Bear with me on this because I will get to the punch line. My Wife and I were out riding last week when we pulled up to a stop sign before turning onto RT27 north to head home. The town we were in is a little down called Sale Creek. As I was assessing the light traffic getting ready to pull out a Tennessee Highway Patrol car came by. Being a retired LEO I always give a wave to my fellow brothers and sisters even if I don't know them.
Now for the rest of the story: My Wife participates in a "drug drop" for the local PD and SO in Rhea county this past weekend. She was at the drug drop when a TN HP person pulled up and dropped some drugs. The officer was a female. My Wife having never met a stranger started talking to her and found out she lived in Dayton and her patrol area was south of Rhea county. My Wife said that we has seen a HP car a few days ago when we were in our SS waiting at the intersection. It just happened to be this officer and she remembered the orange SS waiting to pull out onto Hwy 27. I know this is getting long but the reason I posted this, and I don't want to start an argument, but it's because the officer said she remembered the SS because the first thing she does is look for helmets. Seeing that we were donned with full face helmets she didn't turn and kept going. She went on to tell my Wife that she has got arguments from SS drivers and have pushed onto contesting the ticket in court. The officer said she has never lost a court / helmet appearance in court because the law is written so the judge always sides with the officer and the law. In TN "if" the vehicle was "enclosed" it would be ok to not wear a helmet but even with a top and a full windshield and even the back windshield it's still not "enclosed" according to TN.
Again, I don't want to start an argument here but for those who live in TN or ride through, there are officers that will give you a ticket for no helmet. And I know a lot of people don't wear helmets and get away with it. I've been involved in discussions about helmet wear and some get mad when they get a summons to appear in court for not wearing a helmet. I just tell them if you know the rules and you get away with it 100 times you are way ahead. Like speeding, we've all been over the speed limit in all our vehicles and gotten away with it many times. But if you get caught at some point just smile and say thank you officer. Just be aware not wearing a helmet could cost you some money in helmet states. Have a nice day!