One of the reasons I'm proud to work at MoDOT is that I've seen first-hand the passion employees at all levels have for safety. Through work with the Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety, I've been privileged to witness this in multiple Missouri organizations, and it's staggering to realize how many individuals are truly dedicated to making sure you and your loved ones arrive home safely each night.
That passion could not be hidden at a news conference yesterday where our director released survey results showing Missourians support a mandatory helmet law by more than a 9-to-1 ratio. He urged Gov. Nixon to veto a recently passed bill from the Missouri legislature amending the state's all-rider helmet law, a law that has saved lives for longer than my own lifetime.
Director Rahn was joined by a trauma surgeon, a motorcycle crash survivor and a doctor who lost his father to a motorcycle crash. The video below shares their comments. I hope you'll take a moment and consider the consequences of repealing Missouri's current helmet law. No matter the outcome, maintain your own passion for safety -- buckle up in your car and wear your helmet if you ride.
Thank you Commissioner Rahn for attempting to give away the freedom that men and women in uniform so dearly paid for. Everyone is agreed it is utterly stupid to not wear a helmet. However it is a adult's right to be stupid in a truly free society. MODOT and Commissioner Rahn stick to your job. Worry about bridges and roads. Not what is or isn't on someones head.
ReplyDeleteShawn P, you don't get the big picture. When Slappy has a head injury after a motorcycle accident and his insurance company stops paying the bills someone else is responsible. It isn't Slappy who is laying in a long-term health facility, it is the taxpayers of Missouri. Now, if you can get everyone who rides without a helmet to sign a consent form that allows the hospital to pull the plug or the feeding tube then I'm all for your "freedom that men and women in uniform so dearly paid...."
ReplyDeleteI do not have to be anonymous to conclude with you. Along with the no helmet anymore should go a written consent agreement automatically enforcing lower insurance payoffs to those who wish to be so free as to place all others paying for their freedom. Or perhaps the real push would come if those who are not wearing helmets at the time of an accident relinquish their rights to be covered by any insurance carrier. Maybe that would be the enforcer! Their ignorance should not force me to pay because they have the right to be stupid! We already have a steady stream of organ donors in Illinois, why do Missourians have to follow suite?It prays on me to know that those who call it freedom to unprotect themselves are also giving birth to another generation of degenerates who believe their rights supercede those of all others. Thank you Commissioner Rahn for pursuing a rightful and safe vision for all of us on the roads of Missouri. Steve Kratchman
ReplyDeleteOperating a motor vehicle is not a right, and therefore to protect the greater public’s interests, helmets should remain a requirement.
ReplyDeleteI agree about peronal choice and freedoms. We all want them.
ReplyDeleteBut I do NOT want the personal freedoms of a few stupid motorcycle riders to increase MY taxes to care for them when they get hurt.
So I would not mind if the helmet law is revoked. But the idiots that ride without helmets should have to sign a waiver that states that they will be responsible for their own medical care WHEN they are seriously injured.
If my car collides with a motorcycle and its operator dies because he was not wearing a helmet, the memory of that death will stay with me the rest of my life -- even though the death wasn't my fault. I don't want an un-helmeted motorcyclist to impose that emotional burden on me. Director Rahn is on the right side of this one.
ReplyDeleteMotorcycle Helmets OBSCURE vision and hearing in low to moderate speed situations. Your senses are the BEST defense in PREVENTING accidents. I've safely operated over 25 motorcycles in 35 years, and speak with authority when I say that I HEAR and SEE children playing near the road, barking dogs (chasing), and traffic APPROACHING from behind and in adjacent lanes BETTER without a helmet in the city and suburbs. RIDING WITHOUT A HELMET PREVENTS ACCIDENTS. Mr. Rahn...your home State New Mexico (and mine) ALLOWS ADULTS (and those whoo actually ride motorcycles!)TO DETERMINE WHEN IT IS APPROPRIATE TO WEAR A HELMET. STOP your scare tactics and rhetoric.
ReplyDeleteSo I suppose that you carry enough insurance to pay for your hospital stay when/if you wreck and turn into a vegtable for the next XX years?
ReplyDeleteI figured not. So if you want YOUR freedom to ride without a helmet get the insurance. As a taxpayer to much of my money is siphoned off for useless purposes without having to pay for YOUR (and others like you) hospital stay.