USING YOUR HEAD

The best rationale for motorcycle helmet laws came from the three federal judges who considered the issue more than three decades ago. Dismissing the idea, which persists, that helmet use should be an individual decision, the judges wrote: “From the moment of the injury, society picks the person up off the highway; delivers him to a municipal hospital and municipal doctors; provides him with unemployment compensation, if after recovery, he cannot replace his lost job and, if the injury causes permanent disability, may assume responsibility for his and his family’s subsistence. We do not understand a state of mind that permits the plaintiff to think that only he himself is concerned.”

This conclusion, reached by the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in 1972 and affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court later that year, should persuade lawmakers in Maine to approve a bill submitted by their colleague, Rep. Walter Wheeler. The Kittery Democrat has proposed a law requiring all motorcyclists to wear

a helmet. Current law requires only those under 15 and those with learners permits to wear helmets.

Passage of the law would make Maine the 21st state to enact a helmet law. The state had such a law for a decade until it was repealed in 1977 after Congress amended the Highway Safety Act to remove sanctions against states without motorcycle helmet laws. Last year, 22 people in Maine were killed in motorcycle accidents, the highest number in a decade. Nationally, motorcycle fatalities have been climbing as well, from 2,483 in 1991 to 3,661 in 2003.

Bearing out the judges’ point in the Massachusetts case, studies in other states have found that non-helmeted riders are twice as likely as those who wear helmets to suffer serious head injuries. An Oklahoma review found that non-helmeted riders accounted for 72 percent of motorcycle injury hospital care costs. Of those costs, two-thirds were covered by the government or taxpayers. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that helmet use saved $1.3 billion in 2002. That number would have nearly doubled if all riders were required to wear helmets.

Motorcycle helmets also save lives. The administration estimates that nearly 10,000 motorcycle fatalities could have been prevented between 1984 and 2002 if helmets were required. Non-helmeted riders are twice as likely as those wearing helmets to die in an accident.

The American Motorcycle Association argues the helmets don’t prevent accidents, which is true but misses the point. Accident avoidance, through motorcycle education programs and licensing requirements, is a worthwhile goal. But, accidents occur and helmets can minimize their consequences.

Rep. Wheeler’s bill should be supported.