Despite losing his leg and nearly his life in a motorcycle accident
two years ago, Dave Zien still believes helmets are not the answer to
reducing motorcycle fatalities.
“Helmets restrict, vision, hearing mobility of the head. I feel strongly, I’ll go to the grave. That helmets cause accidents,” said Zien.
Wisconsin’s highways have become a high risk for riders. 116 people died in motorcycle accidents in 2012; up from 85 in 2011.
Greg Patzer is the motorcycle safety manager for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. He says one in four riders killed in crashes was wearing a helmet.
“If we look at the overall average with regard to helmet use over a 10 year period, it’s about 72 percent of those involved in fatalities don’t wear a motorcycle helmet,” said Patzer.
Tony Sanfelipo is the founder of ABATE, a motorcycle rights group. He says mandatory helmet laws are an attack on personal liberty. Sanfelipo says the government’s study is skewed to push a helmet-use agenda.
“When you just throw out raw numbers, it looks good on paper. If you dig deeper, you find out there’s a lot more to it. That might be true, I don’t know what the statistics are,” said Sanfelipo.
Dave Zien says he’ll continue to rider without a helmet. He believes it’s safer for everyone.
“When I ride along somebody who has got a totally enclosed helmet I just… So, I’m afraid of them. I’m almost as afraid of them as I am with somebody in a cage for heaven’s sakes,” said Zien.
The state of Wisconsin requires anyone driving a motorcycle to carry a motorcycle license (Class M). More than 500,000 Wisconsin have that license. But here’s one more startling statistic — 40 percent of our motorcycle fatalities involve riders that are improperly licensed.
“Helmets restrict, vision, hearing mobility of the head. I feel strongly, I’ll go to the grave. That helmets cause accidents,” said Zien.
Wisconsin’s highways have become a high risk for riders. 116 people died in motorcycle accidents in 2012; up from 85 in 2011.
Greg Patzer is the motorcycle safety manager for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. He says one in four riders killed in crashes was wearing a helmet.
“If we look at the overall average with regard to helmet use over a 10 year period, it’s about 72 percent of those involved in fatalities don’t wear a motorcycle helmet,” said Patzer.
Tony Sanfelipo is the founder of ABATE, a motorcycle rights group. He says mandatory helmet laws are an attack on personal liberty. Sanfelipo says the government’s study is skewed to push a helmet-use agenda.
“When you just throw out raw numbers, it looks good on paper. If you dig deeper, you find out there’s a lot more to it. That might be true, I don’t know what the statistics are,” said Sanfelipo.
Dave Zien says he’ll continue to rider without a helmet. He believes it’s safer for everyone.
“When I ride along somebody who has got a totally enclosed helmet I just… So, I’m afraid of them. I’m almost as afraid of them as I am with somebody in a cage for heaven’s sakes,” said Zien.
The state of Wisconsin requires anyone driving a motorcycle to carry a motorcycle license (Class M). More than 500,000 Wisconsin have that license. But here’s one more startling statistic — 40 percent of our motorcycle fatalities involve riders that are improperly licensed.
