Sikh Dastaar and Motorcycle Helmets

Many Sikhs love riding motorcycles. However Dastaars (turbans) and helmets aren’t great friends.

Sikhs find it difficult, if not impossible, to wear a helmet over the Dastaar due to primarily two issues/concerns:

  1. Practical - a Sikh who wears a Dastaar is unable to adequately fit a helmet over their turban without rendering the helmet useless or making the wearing of the helmet more dangerous for the rider.

  2. Belief system - most Sikhs are of the view that covering the Dastaar in any shape or form goes contrary to the tenets of their religion that prohibits such conduct.

Covering their turban with a helmet is considered a lapse in religious practice. This is because the helmet covers the turban and diminishes one of its fundamental roles - to identify the person as a Sikh through the keeping of hair and wearing a turban.

Many Australian states and territories had previously recognised the issues mentioned above for Sikhs and provided for an exemption from the motorcycle helmet requirement to Sikhs that wear a Dastaar. No Australian state or territory presently allows for an exemption from the motorcycle helmet requirement for Sikhs.

Diagram: Spectrum of Sikh beliefs on helmets

Table: Summary of Australian Motorcycle Helmet Laws - States and Territories Comparison

State specific Sikh motorcycle helmet laws:

Frequently asked questions

Did Australia previously allow for Sikhs to ride motorcycles without helmets?

Yes. Many states of Australia had laws that allowed for exemptions for Sikhs to ride a motorcycle without a helmet. In 1976, when Sikh motorcycle helmet exemption laws were passed in the United Kingdom, Western Australia was listed as one for the jurisdictions that already had similar exemptions along with Singapore and Malaysia. However, these laws were amended in the early 2000s to longer allow for exemptions to be issued. In Western Australia, previously issued exemptions are still valid such that there are some Sikhs who can legally ride a motorbike without a helmet, while others cannot.

Do motorcycle helmet exemptions exist in other places around the world?

Yes the following jurisdictions have an exemption allowing for Sikhs to ride a motorcycle without a helmet:

  1. India

  2. UK

  3. Canada (specific provices)

  4. Singapore

  5. Malaysia

  6. New Zealand (limited exemption)

  7. Western Australia (existing exemption certificate holders only)

If Sikhs were allowed to ride motorcycles without helmets, could other people abuse this exemption?

No. There is no evidence of someone pretending to be a Sikh riding a motorcycle without a helmet. To pull this off, they would need to become a Sikh and learn to tie a turban which is not exactly an easy task to master!

Introduced in the 1970s, the United Kingdom's Highway Code, for example, provides an exemption for motorbike and scooter riders and their passengers if wearing a turban. Concerns were expressed at the time that this exemption would lead others to "clamour for exemption"; however, almost 50 years later that has not been the case. 

What would happen if a Sikh is injured while riding a motorcycle without a helmet?

Sikhs should be eligible for the same medical benefits available to all Australian regardless of the activity they choose to undertake. For example, Australia does not deny medical benefits for someone who chooses:

  • to ingest substances that can result in chronic illness and death (for example, consumption of tobacco and alcohol contribute to increased chronic disease, injury, poisioning and premature death).

  • to undertake any ‘higher risk’ recreational activity (e.g. skydiving, rock climbing, water sports etc).

Do some Sikhs ride motorbikes with helmets?

In Punjab (Sikh dominated state in India), no turban wearing Sikh rides a motorbike wearing a helmet. In the diaspora, some Sikhs choose to wear helmets when riding a motorbike which could be due to a number of things including their:

  1. own interpretations of Sikh beliefs

  2. perceptions and understanding of the risk/s of injury and harm

  3. the need to conform to the relevant country’s dominant perceptions to risk/s of injury and harm.

These views do not diminish the argument that most Sikhs would consider the wearing of a helmet as against the very tenets of their faith. This has been well documented since Britain’s colonisation of the Punjab. For example, Sikhs have fought in both World Wars for the Allied forces without wearing helmets.

UK’s 1976 reference to Western Australia’s motorcycle helmet exemption

In 1976, when Sikh motorcycle helmet exemption laws were passed in the United Kingdom, Western Australia was listed as one for the jurisdictions that already similar exemptions along with Singapore and Malaysia.

The House of Commons

Speech on 28th January 1975 (extract)

Mr Bidwell: I am quite sure that the hon. Gentleman can be so assured. I think it would be wrong to withhold from the committee, anxious though I am to keep my speech short, that in Western Australia there is a similar law to the one we are trying to enact.

Second Reading at The House of Lords (extract)

5th October 1976

2.58 a.m.

LORD AVEBURY:

…

If one turns to the case of the motor-cyclists elsewhere in the Commonwealth, in States that have otherwise made crash-helmets compulsory, as in the United Kingdom, there has been an exemption for Sikhs. That is certainly true in the countries from which I have been able to obtain information in Singapore, Malaysia, Western Australia and in Saskatchewan. In Saskatchewan, the requirement that Sikhs should wear a crash-helmet was ruled unconstitutional in the Supreme Court on the grounds that it would interfere with the practice of religion.

Relevant links (e.g. Media, Academic Papers, Opinions)