Life or Freedom

Life or Freedom?
A motorcycle, ridden by a rider not wearing a helmet, and a sport utility vehicle (SUV) collide at 55 miles per hour. Who has a better chance of walking away from the accident? "Most motorcycle-related deaths involve head injury and motorcycle helmets significantly reduce the risk of death attributable to head injury" (Rowland, Rivara, Salzburg, Soderburg, Maier, Koepsell , 1996). Even though motorcycle enthusiasts believe, they should have the right to decide whether they should wear a helmet, helmets should be worn when riding a motorcycle because they reduce the risk of head injury if in an accident and they decrease the likelihood of death.
Those who ride motorcycles believe they should have the right to decide whether they should wear a helmet. Bikers insist that mandatory helmet laws are an infringement of their rights. Motorcycle riders strongly believe that the best way to promote motorcycle safety is through educating both riders and automobile drivers to be cautious when riding or when around motorcycles. Those who oppose mandatory helmet laws also have much to say about how wearing a helmet can actually cause an accident. For instance, motorcycle enthusiasts argue that helmets limit their peripheral vision. Members of American Bikers Aiming Towards Education (ABATE) say that a helmet restricts a rider's vision from 140 to 120 degrees in his or her field of vision (Weller, Chandler, 1989). Another example of how motorcyclists say that a helmet can cause an accident is that a helmet causes fatigue. Wearing one causes the inside of a helmet to reach temperatures of 130 degrees Fahrenheit (Weller, Chandler, 1989). The heat inside the helmet causes the rider to sweat and become tired. The sweat also blurs the rider's vision. Although there is no proven statistics that wearing a helmet can cause an accident, these and other examples not stated in this essay, have influenced many states to repeal mandatory helmet laws.
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