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House transportation panel advances bill exempting some UTV riders from helmet rule
Summary
The Idaho House Transportation Committee voted to send House Bill 13 to the floor with a do-pass recommendation after Representative Joe Palmer said the measure would extend an existing helmet exemption to utility task vehicles that have full roll cages and seat belts.
The Idaho House Transportation Committee voted to send House Bill 13 to the House floor with a do-pass recommendation after Representative Joe Palmer described the bill as extending an existing helmet exemption to certain utility task vehicles.
Representative Joe Palmer of District 20 in Meridian told the committee the bill would treat UTVs (utility task vehicles) differently from motorcycles and standard passenger cars when the vehicle has a full roll cage and seat belts. "It was an enclosed vehicle, but it didn't fit in the cars or the motorcycles," Palmer said, describing a prior exemption granted to a company that made a vehicle called the Auto Car and explaining why lawmakers are proposing the same accommodation for UTVs.
Palmer said some law-enforcement officers have written tickets for children riding in the rear seats of these vehicles for not wearing helmets. "I've been hearing where the police have been writing tickets for having kids in the back seats of them without helmets," he said. He told the committee that most UTV rigs are used on trails and forest roads and that many have full roll cages and seat belts.
Representative Munks moved to send House Bill 13 to the floor with a do-pass recommendation. The committee conducted a voice vote; members signified their support and the motion carried.
Before the bill discussion the committee approved minutes from its Jan. 16 meeting on a motion by Representative Bahanka; that motion also carried on a voice vote.
In other, nonvoting business, committee members were told Mountain Home Air Force Base personnel will appear at a later meeting to give an update and that a summer tour of Gowen Field and Mountain Home Air Force Base is being planned for members who participate. A legislative page told the panel she had been on a visit to the U.S. Military Academy and had met academy leaders and senior officers.
No written amendments or legal citations were presented during the committee's consideration of House Bill 13, and the committee did not take final action on the underlying statute; the measure was forwarded to the full House for further consideration.
