Smith: Repeal of helmet law would be costly
Everyone ends up bearing expenses of serious traffic injuries
9:00 PM, May. 30, 2011
Donald L. Smith of Lansing is a former professor of motorcycle safety at Michigan State University and member of the Skilled Motorcyclist Association-Responsible, Trained and Educated Riders, a safety advocacy group. The question to repeal Michigan's mandatory helmet law for motorcyclists returns this time each spring as thousands of bikers fire up their machines and hit the road. Two bills have been introduced in the state Legislature. The first would allow riders 21 or older to go without helmets if they carry at least $20,000 in personal liability insurance. The second would not require helmets on riders 20 or older if they have passed a safety course or carried a motorcycle endorsement the previous two years. Every year a group representing less than one percent of motorcyclists has come to Lansing asking to end the mandatory motorcycle helmet use law.
The Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning estimates that an additional 127 catastrophic injuries and $129 million in costs will result each year if our current all-rider motorcycle helmet law is repealed. House Bill 4008 and Senate Bill 291 are bills to repeal our current law, which will likely be voted on by legislators within the next month or so.
Hitting the hard pavement with or without some protection on your head? The only sensible choice is to require a helmet, just as mandatory seat belt use makes sense. Repeal will mean lives lost. The state has enough big problems to address. More serious head injuries shouldn't be among them.
Wearing a helmet is not someone's personal choice as it affects all motorists' pocketbooks. Because of Michigan's unique no-fault law, we all pay for motorcyclists's injuries. If a motorcyclist gets into a crash with a car's no-fault insurance that will cover the cost of the motorcyclist's injuries.
Motorcycles already account for a disproportionate share of the money paid by all drivers toward health care costs for those injured in traffic accidents. All vehicle owners pay these bills through insurance premiums.
If the helmet law is repealed, everyone's insurance costs likely will climb because injuries will be more severe. The Insurance Institute of Michigan predicts repeal would increase injuries and fatalities.