AMA: AMA claims progress on non-helmet safety measures

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http://www.examiner.com/motorcycle-in-national/ama-claims-progress-on-non-helmet-safety-measures
AMA claims progress on non-helmet safety measures

November 18th, 2010 5:49 pm ETDo you like this story? The endless battle between the mandatory motorcycle helmet forces and the riders who want to choose for themselves has kicked up again, but the riders may be making progress. While the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) called this week for helmet laws nation-wide, a move that the group Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety loudly applauded and the Motorcycle Riders Foundation denounced, the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) is cautiously hopeful.
While the AMA strongly favors voluntary helmet use, its contention is that motorcycle safety efforts are better spent on measures that would help reduce accidents in the first place. That message may finally be getting through to some safety bureaucrats, according to AMA President Rob Dingman.
In his letter to AMA members in the November issue of "American Motorcyclist" magazine, Dingman tells of attending a recent safety conference where, "For the first time, there was recognition that there is more to a comprehensive aproach to motorcycle safety than the enactment of a mandatory helmet law."
Dingman expanded on that statement:
NHTSA Region 7 Administrator Romell Cooks began her welcoming remarks by asking the attendees when the last helmet law was enacted. (The answer is August 2004, when Louisiana reinstated a universal motorcycle helmet law.) She made the point that helmet laws weren't popular, and that recent efforts to enact them have, therefore, not been successful. She went on to discuss a variety of motorcycle safety countermeasures that have been employed as part of comprehensive motorcycle safety programs to address the long-term trend of a rising motorcycle fatality rate. There was even one speaker who explained that the increased fatality rate was due in part to an increase in ridership, a concept that seems to have eluded so many in the safety community.
In response to the NTSB's move specifically, the AMA's Pete Terhorst issued this statement today:
The call from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) for mandatory motorcycle helmet laws in all states is not new, however NTSB has raised the visibility of their recommendation by adding it to their "Most Wanted List."
In the absence of any state changing its motorcycle helmet law since 2004, motorcycling fatalities in 2009 decreased for the first time in more than a decade, dropping 16 percent to 4,462 in 2009 from 5,312 in 2008, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
The AMA strongly encourages voluntary helmet use and advocates that adult motorcyclists should have the right to choose. Visit http://www.americanmotorcyclist.com/legisltn/positions/helmet.asp for the AMA position statement.
The AMA advocates that any increase in federal safety funds be directed toward programs that reduce the likelihood of a crash from occurring: rider education, motorist awareness, stronger penalties for distracted driving, roadway engineering improvements and more funds for the crash causation study underway at Oklahoma State University.