Is it illegal to wear Ear Plugs in Ohio

[wardie]

Regarding the ear plug story in Motorcyclist magazine Roy Dyckman from the 2 Wheel Power Hour will address this topic in detail on tomorrow nights show. In our area it's on 570 WKBN , if you're out of our broadcast area just download the iHeart Radio App. and plug in www.570wkbn.com  the shows airs at 6pm Ohio time.

Roy has 400,000 touring miles and is a life member of MSTA. He also is a auxillary Policeman for the city of Canfield in Ohio. He will contact the Ohio State Highway Patrol as well as speak directly to the Chief of Police in Canfield and report on his findings.

I am very interested as I , like many of you use custom ear plugs to attenuate the wind noise. As Paul Harvey used to say..." stay tuned now for the rest of the story!"

[stevegrab]

Larry this is interesting timing as one of our local NE Ohio guys mentioned reading an article about wearing ear plugs in Motorcyclist which mentioned it being illegal in Ohio.

What is one more law to ignore   Like those pesky speed limits, no passing zones....

[wardie]

I know will be thorough about this so I'm keenly interested in what he has to say.

[TN2Wheeler]

I've forgotten which NHSTA director it was but she almost mandated seat belts for motorcycles.  Non-riders don't have a clue.

[brider]

I've forgotten which NHSTA director it was but she almost mandated seat belts for motorcycles.  Non-riders don't have a clue.

wasnt that Joan Claybrook? or something like that.

[normkern]

Joan Claybrook is who you are thinking of. Her most famous stupid motorcycle initiative was the "backward bike." Some safetycrat thought that motorcycles might be safer in a crash if they had a simple swingarm in the front and put the steered wheel in the back. They actually built a test bike based on a 340 Rokon. It was so unstable that no one could ride it to evaluate it. NHTSA denied the existence of the project until someone at the AMA uncovered pictures of it. Made a laughing stock out of Claybrook and NHTSA.

Claybrook was also famous for her position against rider education. After all, offering training legitimizes motorcycling and encourages more people to ride. Her safety solution was to have as few riders as possible.

Norm Kern

[Paco Bulto]

Well, the cops in Ohio can have my earplugs when they pry them from my cold dead ears (or something like that).   

[RichGrab]

Larry - I missed the show the other night. Is it archived somewhere that I can hear it? I'd be real interested in what he had to say on the topic. Also, maybe this is something the AMA could take up. I wear the disposable type of earplugs that claim to cut out 32dB (or maybe up to that), and I have never had a problem hearing an emergency vehicle running sirens coming at me from in front, behind or either side. I may not hear the guy next to me at a stop, but emergency vehicles not a problem.

[wardie]

Believe it or not (Ripley's?)  it is illegal to wear ear plugs or any kind of hearing attenuation device in BOTH ears in Ohio while operating any motorized vehicle  and people have gotten a ticket for it. Now, you cannot be stopped for wearing ear plugs because the officer can't see them so you would have to be stopped for another infraction. Our interviews with the State Highway Patrol and local officers state this....

The officer who stops you probably would  not give U a ticket for wearing ear plugs although he is within the Ohio State Law to do so. As with all stops your interaction with the officer can go along way to avoid problems. If you would say I wear my ear plugs because my bike is so damn loud it hurts my ears then that's probably not a good thing conversely if asked about EP's you say I wear them to lessen the wind noise which can cause permanent hearing loss over time then that's probably a better thing to say. This law applies to everyone who operates a motorized vehicle period, unless your an emergency /ambulance driver or trash collection truck driver, those are exempt while operating the company vehicles but they are not exempt if they operate their own vehicles. Really this is a classic example of stupid government over regulating things.

The podcast is at www.570wkbn.com that's our website look for podcast icon hover over it a drop down happens click on 2 Wheel Power Hour and select the date.

We had Roy Dyckman and Bob Wentzel both who have some hearing loss, myself  and Nick Haris, Western States Representative for the AMA  who helped overturn similar Ear Plug law in Cali discussing this and an officer from the State Highway Patrol plus Roy spoke to a Canfield Policeman too.

I am contacting Senator Rob Portman and asking him for his help in crafting legislature to amend current law to exclude the wording Ear Plugs/Motorcycles from the law as written. I'll inform the group as to his response. It is an election year for him, he is pro motorcycling so maybe this might get some attention. Larry

[bcd]

Larry, Rob Portman is a US senator. Since it's an Ohio law, I think you want to talk to your state senator or representative instead of the national one.

[wardie]

BCD you are correct.

[qman8]

Believe it or not (Ripley's?)  it is illegal to wear ear plugs or any kind of hearing attenuation device in BOTH ears in Ohio while operating any motorized vehicle  and people have gotten a ticket for it. Now, you cannot be stopped for wearing ear plugs because the officer can't see them so you would have to be stopped for another infraction. Our interviews with the State Highway Patrol and local officers state this....

The officer who stops you probably would  not give U a ticket for wearing ear plugs although he is within the Ohio State Law to do so. As with all stops your interaction with the officer can go along way to avoid problems. If you would say I wear my ear plugs because my bike is so damn loud it hurts my ears then that's probably not a good thing conversely if asked about EP's you say I wear them to lessen the wind noise which can cause permanent hearing loss over time then that's probably a better thing to say. This law applies to everyone who operates a motorized vehicle period, unless your an emergency /ambulance driver or trash collection truck driver, those are exempt while operating the company vehicles but they are not exempt if they operate their own vehicles. Really this is a classic example of stupid government over regulating things.

The podcast is at www.570wkbn.com that's our website look for podcast icon hover over it a drop down happens click on 2 Wheel Power Hour and select the date.

We had Roy Dyckman and Bob Wentzel both who have some hearing loss, myself  and Nick Haris, Western States Representative for the AMA  who helped overturn similar Ear Plug law in Cali discussing this and an officer from the State Highway Patrol plus Roy spoke to a Canfield Policeman too.

I am contacting Senator Rob Portman and asking him for his help in crafting legislature to amend current law to exclude the wording Ear Plugs/Motorcycles from the law as written. I'll inform the group as to his response. It is an election year for him, he is pro motorcycling so maybe this might get some attention. Larry

So you DONT have to wear a helmet, but you cannot wear earplugs!???  You can't make this stuff up folks!!!