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Save the Cyclists

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Submitted By jntwebb
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In the month of April 2012, Michigan lawmakers sought to remove the motorcycle helmet law that had been in place for 20 plus years. This is been a hot topic that has had a lot of proposals, none of which seemed to be acceptable to Michigan lawmakers until the fate of Michigan motorcyclists was dangling in one man’s hand. Michigan Governor Rick Snyder made the difference when he voted yes to not enforcing motorcyclists to wear helmets. Since this decision there has been a substantial increase in fatalities of the motorcyclists. Michigan no longer requires motorcyclists to wear protective head gear. The new law basically states that if a rider chooses to not wear a helmet you are to have a $20,000 insurance policy that is supposed to cover your medical and other costs, in the event you are injured in an accident without a helmet on. It has been proven time and time again that $20, 000 will not cover even one day in a critical care unit at a local hospital. Michael Dabbs, president of the Brain Injury Association of Michigan, said the $20,000 insurance coverage that riders are required to buy “would probably buy a part of the day in the ER and intensive care and not much more”. (Durkin, 2013) Motorcyclists feel that if they are required to wear a helmet it takes away their personal freedom. They feel it is a breach of their freedom and motorcyclists stand firm on this belief. Bikers think that if they choose not to wear a helmet, bikers should not have to. Bikers back up their passion about not wearing a helmet by stating that people can smoke drink, take drugs and etc. in America; so why not have the freedom of not wearing a helmet in America. “Helmets, some riders say, take away from the freedom they feel on their bike. The choice to protect their head with a helmet should be theirs, and the government should not “tell them what to do.” It is, after all, their head and no one else’s”. (Lindsey, 2013) Motorcyclists feel a loss of freedom and more restriction while wearing a helmet, what about seat belts? We all have to wear seat belts or we are pulled over ticketed, fined and in some cases made to appear in court. Changing the law to conform to the weak freedom argument is crazy. If we are going to change that law, how about changing the laws on seatbelts or infant seats for that matter. There is just as much evidence that proves seatbelts save lives as do the helmets saving lives yet we here in Michigan are still forced to wear safety belts. A solution would be to change the new law so that the motorcyclist who chooses to not wear a helmet must sign a paper that states that he or she will never be able to collect any public, state or federal monies as a result of not wearing a helmet. Riders would have to carry a card signed by them, on file with law officials, that states in the event of a motorcycle accident they are not to receive any free or government provided medical services. This would mean that the bike riders would have to have their own current insurance to cover the complete cost of an accident, their medical bills and other bills associated with an accident. This would be a high priced premium and many riders would not consider this to be fair but in reality it is. In the state of Michigan if you are involved in an automobile accident Medicaid will not pay your medical bills. This is one of the reasons that Michigan drivers who do not have their own medical insurance through work or on their own have to pay a higher premium for car insurance. There is no free ride for automobile drivers, why should motorcyclists have it any better? In order for my solution to work each driver who has signed the waiver to no federal or state monies would have to have some kind of endorsement on their motorcycle so that if they do get pulled over for a citation they could show the officer why they were not wearing a helmet. This will also make it easy for the paramedics when and if the time arise that they need medical care. Michigan motorcyclists would not approve of my solution because they would argue it is not fair and it is against their freedom. In my eyes, it is not against their freedom because no one in this world gets anything for free. If you want to smoke cigarettes until you die from cancer, that is your choice but the insurance companies are not going to pay for it. Michigan motorcyclists have come up with various arguments against having any helmet laws at all and most of them stem from what appears to be a child throwing a tantrum! There is a lot of “It’s not fair” and “why do we have too?” Some motorcyclists will argue that people do not always wear their seatbelts and this is true but those same people get a huge ticket when they are caught or they suffer even more physical injury if they are involved in an accident. Automobile drivers in Michigan do not have the choice to go without a seatbelt so why should bikers have any different rights? Bikers are the ones who are choosing to ignore the millions of statistics that show the increase in death and injury from not wearing a helmet, not the rest of us restrained drivers.

References
Bikers Without Helmets Cost Us Big Money." New York Times 24 June 1995. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 15 June 2013.
Durkin, A. (2013, April 9). More dead, injured as result of new motorcycle helmet law [Electronic version]. Freep.
Lindsey, D. (2013, March 30). Don't Repeal Law Requiring Helmet's for motorcycle Riders. Knoxnews. Retrieved from http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/mar/30/don-lindsey-dont-repeal-law-requiring-helmets/?print=1

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