Making Helmets Mandatory

My wife and I, registered voters, avid motorcyclists and strong believers in personal freedom, strongly opposed AB 8, the bill to mandate helmet use for motorcyclists.

Statistics from other states support the fact that helmets actually cause accidents and injuries--due to restricted vision, restricted hearing, excessive heat, etc.--while not significantly reducing fatalities. In fact, many states without mandatory helmet laws have fewer deaths per 100,000 registrations than those that have such laws.

The answer lies in education, not legislation, such as motorcycle safety programs supported by the American Motorcycle Assn., the Motorcycle Safety Foundation, the Modified Motorcycle Assn. and others.

If the issue is now monetary (which its proponents claim) it appears to us that those additional accidents would raise insurance and health care costs rather than lower them since there would be far more people seriously injured or crippled as a direct result of wearing helmets.

But this issue goes deeper than that--it has to do with the principles upon which our country was founded--our freedoms, our liberties and our right to choose. Let those that ride decide.

DANIEL DEYO

Torrance