Nebraska also looks to repeal helmet law...........

OFF THE WIRE
More ammunition for those of us who live in states where there's still a helmet law.... I hope
Gypsy
http://journalstar.com/news/unicameral/article_297d566f-d1cd-5f16-8d88-237f7471c50e.html
Bill would repeal state's motorcycle helmet requirement
By JoANNE YOUNG / Lincoln Journal Star
JournalStar.com
Related Links Related: 2011 Legislative Session coverage Related: The Session: A Legislature blog Supporters and opponents of repealing Nebraska's 22-year motorcycle helmet law returned to the Capitol on Monday to offer more opinions on the issue.
Supporters wanted the freedom to choose -- to wear, or not to wear, headgear.
"For me," said the bill's introducer, Omaha Sen. Bob Krist, "this is about the 14th Amendment."
His comments were echoed by at least six other supporters attending a hearing on the bill (LB52) in front of the Transportation and Telecommunications Committee.
"I think that government has been stepping into our lives far too much," Todd Miller said.
Patrick Lange liked having that choice, too, he said.
He liked it until last May when he and his wife were returning from their honeymoon in South Dakota and a rear tire gave out on his 1993 Harley Davidson. He suffered a severe traumatic brain injury and multiple broken bones. His wife, Whitney Buchholz, was killed.
Besides the physical damage, and the emotional damage to their families, he said, he had more than $1.5 million in medical bills from 50 days in a coma and the recovery and rehabilitation that followed. That didn't include the financial toll on his parents for lost work and many other expenses.
Every day he wonders: what if they had been wearing helmets?
He now opposes the bill that would repeal the mandatory helmet requirement for those 21 or older. Riders 15-21 would be exempt if they complete a motorcycle safety course and carry proof of completion. It also would require motorcycle riders to wear eye protection, and make violation of the law a secondary offense.
Miller said there also are financial losses in keeping the law. The state loses tourism dollars from riders who would come to events in the state, or pass through it on their way to the hugely popular Sturgis, S.D., annual motorcycle rally.
Motorcyclists travel hundreds of miles around Nebraska so they don't have to wear a helmet in neighboring states on their trips, said Bruce Meyer of Stanton, a member of the Nebraska chapter of ABATE, American Bikers Aiming Toward Education.
Dr. Joseph Stothert, director of trauma and surgical critical care at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and medical director of trauma for the state, came to Lincoln on Monday to oppose the bill as a private citizen.
Stothert brought along statistics from one of the state's major trauma centers and the state trauma registry regarding 258 motorcyclists injured and cared for at the medical center between 2001-10.
Of those patients, 80 percent of the Nebraskans wore helmets and 36 percent of Iowans. Iowa law does not require helmets.
Nineteen percent of patients with helmets and 26 percent without helmets had severe brain injuries. Twenty-two percent of patients with helmets and 35 percent without helmets had neck fractures.
Hospital charges totaled more than $13 million. Eighteen percent of the bills were paid by Medicaid.
Not wearing a helmet increased the risks of dying for those in crashes by 50 percent, he said.
Karen Lange, Patrick's mother, talked about the toll her son's injuries and daughter-in-law's death had on her family.
Three days after the crash, her husband suffered a heart attack.
"The stress on a family is beyond what you can imagine," she said. "I can't tell you how awful it is. We are constantly asking ourselves what would have been different if they had been wearing helmets."
Krist said he was sympathetic to the devastating results of motorcycle crashes. He, too, has lost friends in that way.
"It's a choice issue," he reiterated. "I hope and pray that we will do the right thing."