Motorcycle Accident Lawyer Blog

The controversy over whether motorcycle helmets should be mandatory or not illustrates a deep division within American society. The trend now is away from helmet laws, ever since 1985 when the federal government stopped making helmet laws a condition for funding. Now just 20 states have a helmet law. Some of those laws require helmets only for riders younger than 18.

Freedom Fighters

On one side of this controversy are most of the bike riders themselves who treasure the freedom of choosing whether or not they will wear a helmet. They regard it as a personal choice. Riding a motorcycle is an exhilarating experience and even more so when you can feel the wind and sunshine on you and glory in your speed and control. Helmets and heavy riding clothes interfere with that joy. Riders and their supporters feel that each person is responsible for his or her own safety and no government has any right to mandate what they should wear while riding. They will accept any increased safety risk as the price life demands for their freedom.

Law Makers

On the other side of the controversy are those who don’t necessarily ride a motorcycle but who think that riders should be required to wear protective gear including helmets at all times while riding. They consider increased motorcycle accident injuries or deaths to be unacceptable. They view government regulations and laws as being the correct way to control accident statistics among motorcycle riders. They also get upset about the “mixed messages” of what is safe practice and what is unacceptable practice. They would rather see federal laws imposing uniformity on all bike riders in the nation.

Federal vs. State Government

There is a “state government vs. federal government” issue in all this. Quite apart from helmet laws, some people wish to have federal government laws override state laws on many issues and others feel that is overstepping on the part of the federal government.

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell (D) repealed his state’s helmet law in July 2003 for riders over 21 with at least two years’ riding experience. A spokesman for the Alliance of Bikers Aimed Toward Education (ABATE), a 7,000-member anti-helmet-law group, applauded the Governor’s act – the more so in that the U.S. was founded in Pennsylvania to defend liberty. ABATE maintains that it is every American’s right to be safe, or not safe.

Those who would like more government control point to European countries, where all riders are required to wear head-to-toe safety attire. Opponents respond that Americans are not obliged to copy what is done in Europe.

Motorcycle Education Groups

Rider safety and education are done by many motorcycle organizations, such as ABATE mentioned above, the American Motorcyclist Association, the National Motorcycle Safety Foundation, and the international Hells Angels Motorcycle Club. Local groups also abound where new riders can learn from those more experienced.

As far as injuries are concerned, it is well established that when an accident involves a passenger vehicle and a motorcycle, it is the rider who is typically hurt or killed, not the vehicle driver or passengers. Motorcycles do not pose a great risk to other vehicles on the highways, being smaller than all the others.

The controversy may never be permanently resolved, but may drift to one side and then back to the other as society changes over the years. If you have been badly hurt in a motorcycle accident, learning about your legal rights and options would be a good move. If you are in the Chicago, IL area, the Law Offices of Barry G. Doyle is an excellent place to get reliable answers and aggressive representation.