are seriously injured. You become a liability to your medical insurance even if your claims ARE being paid by someone elses insurance company, as your health will still be worse for the wear ~ for the rest of your life.

We all know that we each have a detailed credit report and score that people use to judge us by, well as it turns out, we ALSO have a medical report that is used in a very similiar way and is even MORE telling than ANY credit report. You could have higher premiums for the rest of your life on your bike insurance AND your medical insurance!

Every time we get on our bikes we have to face all kinds of dangers, some just arent as obvious as others. But as long as we do our best to always be as aware as possible then will be safe WITHOUT spoiling the ride!

Learn more about this author, Chris Dixon.
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