On this website and for the past year I have run a poll asking "Should All Motorcycle Riders be Required by Law to Wear Motorcycle Helmets?"  Now that the poll has run for a year I think it is time to look a the results:

• 59.3% say yes
• 40.7% say no

If a referendum was to pake place today and a law introduced in the legislature in 2010 requiring all motorcycle riders to wear a helmet it would probably pass.  Governor Huntsman has already said that if a bill requiring all motorcycle riders in Utah to wear helmets was passed in the legislature that he would sign it.  There is a problem here and that problem here is the protection of hte rights and enjoyments of teh minority against those of the majority.

What I mean is that the majority (democratic model) want us (minority motorcycle riders) to wear helmets and pay fines if we do not comply.  But what about free choice?  Is it not our choice to wear or not to wear a motorcycle helmet?  What about the impact on society - the high costs of rehabilitation for brain injured motorcycle riders for example.  I think a compromise is preferable to radical law that makes all motorcycle riders give up their wnat (maybe need) to ride without a helmet.  Maybe it is time to think about requiring riders who do not want to wear a helmet to prove that they carry insurance that will cover the costs of their rehabilitation if they are injured.  This idea has been voiced by me and others but all of what it entails needs to be thought about hard before agreement can be reached.

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