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.
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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