ABATE Rally Urges Truth In Motorcycle Safety
An extract from : http://www.americanmotor.com/news.cfm?newsid=1307
May 19, 2000
Harrisburg, PA - (AMN) "Tell the truth about motorcycle safety." That's the message motorcyclists from across the state will send to legislators and opponents of helmet law reform when they gather here for the state's annual motorcyclists' rights rally May 22.
"We're sick and tired of being victimized by distorted statistics, biased studies and big-money, high-pressure lobbying tactics used by our opponents, who believe that the answer to motorcycle safety is to put a helmet on somebody's head," said Joe Dickey, state president of A.B.A.T.E. of Pennsylvania, the commonwealth's oldest and largest motorcyclists' rights organization.
"Just two weeks ago," Dickey continued, "The Washington Times reported that Joan Claybrook, the head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration under President Carter, has publicly apologized for using contrived statistics and outright lies to encourage mandatory air bags in automobiles. The guilt finally caught up with her after 20 years and nearly 200 deaths caused by air bags. NHTSA has used the same scandalous lies to distort the record of helmets in saving lives."
"The simple truth is that real-world experience in state after state has proven that the only way to reduce the number of motorcycle injuries and fatalities is to prevent motorcycle accidents," he said. "Common sense should tell everyone that mandating helmet use will never accomplish that goal."
Dickey cited statistics from all 50 states, which show that states which require the mandatory use of helmets by motorcyclists account for a disproportionate share of accidents, injuries and fatalities.
In 1997, for example, mandatory helmet states, which had 62 percent of all motorcycle registrations, accounted for 64 percent of motorcycle fatalities and 66 percent of all motorcycle accidents. States which have recently modified their helmet laws to allow adults the right to make their own decision on helmet use have not experienced the increase in fatality rates predicted by the opponents of personal responsibility. Governor Bush of Florida is currently expected to sign a bill passed by both the House and Senate that will make Florida the thirtieth state in which experienced adult motorcyclists will have the option to choose helmet use.
"If we have more accidents and more deaths in states which mandate helmet usage, something is obviously wrong with the theory that motorcycle helmets save lives," added Charles Umbenhauer, chairman of BIKEPAC, the Pennsylvania Bikers' Political Action Committee.
"In fact, the only thing that has ever been proven to save lives is to teach motorcyclists how to operate their machines safely, and to make the operators of other motor vehicles aware that they are sharing the road with motorcyclists," he said.