Motor Cycle Bingo

I read with interest Indiana Governor Mitch Daniel’s comment on the unfairness of the higher registration fees for motorcycles. I recently spent some time in a long term care facility with a young man I wish our governor could meet.
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This young man, still in his twenties, lives in a wheel chair. That chair is where he will be for the rest of his life. His dreams for the future are now limited to an operation that would sever the last connections between his useless legs and his torso, because his pain medications are losing their effectiveness while still leaving him too drugged to function. And he is haunted by the bitter memory that he did this to himself. He got drunk and got on his motorcycle and rode without a helmet. And the only bone he broke was his neck.
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I wonder if, having met this young man, Mitch Daniels would still think it unfair to ask motorcycle riders to pay a $10 surcharge for the privilege of choosing to ride without a helmet.
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Most young rebels never think they are going to end up using a plastic bag to perform bodily functions, even though about 160,000 Hoosiers are currently living with traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries. That is the reality behind all the talk about freedom of the road and the rationales against “government intrusion”. You see, this young man I met is now a ward of the taxpayers of Indiana, who not only bought the wheelchair that comprises his universe but pay for the drugs that barely numb his agony, and for the 24 hour nursing care that cleans up after him. And it is the guardians of the Hoosier taxpayers’ who must decide whether to pay for an operation that may not relieve his pain.
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According to the National Highway and Transportation Safety Administration California cut fatalities 37% after a mandatory helmet law; head injuries for riders dropped 48%, and the total cost for treating riders dropped by $20.5 million. Nebraska saw a 22% reduction in fatalities, costs for acute medical care for injured riders dropped 38%, and the overall cost for treatment for motorcycle injuries dropped 8%. After Texas loosened its helmet law motorcycle fatalities there jumped 31%. In 2000 Florida allowed riders over 21 and with at least $10,000 in insurance to ride without a helmet. In 2001 an additional 117 riders died on Florida roads. In that same period injuries to riders went up 82%, and the cost of treatment went up by an average of over $6,000 per patient. And less then 25% of those requiring treatment were covered by their personal insurance despite the law.
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As a bonus, the Texas helmet laws also produced a 44% reduction in motorcycle thefts, since any potential thief would have to carry his or her own helmet.
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But more importantly, these numbers barely reflect those lucky and unlucky enough to survive a motorcycle accident but with a permanent disability. And we know that despite the riders “Live till you die” code, the wounded always vastly outnumber the dead. And then there is what the studies do not show. Despite riders’ complaints, there is no increase in accidents due to restricted vision in helmets, no helmet induced neck injuries, and research shows that a helmet is no impediment to hearing approaching danger over the sound of the motorcycle itself.
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And to those still who insist that wearing a helmet is a choice, and that the issue is personal freedom, let me quote from a 1972 federal court which commented on that same argument. “From the moment of injury, society picks the person off the highway; delivers him to a municipal hospital and municipal doctors; provides him with unemployment compensation if, after recovery, he cannot replace his lost job; and…may assume responsibility for his and his family’s subsistence. We do not understand a state of mind that permits the plaintiff to think that only he himself is concerned.”
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