Cruising down the Carolina coastline and doing about fifty-five, the power equivalent to one hundred and forty horses rattles between your legs, and seaside winds blows through your hair. Your hands grip the handle bars as you lean back and enjoy the ultimate level of freedom. Suddenly out of nowhere, something darts in the road. As you attempt to avoid the object, you overcompensate and lose control of the motorcycle. Ten seconds later you’re lying flat on your back and unconscious with what will later be determined as a fractured skull. The big question is will you survive. The odds are definitely not in your favor because you refused to wear a helmet. The state of South Carolina supports your right not to wear a helmet, but it is my opinion that it should be illegal to ride a motorcycle without a helmet for two reasons. First, riding a motorcycle without a helmet is unsafe, and the government’s responsibility is to protect its people. Second, because it is unsafe to ride a motorcycle without a helmet, health insurance premiums tend to go up which affects everyone including non-motorcycle riders.
There’s an old saying among those that ride motorcycles that states “it’s not if you get in an accident but rather when.” Even the most cautious riders realize and understand that there are too many forces outside of their control to guarantee their complete safety. But, the smart riders realize there is something that they can do to help increase their chances of survival when they do get in an accident: they wear helmets. They wear them in spite of the fact that the state of South Carolina has no law requiring helmets for motorcycle riders. This same state government demands that people in cars wear seatbelts to protect themselves but turns a blind eye toward the safety of its motorcycle riders. Although many constituents claim that they believe it is the bike rider’s freedom of choice, I believe that riding a bike without a helmet is unsafe and the state is neglecting its duty to protect its citizens by not mandating a helmet law.
The increased hazard brought on by bike riders who do not wear helmets also affects everyone via insurance costs. Statistically, a motorcycle rider’s chance of surviving a crash increases if he/she is wearing a helmet. Injuries are often less severe because the head is protected. Thus insurance costs are generally lower. When a helmet is not worn, an accident can cause severe damage to the head, and increased costs that health insurance companies incur are generally passed on to all other insurance holders. If the state would make it illegal to ride a motorcycle without a helmet, head injuries from motorcycle accidents would decrease, and health insurance premiums would be less likely to increase.
Those that oppose the helmet law argue that it should be their choice whether they wear a helmet or not. They claim that it is their life, and they should be free to make their own choices even if those choices have severe consequences. To this I generally say that they are absolutely right except for one problem. In this modern society that we live in where our lives are interconnected through various mechanisms, the choices you make can adversely affect me and everyone else. As stated earlier health insurance is one of the mechanisms by which we are all connected. For this reason and because government has a responsibility to protect its citizens, South Carolina should require all motorcycle riders to wear a helmet.
