Bill 196 explained in plain English
Highway Traffic Amendment Act (Helmet Exemption for Sikh Motorcyclists), 2016
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 41st Parliament, 1st Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
This bill proposes to amend the Highway Traffic Act to exempt Sikh motorcyclists who meet specific religious and appearance criteria from the mandatory helmet requirement.
This bill, titled the Highway Traffic Amendment Act (Helmet Exemption for Sikh Motorcyclists), 2016, proposes to amend the Highway Traffic Act. It aims to exempt individuals who are members of the Sikh religion, have unshorn hair (including beard and body hair), and habitually wear a turban made of at least five square meters of cloth, from the requirement to wear a helmet while riding or operating a motorcycle or motor-assisted bicycle on a highway. The exemption would be added as a new subsection to Section 104 of the Highway Traffic Act.
- Amends Section 104 of the Highway Traffic Act to add a new exemption for helmet use.
- Specifies that the helmet requirement does not apply to a person who is a member of the Sikh religion, has unshorn hair, and habitually wears a turban composed of five or more square meters of cloth.
- Changes the wording of subsection 104(1) of the Highway Traffic Act to indicate that the helmet requirement is subject to the new exemption.
- Establishes that the Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
- Members of the Sikh religion who ride or operate motorcycles or motor-assisted bicycles in Ontario
- All persons who ride or operate motorcycles or motor-assisted bicycles in Ontario (as the general requirement is being amended)
- Ontario Provincial Police and other law enforcement agencies responsible for enforcing the Highway Traffic Act
- Existing obligation for motorcyclists to wear a helmet is maintained for the general population.
- New right for Sikh motorcyclists meeting specific criteria to be exempt from wearing a helmet.
- The Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
- The bill does not specify what constitutes 'habitually wears a turban' beyond the size requirement.
- The bill does not define 'unshorn hair' beyond including beard and body hair.
Amends Section 104(1) by adding the condition 'Subject to subsection (1.1)' and adds a new subsection (1.1) that exempts members of the Sikh religion who meet specific criteria (unshorn hair, habitually wear a turban of a certain size) from the requirement to wear a helmet while operating a motorcycle or motor-assisted bicycle.
Source: Section 1 of the Bill
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
Official textProcess Snapshot
Vote Summary
This bill is still active. We only show vote counts after the legislature publishes a recorded division.
No published representative vote breakdown
This bill is still moving through the process. When a recorded division is published, representative positions can be listed here.
Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
How this data is sourced