Posted On: June 20, 2006, 7:12 pm CDT

Posted By: Ray Henke

When bank robber Willie Sutton was asked why he robbed banks, he replied "Because that is where the money is."

You may review my previous comment below with regard to the death statistics commonly cited in support of helmet legislation. But most important to the last two postings is that head injury and death statistics, even if credited are merely a drop in the bucket in terms of the panoply of motorcyclist injury which combines to define the state public health crisis and fiscal concerns asserted by the state's in support of helmet laws. The states have for too long pretended that they are doing something meaningful to reduce motorcyclist injury, when bank robber Willie Sutton would laugh with disdain, as anyone who looks at the statistics recognizes that the enactment of helmet laws is no more than robbing a convenience store, while ignoring the bank next door, filled with all of the caskets and gurneys filled with bikers who have suffered debilitating or fatal internal injuries, paralyzed, faced with life long medical and convalescent or nursing care, with their limbs amputated, and with catastrophic orthopedic injuries, unable again to return to their professions.
This panoply of motorcyclist injury is what defines the public health crisis, and it also defines the state fiscal crisis, just because the auto drivers responsible for the vast majority of multi-vehicle motorcycle accidents are both underinsured to pay for the injuries and medical expense they cause, and are unwilling personally to take responsibility to pay the expense they've caused above the limits of their insurance policies.
So, where is the bank? The bank is in reducing the incidence of multi-vehicle motorcycle accidents, fully 2/3 of which are caused solely the result of auto driver negligence, without any fault at all on the part of the biker. That is where the money is. The vast majority of such accidents result specifically from auto driver inattention to motorcyclists at intersections, the remainder, lane change and rear end accidents caused by auto drivers.
If we want to solve the real, big public health issue, represented by the full panoply of motorcyclist injury, and substantially reduce the state fiscal consequence of motorcycle accidents and the injuries sustained by both helmeted and unhelmeted bikers alike, then the answer is not in robbing convenience stores, it is not in helmet legislation. The solution is mandatory auto driver education on motorcycle safety issues, and in particular on the motorcycle accident avoidance strategies which auto drivers must employ for the protection of bikers. There needs to be a well funded motorcycle awareness campaign to inform auto drivers of the importance particularly of opening their eyes and looking for the oncoming motorcyclist at intersections in particular. And the state should adopt penalty legislation, specifically, either substantial drivers license suspensions or jail time for auto drivers who recklessly or inattentively injure or kill a motorcyclist (because at the moment auto drivers don't attend to bikers, primarily because they don't see them as a threat to them in the same way they see cars as a threat to them, and so penalty legislation is needed so that they will get it, that crippling or killing a biker will affect them personally.)
That's where the money is, my friends, so lets not pretend that helmets are the panacea either for the public health crisis or the state fiscal concerns. Lets recognize that our auto driving state legislators just see dictating what bikers wear as a way to pretend, for their political reasons, that they are doing something about these issues when in fact they are not. Instead, lets actually do something positive for a change to reduce motorcyclist injury across the board, the full panoply of injury, among helmeted and unhelmeted bikers alike. And at the same time provide the state meaningful relief for a change, from the costs it must bear when auto drivers refuse to pay for the injuries they cause.
Ride safe, my friends, or as we at Motorcyclists Against Dumb Drivers would say, "Ride Smart Until the Dumb Drivers Get Smart."
M-A-D-D Ray Henke
Motorcyclists Against Dumb Drivers
http://www.motorcyclists-against-dumb-drivers.com