Democrats Strike Down Attempt to Weaken Motorcycle Helmet Law

SACRAMENTO -- A biker-backed measure to relax California’s mandatory motorcycle helmet law was run off the road Monday by the Assembly’s majority Democrats, who dismissed arguments that the law infringes on riders’ personal freedoms.

The legislation by Assemblyman Dennis Mountjoy (R-Monrovia)--the seventh effort to relax or repeal the helmet law since it was passed 11 years ago--would have allowed motorcyclists 21 and older to ride without headgear if they possessed a $1-million insurance policy.

The measure fell 7 votes short of the 41 needed for passage.

Supporters, including the national bikers group American Brotherhood Aimed Toward Education and the California Motorcycle Dealers Assn., argued that the helmet law represents an unwarranted government intrusion into riders’ right to ride free, with their faces to the wind, if they want to do so.

Opponents, who included an array of police, public health and insurance groups, argued that no major freedoms are being curtailed, and pointed to a growing body of evidence that helmets save lives and reduce medical costs often footed by the public. Anti-helmet advocates dispute those numbers.

Most Republican legislators sided with the motorcycle groups during an impassioned Assembly debate, casting the issue as one of fundamental personal rights.

Assemblyman Jay La Suer (R-La Mesa) recalled how his late father, then 90, told him a decade ago that he regretted that his grandchildren and great-grandchildren would not experience the same America he had.

“It is a question of freedom of choice,” La Suer said, referring to the roar of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle as “the sound of freedom in America.”

Democrats, who hold 50 of the Assembly’s 80 seats, were unmoved. Most sided with the health advocates, and called the helmet bill a matter of simple common sense, not overzealous government.

Assemblywoman Helen Thomson (D-Davis), a former nurse, rallied her colleagues to oppose the helmet measure, citing a Sacramento Bee editorial that dubbed it the “Brains on the Pavement Act.”

“Why in the world would we give people the license to kill themselves?” said Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento). “Helmets save lives.”