WMBFNews.com | Myrtle Beach/Florence, SC | News, Weather, SportsSupreme Court to hear helmet law

Supreme Court to hear helmet law

MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WMBF) - The South Carolina Supreme Court has agreed to hear a Myrtle Beach organization's challenge to the city's helmet law.

Business Owners Organized to Save Tourism (BOOST) filed a lawsuit with Bart Viers, the brother of State Rep. Thad Viers (R-Myrtle Beach), earlier this year. The court granted the petition hear the case on Friday.

The lawsuit was filed in April by Bart Viers, who received a ticket for not wearing a helmet.

Under the "original jurisdiction" rule, the state Supreme Court can intervene and decide on a case that is currently being heard in a lower court.

"We appreciate the Supreme Court's agreement to immediately take the case," said Thad Viers of Coastal Law LLC, the law firm representing BOOST. "This litigation could have dragged on for years without Supreme Court intervention. Now we will almost certainly get a decision on the validity of the Myrtle Beach helmet law well ahead of next year's motorcycle rallies."

He added, "This lawsuit has the ability for a precedent that will affect every South Carolinian."

According to Thad Viers "original jurisdiction" is rarely used, and it usually helps expedite cases that could be caught in the appellate court for years.

Viers says the lawsuit against the City of Myrtle Beach is not just about helmets.

"It's not an issue if helmets are safe or not - they are, no one will argue that," he commented. "The issue is can a local government create a law that flies in the face of a current state law."

Under state law any person over the age of 21 is not required to wear a helmet.

Mark Kruea, spokesman for the City of Myrtle Beach, believes the case would have ultimately ended up in the state Supreme Court anyway, and now the city will let the state decide if the new helmet law can stand.

Tom Rice, with the anti-bike rally organization Take Back May, says the helmet law has already had some positive effects in the area with fatalities down in the city and county during the rallies this year.

But some bikers like Ken Gilreath from Knoxville, TN, say wearing a helmet should be optional.

"I understand it's probably an unsafe thing to do, but you know it's my choice and that's the way I like it," he said.

Viers estimates arguments in the case could be heard no later than after Labor Day.

The state has also agreed to consolidate the other pending lawsuits against the City of Myrtle Beach, and allow those parties involved to also participate in oral arguments.

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