Originally Posted by
Crast
ILTB, it perturbs me that all you've done in this thread is either make wild conjectures like claiming the leaders are using helmet rules as a "tool to weed out 'dick heads'" or just demand everyone else provide information about bicycle insurance and laws. You could've easily gone to google and typed in "bicycle club insurance" and found the relevant information and made educated conclusions, rather than pointless projection. I know of this topic because I happen to be in the process of starting a college cycling club, and one of the things we wanted to know in meetings was whether we needed to get insurance; so I went and googled that exact term and came up with a lot of information about it. Or, you can continue shoving your foot in your mouth.
First, thanks for the blurb about LAB insurance. As I previously posted, club rules on its own members for rides only open to club members are not my concern.
On rides open to the public, sponsored or organized by a bike club or anyone else, it does not appear that the club insurance offers any coverage for non club member participants whether they wear helmets or not. You, like previous posters, only offer speculation about helmet waivers producing reduced club liabilty in case of ride injuries with no real world examples, and speculation that the existance of a helmet waiver requirement might be a factor in determining club liabilty, in the event of a future claim that might happen sometime somewhere. Note that no one has been able to cite any existing liability case where a helmet waiver played a part in a claim against a club or ride organizer. The onus on validating the claim that helmet waivers for adults provide any amount of legal protection for an organizer of a ride open to the public belongs on those who make the claim, so they are free to keep Googling until they hit paydirt.
The LAB insurance hardly seems worth buying with a $10,000 limit on medical payments and only covers club members. Are non club member participants on a club sponsored/organized ride open to the public covered? Is there a cap also on the liabilty protection for the ride organizers
A club in the U.S. running rides on public highways and streets and
seriously concerned about medical payments and liabilty in case of accidents would probably do better to require that participants produce evidence of carrying personal health insurance coverage, and have a current driver's license to indicate that the organizers checked that ride participants have evidence of at least a cursory knowledge of traffic laws.
Perhaps you would be less perturbed about my posts f you read the specific posts to which I responded, especially Just Chuck's. I only repeated/quoted his stated use of his own perverse use of a helmet requirement on others and his specific designations of those who don't comply with his helmet dictates.