Mandatory Helmet Law

In response to “Death Is the Ultimate Inconvenience” (editorial, April 9):

While I would never ride a motorcycle without wearing a helmet, why should I have the right to enforce my point of view on someone else? Arguments that the health care costs are burdensome to taxpayers miss the point. If someone chooses to ride a motorcycle without a helmet, subject the rider to a significantly higher insurance rate. Arguments that these people are endangering themselves miss the point. If someone is “endangering” themselves, we’d better stop hunting, skiing, bungee jumping and almost all manner of physical activity. For that matter, certain professions and degrees should be off-limits as well. Arguments pointing to an analogous law concerning seat belts in cars miss the point. Who said the seat belt law is a good law? The important point is people must not be proscribed from making their own decisions. People must be held accountable for those decisions, but it is still theirs to make.

Education and financial incentives are the key. If adults make a conscious decision to do something that harms no one else and are willing to pay the price, their folly is their own business.

MICHAEL J.D. LAWRENCE

Los Angeles