Head-to-Head Battle
Bikers Lobby to Eliminate State Helmet Laws

By Karen Lundegaard
Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

His name is Sputnik. He has the word "FREE" tattooed across his forehead. He wears his hair in a Mohawk. He has five earrings dangling from his left ear.

And he's helping to write your state's safety laws.

Sputnik and other biker-lobbyists like him are fighting, state by state, for what they see as freedom on the road-the right to ride a motorcycle without a helmet. Others see it as an assault on safety and common sense.

Over nearly three decades, bikers have pushed successfully to weaken or eliminate helmet laws in 29 states. Most of that activity came in the 1970s, but recently, bikers have been active again. Since 1997, five states-Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Arkansas-have repealed laws requiring all motorcycle riders to wear helmets. Federal statistics show that, on average, in the years after the recent legislative changes, helmet use dropped, and motorcycle deaths increased.

That isn't slowing Sputnik, however. He has traveled to 39 states in recent years to motivate bikers with what he calls his "Five Steps to Freedom," a primer that begins with registering biker voters and aims ultimately at putting them in office. At least four states-Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina and Tennessee-came close to repealing helmet laws last year, and the bikers say they are revving up to try again.

"We've learned the game so well that now we're making the rules," James "Doc" Reichenbach, another biker-lobbyist, boasted at a motorcyclists' rights conference held in Oklahoma City last May.

Too Hot in the Summer

Many bikers complain that helmets make it harder to see and hear and that they are too hot in the summer. Some motorcyclists also argue that researchers manipulate statistics to show that helmets save lives. Demanding that the choice should be theirs, biker-lobbyists have changed lawmakers' minds by mobilizing large numbers of fellow enthusiasts focused on this issue and willing to make phone calls, write letters and monitor statehouse votes.

All told, 20 states and the District of Columbia have laws requiring helmets for all riders. Others require them only for young or inexperienced riders, or people who lack sufficient insurance. By contrast, all states except New Hampshire require use of car seatbelts.

To some, the retreat from helmet requirements, led by a vocal minority of riders, defies logic. John Morris, head of the trauma center at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., says he sees "on a regular basis individuals who don't go home because they didn't wear a helmet." But until recently, doctors groups hadn't made a priority of countering the biker-activists.

Motorcycle manufacturers tiptoe around the debate. Harley Davidson and Honda Motor both say they encourage riders to wear helmets. But the manufacturers add that it should be up to the consumer to make the choice. Bob Klein, a Harley spokesman, says this position doesn't reflect a fear of alienating riders who oppose helmets. Instead, he says, "We firmly believe in the fact that riders should be able to exercise their own best judgment."

Helmet makers have also been reluctant to join the debate. Chris Sackett, marketing manager at Bell Powersports, says, "If you have some layer of protection, that's going to protect you better than having your head hit the pavement. That's kind of obvious." But Mr. Sackett says Bell lacks the resources to lobby and fears that pushing for helmet requirements might backfire if bikers accused Bell of "using scare tactics to sell helmets."

The statistical case for helmet laws seems solid, according to analysis of government figures. In each state that recently repealed its mandatory helmet law, motorcycle deaths have more than doubled, sometimes in as short a span as three years. Motorcycle use has also increased, although not as much. To account for increased use, The Wall Street Journal looked at the change in motorcycle fatalities per 10,000 registered motorcycles.

Nationally, motorcycle deaths rose 12% in 2003, to 3,661. That is the sixth straight year motorcycle deaths have risen, and the largest annual percentage increase since 1988. The national fatality rate increased 4.4%, to 6.82 deaths per 10,000 motorcycles, the highest such figure since 1990. That rate is four-and-a-half times as high as the auto-fatality rate.

Anti-helmet activists argue that the statistics can be manipulated and that a helmet's weight can actually make injuries worse, by bringing more force to bear on the rider's neck in a crash. Some surgeons and scientists reject that assertion as unsubstantiated.

Sputnik says the federal numbers on which the Journal relied missed thousands of motorcycle registrations in Texas and thus exaggerated the rate of deaths. Apart from statistics, he adds, "The government has no right to protect us from ourselves. They are to protect us from enemies, both domestic and foreign, and we are not our enemies." Many bikers say that the best way to reduce fatalities is to provide more training to rookie riders and make auto drivers more aware of motorcycles.

In some state legislatures, biker-lobbyists have argued that tough helmet laws deter motorcycle tourism, costing states precious revenue. Some bikers plan trips so they ride exclusively through "free states," as they call them.

'Let Those Who Ride Decide'

A look at one successful anti-helmet campaign illustrates how resourceful the biker-activists have been.

In Pennsylvania, the Alliance of Bikers Aimed Toward Education, or Abate, hired a full-time lobbyist for the first time and last year got the state's helmet requirement repealed after decades of trying. Charles Umbenhauer, a retired federal worker and veteran rider, came on board in 2001 at an annual salary of $30,000. He coordinated bikers who called legislators about the issue.

His effort gained critical momentum in the spring of 2003, when then-new Gov. Ed Rendell agreed to speak at an Abate rally in Harrisburg, pledging to sign a repeal law that would allow experienced riders over 21 to ride without a helmet. Mr. Rendell, formerly the mayor of Philadelphia, was friendly with Abate because of the group's annual holiday Toy Ride, when bikers donate thousands of toys to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

In interviews, several Pennsylvania lawmakers said they had heard from many more bikers than opponents of the helmet legislation. Sean Logan, a Democratic state senator from Monroeville, near Pittsburgh, says Abate members made what he considered to be a strong case that in low-speed crashes, helmets might actually damage the back of the neck.

Mr. Logan, undecided until the very end, says he received letters, visits and calls from more than 50 bikers in the final weeks before the vote. In the end, the lawmaker says, "I thought, we'll just let those who ride decide." Abate uses that slogan in its lobbying.

Mr. Logan, when presented with the Journal's analysis of government statistics showing rising fatality rates, says, "I've studied this. I really don't want to look at more studies."

One state has cut against the trend. Louisiana made helmet use voluntary in 1999. The next year, the motorcycle fatality rate jumped 74% compared with the average for the two years prior to the change. That rate continued to rise each year. Louisiana reinstated its mandatory helmet law last summer.

Do you support mandatory helmet laws for motorcyclists? What about seat-belt requirements? Write to letters.classroom@wsj.com.