Editorial: Using common sense

Thursday, Feb. 15, 2007 | 7:17 a.m.

In every legislative session for the last 25 years, opponents of the state's mandatory motorcycle helmet law have tried to get rid of it. We wish they would stop wasting everyone's time.

The latest attempt comes in the form of a bill by Sen. Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, which gained a public hearing before the Senate Transportation Committee.

Committee Chairman Dennis Nolan, R-Las Vegas, noted that this time there are far more people who support the law. Only one person testified in front of the committee against the helmet law, while a host of others testified in favor of it.

Still, Beers raised a "philosophical question" of "whether it's the government's role to tell adults that they must wear a helmet while riding a motorcycle." This, however, is not a philosophical question. This is simply common sense.

First, helmets work. Clark County Coroner Mike Murphy said National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statistics show that motorcycle riders without a helmet are more than 40 percent more likely to receive a fatal head injury when they crash.

"I will be very succinct," Murphy said. "We are opposed. We don't need the business."

Opponents argue that helmets limit riders' vision and hearing and say that helmets actually contribute to neck injuries. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, though, has found there "is no credible evidence to support these arguments." Instead, the institute found that helmets "decrease the severity of injury, the likelihood of death, and the overall cost of medical care."

Second, and this should be obvious to a fiscal conservative such as Beers, it makes financial sense. Scott Craigie, a lobbyist for the Nevada State Medical Association, said many of the people in motorcycle crashes "become a burden to the state because they don't have health care insurance that covers the kind of long-term damage that these accidents cause."

Instead of raising philosophical questions, opponents should look at the facts and realize that the public and motorcycle riders are best served with the helmet law. The Legislature should deny this bill.