Hit the road with helmets

According to Indiana Code 7.1-3-10-5 Sec. 5, it's illegal for a liquor store to sell milk. It's also illegal for a liquor store to sell cold soft drinks, and don't even try to purchase beer from a store on Sunday. \nOf all the random laws Indiana has acquired in its 186 years of existence, legislating that all motorcyclists wear helmets hasn't been one of them -- and that's too bad.\nIU student Chad Culver was killed earlier this month on the State Road-45/46 Bypass when he lost control of his motorcycle and hit a chain link fence. Culver was not wearing a helmet. But that's okay with Indiana law, because Culver was 19-years-old, and "adult" enough to make his own choices. \nBy 1980, most states repealed or amended what was once virtually the law in all states -- motorcyclists, of all ages, were required to wear helmets. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa and Florida have opted to altogether exclude helmet laws from their legislation. Twenty-two states feel helmets are necessary for all riders and 24 have partial or modified helmet laws. In Indiana, people 17 years of age and younger are the only ones mandated to protect their skulls. \nThe personal choice argument just isn't convincing enough when one learns that there were 66 deaths per 100,000 registered motorcycles in 2000 compared with 16 deaths per 100,000 in cars (according to the U.S. Department of Transportation's Fatality Analysis Reporting System).\nThe same people who argue against seatbelt laws claim that helmets can hinder peripheral vision and in rare cases, can actually exacerbate head trauma. Conversely, death rates from head injuries have historically been twice as high among motorcyclists in states with no helmet laws or laws that apply only to young riders, compared with states where laws apply to all riders (Sosin, Sacks and Holmgreen, "Head injury-associated deaths from motorcycle crashes:relationship to helmet use laws," Journal of the American Medical Association vol. 264: 2395-99). \nAccording to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, helmets are 29 percent effective in preventing motorcycle deaths and 67 percent effective in preventing brain injuries. Moreover, an unhelmeted rider is 40 percent more likely to suffer a fatal head injury, compared with a helmeted rider.\nMotorcycles are less stable and less visible than cars and hence, are more accident prone than cars. When motorcycles crash, their riders lack the protection offered by enclosed vehicles, putting riders at a greater risk for injury and death. NHTSA's 2001 traffic safety facts show that per mile traveled, the number of deaths on motorcycles is about 18 times the number in cars.\nMandating that all motorcycle riders must wear helmets is simply a safety measure. \nI didn't know Culver, but he was in a class with a good friend of mine. I've heard he was a really great guy. Maybe if someone had made him wear a helmet the night of Oct. 2, we could have had the chance to meet.\n