The Singhs Social Motorcycle Club Australia is seeking to get the government to exempt its turban-wearing bike riders from wearing helmets. It requests information from the general public to support them in their efforts.
Since they can save lives in the event of an accident or crash, helmets have long been a required item for safety.
However, the Singhs Social Motorcycle Club (SSMC) contends that because of their religion, they ought to be at least allowed the choice to forgo wearing a helmet.
Mavleen Singh Dhir, one of the club’s founders, told the news source: “We are campaigning for this, not just for the motorcycles.
More specifically, choice freedom is at issue.
He thinks that only Sikhs with a full motorcycle licence ought to have the choice of wearing a helmet or not, which would deny Sikh L and P-platers the option.
It can take up to 15 minutes to carefully wrap several metres of fabric around one’s head to put on a turban.
For cyclists who must wear a religious headpiece that makes “it impracticable to wear a helmet,” the ACT government has proposed an exemption.