Mother Nature played a bit of a spoiler this weekend for a group of local bikers who organized a Civil Disobedience Rally to protest the amendment in the Traffic Safety Act, which allows practicing Sikh's from being exempt from wearing a helmet while on a bike.

About 30 or so bikers and vehicles showed up on Saturday in the wet and cold weather to ride from Michener Park in Lacombe to the Alberta Legislature, with some riders going without a helmet.

Gordo Blakhart was one of the bikers involved in the rally, and he says the exemption is unfair and unjust, and drawing attention to that inequality was the purpose of the rally.

“Either repeal the amendment, or repeal the law and re-write it so that everybody has a choice whether they wear a helmet or not, or everybody has to wear a helmet. As the amended law stands now, one group of people have the right to ride without a helmet. We feel that’s discriminatory.”

Blakhart says riding a motorcycle is inherently a dangerous act, and there are times when a helmet could save your life, and times when a helmet might not make much of a difference.

“Under circumstances like riding in the city, probably a good idea to wear a helmet because if you get t-boned at an intersection or rear-ended, you can get pretty hurt without a helmet. If you’re on the highway and you’re doing 110km/h and you get into an accident, you probably wish that you were dead.”

The RCMP, Lacombe Police, and highway patrol had a strong presence throughout the ride, issuing warnings, tickets and court summons to anyone caught riding without a helmet.

The group plans on organizing another rally in the spring, with hopefully better weather conditions.

Last checked their Facebook page Civil Disobedience Rally 2019 had 1,520 members and counting.