It is a personal freedom to wear a helmet or not. This comes across from all personal political concepts. There are statistics that helmets increase your chance of being ok after an accident.
Since 1988 Arizona has had a helmet law, which affects every motorcyclist in the state. The result of not wearing a helmet in Arizona can be far more disastrous than a traffic ticket.
Helmets decrease the severity of head injuries, the likelihood of death, and the overall cost of medical care. They are designed to cushion and protect riders' heads from the impact of a crash. Just like safety belts in cars, Helmets cannot provide total protection against head injury or death, but they do reduce the incidence of both.
Motorcycles; all-terrain vehicles; motor driven cycles; equipment; exception; prohibition A. An operator or passenger of a motorcycle, all-terrain vehicle or motor driven cycle who is under eighteen years of age shall wear at all times a protective helmet on the operator's or passenger's head in an appropriate manner.
This letter is in response to George Novak's Feb. 17 letter, "Relaxing law requiring of motorcycle helmets is a bad idea." My name is Mark Nicholson, and I am the chairman of the Association for Motorcyclists of Oregon, an organization where our slogan is "Freedom of Choice."
It is an overview of the helment law, that we currently don't have unless the rider is under the age of eighteen. It gives all the information from when it used to be law to how it got revoked and opinons from medical personnel on the consequences of riding without a helmet.
Greg Merle does a wonderful job of pointing out the facts that lead to the question are we really free? He lists a few restrictions the government puts on the American people.
"What is it that big government doesn't get about the "pursuit of happiness". We have to be free to make mistakes. We don't need laws designed to protect me from me, such as seat belt laws, trans fat laws, helmet laws, shower head water flow laws, etc. Did you know that there is actually a black market on certain toilets because the government wants to control how much you flush? From a logical stand point, it's ridiculous."
Also covers one or more non-bicycle wheeled vehicles: in-line skates, roller skates, skateboarders, non-motorized scooters. There are other laws that cover them too, but we don't have the info on all of them yet. New Mexico was the first to include tricycle riders. ** Florida permitted counties to opt out.
This older article still holds much significance in the attack on America's personal freedoms. The introduction of helmet and seat belt laws is a fairly new infringement on an individual's right to assume his or her own risk. The laws are passed concerning a "social cost," involved in managing these actions.