William Shatner defies helmet laws in cross-country ride
Posted by Ben Baker on Jul 15th 2016
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| Best known for his work in the now-iconic TV series Star Trek, William “Captain Kirk” Shatner also rides. This summer he headed across the country on a custom-designed trike from Rivet Motors. |
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| He rode wearing a hat, not a helmet. The hat was from Rivet Motors, the company that built his expected ride for the trip |
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| The trike trip was intended to be astride a 2,400-pound behemoth that was 14 feet long. It was powered by a 500-horsepower Cadillac engine and sported 26-inch rear wheels. Turning the big rig was more than he could handle, so he switched to a Harley trike after the first day on the road. The Rivet One was trailered. |
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| He started in Chicago. When he arrived on the West Coast, after 2,500 miles, he held a press conference and discussed not getting cited for no helmet. |
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| “I was wearing this hat all the way, even in states that had helmet laws,” he said. “When an actor says, ‘I can’t get arrested,’ he doesn’t mean ‘arrested.’ I couldn’t.” |
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| Writing for The Orange County Register, Susan Carpenter wrote about the trip. “He ran out of gas. He burned his thighs during an especially grueling 115-degree stint through the Mojave Desert. He witnessed a car crash into his team’s chase bus. But he was never, ever arrested or ticketed by the police, despite multiple calls to do so from those traveling with him.” |
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| Shatner even called the police on himself, when he got to California. The cops merely asked if their “movie unit” needed to be on the scene. |
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| The ride was not to bring attention to helmet laws, but to The American Legion Legacy Scholarship. The American Legion scholarship goes to children of those who were killed while serving in the United States armed forces. |
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| “The American Legion wants to ensure higher education is a possibility for children whose parents have been killed while serving our country. It is a civic duty to provide them with equal opportunity. The Legion offers its support through the Legacy Scholarship Fund,” the Legion says. “There has been a significant shortfall in government money allotted to children with parents lost in war.” |
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| American Legion Riders accompanied the actor on the trip. |