If it's really true that Nebraska doesn't have a chance in hell to pass a helmet choice bill, should I start to humiliate some jerkoff politicians like I did in Nevada? Oh.... and trust me, I'm not finished fucking with Nevada. All in due time.
By the Omaha World-Herald
Rarely have Nebraska lawmakers received such convincing and timely confirmation of the need to retain a longstanding public safety law as they did this week.
That law: Nebraska’s requirement that motorcycle riders wear protective helmets.
It’s been on the books since 1989.
On Monday the very day the Legislature’s Transportation and Telecommunications Committee held a lengthy public hearing on a proposal to repeal the helmet law a 24-year-old motorcyclist named Tyler Godsey had a frightening road accident in Lincoln.
He ran into the back of a truck. His head struck the vehicle, then the pavement. His leg has an 8-inch gash that cut into his thigh muscles.
A very dangerous situation but Godsey avoided serious head trauma because he was wearing a protective helmet.
That experience “I thought I was going to die,” Godsey said on Tuesday has led him to change his mind about Nebraska’s helmet law.
“Before yesterday morning, I would have been completely OK with not wearing a helmet,” Godsey said. Not anymore, he added: Nebraska’s helmet law makes sense.
His example offers important real-world evidence that backs up the need for Nebraska to retain its helmet law in the face of the latest repeal effort via Legislative Bill 31, sponsored by Sen. Dave Bloomfield of Hoskins.
Infringements on individual liberty by government are a serious matter, of course. They should be undertaken only if responsible, reasoned debate leads lawmakers to decide that the public interest truly warrants it.
Over the years, that’s precisely how Nebraska lawmakers have approached motorcycle helmets, both in passing the 1989 law and in rejecting efforts at the State Capitol to repeal it.
The case for keeping the requirement is powerful and convincing. The committee hearing on Monday showed why. Medical professional after medical professional explained the suffering of head-trauma victims and their families, as well as the costs for society as a whole.
Lori Terryberry-Spohr, brain injury program manager at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital, cited a key number: $4.4 million. That’s the average estimated treatment cost for a lifelong brain injury. Society as a whole, rather than the affected families, often winds up covering those costs to a large extent, given the rarity with which such costs are fully covered by insurance.
Nicholas Worrell, with the National Transportation Safety Board, told the committee that deaths, injuries and medical costs increase whenever a state abolishes a helmet law.
“When helmet laws are repealed, we all pay the price,” he told the lawmakers.
During the hearing, supporters of LB31 argued that helmet-law repeal would bring in so many new riders heading to the annual motorcycle rally in Sturgis, South Dakota, that millions of dollars in new economic activity would be generated in Nebraska. A figure of $15 million to $25 million was specifically mentioned. It was even claimed that repeal could pave the way toward property tax relief.
Such overselling by the bill’s proponents brought a strong rebuttal from Rosemary White of AAA Nebraska.
Once one factors in the number of people who would transport their bikes by trailer, wear helmets in any case and follow the most direct routes to Sturgis, she said, the projected number of riders coming through Nebraska falls to under 10,500. Those riders would have limited impact on hotel revenues, she said, and they would contribute an average of only $1.06 in state fuel taxes each time a 4-gallon motorcycle gas tank is filled.
The helmet regulation issue has long generated strong debate among Nebraskans. In the end, the public interest justifies the requirement.
Anybody who doubts why should just ask Tyler Godsey. Fortunately, he’s still here and fully able to explain why the law makes sense
This was my little post:
Helmet laws are bull and superstition. How many dead riders were wearing cutting edge helmets? How many of those dead riders, if they could speak would say that the helmet contributed to their demise? How many of them could have seen, heard, or felt something to prevent their accident? We'll never know. All we know is that a few people CLAIM a helmet saved their life and for these FEW claims, an entire group of motorcycle riders must be forced by threat of a gun to wear a helmet? There are more head injuries by pedestrians and drivers of other motor vehicles. Why not require EVERYONE to wear a helmet? The leading causes of death are heart disease and cancer. Why not criminalize cheesecake and force people to eat healthy? I ride from Utah to Indiana and I AVOID NEBRASKA because I will not subject myself to an immoral law that has likely caused more deaths than saved. When I have to wear a helmet and a wind gust gets underneath the rim of my helmet, I lose control over my motorcycle. MLK said "An unjust law compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself." 'Nuf said.
TL
TL
http://www.theindependent.com/
Helmet law should apply to more than motorcyclists
Wednesday, February 18, 2015 12:15 am
AAA’s Rosemary White and other proponents of helmet laws seem to think that motorcycle riders are a burden to society because of the cost of injuries incurred from not wearing a helmet. Really?Helmet law is still needed
Tuesday, February 17, 2015 12:15 am
Rarely have Nebraska lawmakers received such convincing and timely confirmation of the need to retain a longstanding public safety law as they did this week.Sen. Curt Friesen: Motorcycle helmet law extremely emotional
Monday, February 16, 2015 12:15 am
Motorcyclists in Nebraska no longer would be required to wear helmets under a bill heard by the Transportation and Telecommunications Committee last week. LB31 would repeal the law that requires a motorcycle or moped operator or passenger to wear a helmet. Violation of the law is an infraction punishable by a $50 fine.Revisiting law brings up role of government
Saturday, February 14, 2015 10:13 pm
Go ahead and let the wind blow in your hair.Nebraska senator tries again to repeal motorcycle helmet law
Monday, February 9, 2015 7:45 pm
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska lawmaker hopes the Legislature's 18 freshmen, some with Libertarian leanings, are enough to win a motorcycle helmet debate that's lasted for decades.