Tagged: motorcycle

LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Members of Michigan's insurance and medical industries as well as some rider groups are calling on lawmakers and Gov. Rick Snyder to reinstate the state's mandatory motorcycle helmet law.

The group met at the Capitol Wednesday. They say modifying the law to allow people over the age of 21 to ride helmetless is costing the state lives.

A recent study by a University of Michigan researcher says 26 fewer people would have died last year if all riders wore helmets.

Experts agree that the best way to reduce traffic fatalities involving motorcyclists is mandatory helmet laws.

But only nineteen states have such laws, and the number is smaller than it used to be, as several states in recent years repealed their mandatory helmet laws, including Michigan.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office says barring that most effective strategy, Congress should consider letting states use their federal motorcycle safety grants for more things.

The group that led the charge to repeal Michigan’s motorcycle helmet requirement says the state has not suffered a rash of biker deaths in the past six months.

That is how long it has been since the law was changed.

American Bikers Aiming Toward Education (ABATE) point to state data between January and the end of August.

But state officials say it is really too early to tell what the effect has been.

Anne Readett of the state’s Office of Highway Safety Planning (OHSP) said the data is provisional and incomplete.

“We, in our office, are not going to speculate one way or the other until we know that we have final data to look at,” she said.

The OHSP did release up-to-date numbers showing biker deaths slightly up since last year. The department also said there has been a 14 percent increase in incapacitating injuries.

Readett said they won’t be able to reach any good conclusions until at least spring, when they analyze the entire year.

A state House committee has approved a measure that would allow motorcyclists 21 years and older with at least two years of experience to ride without a helmet.

This is the newest compromise that opponents of the helmet law hope will win the support of Governor Rick Snyder.

The measure to repeal the four-decade-old helmet law now goes to the floor of the state House for a vote.

Republican state Representative Peter Petallia (R-Presque Isle)is the sponsor.

He says Michigan is the only state in the Midwest that does not allow motorcycle riders to remove their helmets.

“If Michigan did not have a helmet law, so you think we would enact a helmet law? My answer would be ‘no'," said Petallia.

Governor Snyder has said he will not support a helmet law repeal without assurances the costs of medical care for injured riders won’t be passed along to taxpayers or insurance rate payers.

The Petallia bill requires riders who want to doff their helmets to carry an additional $20,000 in medical coverage.

Opponents of the repeal say that would not cover a week of intensive care.