Anthony Hatcher: Stop helmet bill

Regarding the April 25 Under the Dome item “Motorcycle helmets may be optional after 21”: The bill by Gaston County Republican Rep. John Torbett to make helmets optional after age 21 for motorcyclists is idiotic.

I’ve been riding motorcycles for 48 years and would never entertain the notion of riding on the highway without a helmet. Riding is dangerous enough in a world where people drive cars and trucks with one hand on the wheel at 80 miles an hour, while playing with a phone in the other.

Has this legislator looked at health costs lately, particularly the long-term care expense of someone with traumatic brain injury? Helmets don’t provide absolute protection from harm but they’re better than no protection at all in a crash.

The General Assembly has passed some awful laws in my home state over the past several years, and this proposal is one of the worst. Torbett claimed to ride motorcycles himself. He and those on the House Transportation Committee who support this change apparently care little about the lives of fellow bikers.

This is not a freedom issue, or one of personal responsibility, as Torbett claimed. It’s one of basic intelligence. Stop this bill – now.

This story was originally published April 29, 2017 at 6:42 PM with the headline "Anthony Hatcher: Stop helmet bill."