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http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/editorspick_mobile/x2042556278/Legislation-could-ease-states-motorcycle-helmet-laws
Legislation could ease state's motorcycle helmet laws.
By Krista Kano/Daily News Correspondent
MetroWest Daily News Posted
Last update Nov 30, 2011 @ 12:42 AM
Gutting a state law requiring helmets for motorcyclists will increase the number of deaths and serious head injuries, law enforcement officials and safety advocates say.
The proposed measure will be the subject of a legislative hearing on Beacon Hill today.The bill, filed by Sen. Stephen Brewer, D-Barre, and set to be discussed by the Joint Committee on Transportation, would require only those under 21 to wear a helmet. All motorcyclists and passengers now must wear helmets.
"Being over 21 or under 21 doesn't matter if you're involved in a crash," Framingham Police Chief Steven Carl said. "Age has nothing to do with the injuries you'll sustain. It's proven how much helmets will reduce injuries and save lives."
MetroWest is home to 8,000 registered motorcyclists.
Massachusetts is one of 20 states requiring that all motorcyclists wear helmets. Three states - Illinois, Iowa and New Hampshire - have no helmet laws. If Brewer's proposal passes, Massachusetts would join 27 other states that have helmet laws that extend only to young riders, most under age 18.
Motorcyclists are 37 times more likely than car drivers to die in a crash and nine times more likely to be injured, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Commission. Riders who don't wear helmets are three times more likely to receive traumatic brain injuries than those who wear helmets, the commission says.
"Getting a brain injury is with you forever," said B.J. Williams, spokesman for the Massachusetts Brain Injury Association. "The least we can do is to keep people safer on a motorcycle, whether they're operating or just a passenger, especially for drivers who don't have good experience."
Williams said treatment for a brain injury may last anywhere from a couple of months to a lifetime, and those services could cost as much as $9 million.
"I'm surprised legislators are even actually discussing it," Carl said.
In 1967, the federal government began requiring states to enact motorcycle helmet laws before they could receive funding for certain federal safety programs and highway construction funds. By 1975, all but three states had mandatory helmet laws for all riders. From 1976 to 1978, though, after the federal requirement was dropped, 20 states weakened their laws to require helmets only for those under 18, and eight states repealed the laws completely.
Since then, helmet laws have waxed and waned, with the number of motorcycle deaths increasing with the elimination of helmet laws in various states.
"I personally am not in favor" of any move to drop the helmet requirement, Westborough Police Chief Alan Gordon said. "We've had a number of motorcycle crashes, and I've seen helmets with big cracks across them and people have walked away without injuries. If they hadn't been wearing a helmet and their head had hit the pavement, that crack would have been in their skull."
