West Branch Times
Op-Ed · August 22, 2007

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) itself in its 1996 NHTSA State Legislative Fact Sheet stated: “Reported helmet use rates for fatally injured motorcyclists in 1995 were 55 percent and 42 percent for passengers, compared with 54 percent and 49 percent, respectively in 1994.” The way I read this, it doesn’t matter whether I wear a helmet or not — I still have a better than 1 in 2 chance of being killed if I am involved in an accident while riding my motorcycle.

When you can convince me that wearing a helmet will give me better than a 50/50 chance of allowing me to survive a collision with a tractor-trailer rig and not come out of it as a vegetable – or worse yet – with my brain intact and my body paralyzed – then I’ll start wearing a helmet. Until you can do that – why don’t you wear your helmet and leave the rest of us alone – that is if you even ride a motorcycle.

Oh, and if your heartburn over this issue is because you think it doesn’t make sense for helmets not to be required when seatbelts are – I have a solution to that dilemma for you – seatbelts should go back to being a matter of personal choice too.

Steve Gray

North Little Rock, Ark.