Could Missouri join the states repealing motorcycle helmet laws?
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After years of trying and coming up short, motorcycle riders are close to winning the freedom to cast aside their helmets. The Missouri General Assembly is sending Gov. Jay Nixon a bill that would repeal most of a law that requires a motorcycle rider to wear a helmet.
Safety advocates say the measure couldn’t come at a worse time, because Missouri registered a record 107 motorcycle fatalities last year. State officials have developed a plan to turn back the surge, but they say repeal of the helmet law would put the initiative in jeopardy.
“The bill is just anti-safety. It’s a huge step backward,” said Leanna Depue, director of highway safety for the Missouri Department of Transportation.
“How could someone morally and ethically vote for a bill when you know people are going to die and head injuries are going to increase? How do you justify that?” she asked.
Opponents of the state’s 1967 mandatory helmet law don’t see it that way. They say it is government interference with the right of people to make decisions for themselves.
The helmet law was tantamount to a “nanny state making safety choices for other people,” said state Sen. Luann Ridgeway, who sponsored the proposal to alter the helmet law.
“You have people who don’t ride motorcycles pointing fingers at motorcycle riders and saying, ‘I’m going to tell you what’s best for you.’?”
The measure doesn’t repeal the helmet requirement outright. Helmets would still be required for riders under 21 or anyone traveling on the interstate. The law would have a sunset on Aug. 28, 2014.
Ridgeway, a Smithville Republican, said some compromises — such as the interstate restriction and the sunset clause — were needed to win support for the legislation.
A spokesman for Nixon said the governor didn’t have a position on the proposal, but would review it after the legislative session ends Friday.
A national trend
Since 1997, six states have weakened their mandatory helmet laws, and in many cases the change was followed by an increase in fatalities and injuries. That reflects a trend that’s been unfolding nationwide since 1975, when 47 states had mandatory helmet laws. The laws started losing popularity when the federal government stopped withholding highway money from states that didn’t require helmets.
Within three years, half the states had repealed their helmet laws or had rewritten them to cover only younger riders. Kansas repealed its law in 1976 and now requires helmets for riders 17 and under. Twenty states, including Missouri, mandate helmets for everyone. Twenty-seven states, including Kansas, have laws that apply to teen riders. Three states have no laws.
Studies show that motorcycle fatalities have increased in states that have weakened their helmet laws:
- In 1997, Texas and Arkansas became the first states to repeal laws that required all riders to wear helmets. Both decided to require helmets only for riders under 21.
- Motorcycle deaths increased 21 percent in Arkansas in the first full year after repeal. They increased by 31 percent in Texas, according to a study for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
- Florida altered its mandatory helmet law in July 2000, keeping the requirement for riders under 21 and others without a minimum of $10,000 in medical insurance coverage.
- The number of motorcycle fatalities in the two years after the law changed was 71 percent higher than the two years before, according to NHTSA.
Source: Kansas City Star
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