ARIZONA: Brain bucket or no brain bucket?

OFF THE WIRE
http://www.statepress.com/2011/02/08/brain-bucket-or-no-brain-bucket/
Brain bucket or no brain bucket?
By Tyler Jones February 8, 2011 at 6:50 pm

While the weather may not be warming up as we approach spring and turn the calendar pages closer to summer, the urge to jump on the iron horse will be beckoning many of us to fly low and avoid the radar on our daily commutes and weekend road trips.

As a motorcyclist who rides a Suzuki GSX-R600 every day to class, to run errands and even get to the grocery store, I don’t leave home without my brain bucket. But when I drive into the Tempe campus, I constantly see riders of both motorcycles and scooters wearing flip-flops and shorts while going without helmets.

Those people who want to be twisting the throttle heading out of sweeping curves at 70 mph make no sense to me.

Yes, I know we live in a state that only mandates helmets be worn by riders under the age of 18, and I agree that if someone is old enough to fight for their country then they should have the choice of whether they protect the most important part of their body.

However, I am also against blanket helmet laws. People should be free to make smart or stupid decisions before they head out riding. Riding without a helmet, or gloves at the very least, is the definition of stupid to this rider. But the government shouldn’t tell anyone they aren’t allowed to do that.

I suggest that the insurance companies get involved with this one. Offer discounts to riders who take the initiative to minimize the risk of injury by wearing appropriate safety gear. If everyone who operates a car, motorcycle and some larger motor scooters has to carry insurance, why not offer a discount for being smart about it?

Make the discount a reasonable incentive to wear a helmet – say fifteen percent. For riders who hold full comprehensive and collision coverage, that is more than just chump change saved, which seems to make sense to me.

My proposal is not an absolute solution, but when the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s January 2003 fact sheet indicates “that motorcycle helmets are 67 percent effective in preventing brain injuries and that un-helmeted motorcyclists involved in crashes were three times more likely to suffer brain injuries than those wearing helmets,” some common sense should be exercised.

Maybe I just don’t get it. Maybe my love and passion for riding is the motivation that causes me to grab my helmet before heading out of the house without thinking about it.

I don’t get a discount on my insurance for wearing a helmet, but that wouldn’t be my primary motivation for wearing one. My love of riding and desire to do so for many years is.

No one is invincible, and when it comes to riding a motorcycle, getting into a crash is not so much a matter of “if” but one of “when.”

Comments, concerns, complaints and nasty-grams can be sent to Tyler at tjones16@asu.edu