The historical penalty values have not yet been researched
WA introduced the Penalty Unit system in 1997. The $ value of a PU is set and multiplied by the offence PU value. It has remained at $50 since inception. Penalties for road traffic offences are meant to be reviewed every five years, reviews ocurred in 1997, 2007, 2014. Some PU values were increased at the reviews but not helmets until 2014 when the PU value was increased from 2 to 11.
Finding information in the WA legislation is the worst of all the States.
Rule 244 (2)(a)
Rule 244 (2)(b)
Rule 244 (3)
Riding motor bike without wearing helmet or with passenger not wearing helmet (rider)
Riding motor bike without wearing helmet or with passenger not wearing helmet (pillion)
Pillion not wearing a protective helmet securely on his or her head
All 3 offences are the same $ value but only 244(2)(a) and 244(2)(b) are demerit point offences.
Offence descriptions and meanings have become distorted over time. Originally the descriptions and details were included in the road rules or traffic acts and so the meanings were clear.
The volume of offences and the number of officials who needed access to the information increased and so the penalties and descriptions were moved to separate legislation and the practice of using "short descriptions" in the penalty legislation began.
This now means the infringement notices as issued may mean other than what they state. The offence and penalty legislation have clauses which state in effect that the short description means the same as the long description contained in the regulations.
Notes
Motorcycle helmet offences are not a category in the Australian Bureau of Statistics system unlike bicycle helmets.
WA like many States fail to recognise separate proscribed offences with differing levels of penalty are needed or that visor offences should be a minor defect notice rather than a fine as per car windscreen tinting.
Use of the defect system means the ACCC can be alerted to retailers selling visors not complying to standards.