Wife would like to see Utah broaden helmet law
There are no comments for this page [ Add Comment ]Sunday, December 30, 2007
By Jordan Muhlestein
Standard-Examiner staff
SOUTH WEBER -- Cindy Estes doesn't want anyone to see a loved one with a brain injury like the one her husband suffered in a March motorcycle accident.
For that reason, she wants Utah to adopt a broader mandatory motorcycle helmet law.
"If there were a law, he would not be trying to get his life back," Cindy says.
She and her husband, Jim, were injured March 11 when a car cut them off while they were riding their Harley-Davidson Road King on Washington Boulevard. She was wearing a helmet. He wasn't.
"I remember hitting my head," she says.
"I am so thankful I had my helmet on. It saved my life."
Jim spends regular time with a speech therapist but will probably never be able to return to work as a missile engineer for Northrop Grumman.
Utah's current law requires motorcycle riders and passengers younger than 18 to wear a helmet at all times.
Adults, however, can do as they please. Cindy says if Jim had worn a helmet, he would have been spared major injury.
"He's been a rider his entire life, and he felt he was safe (without a helmet)," she says. "He didn't take into account the other people on the road."
Not everyone agrees that a stronger law is needed. Riders should have the right to choose whether to wear a helmet, says Eric Stine, education coordinator for the motorcycle rights organization American Bikers Aiming Toward Education of Utah.
"ABATE believes in freedom of choice," he says. "We are not anti-helmet, we are pro-choice. Most people who ride motorcycles understand it is dangerous and also understand the issues of personal protective gear."
Stine says his personal choice not to wear a helmet when riding is based on two problems with the headgear: Helmets limit riders' peripheral vision and make it harder to hear the noises of the road.
"Two years ago I was riding and out of the corner of my eye I saw a lady cutting into my lane," he says. "I saw her and heard her. I don't think I would have if I had been wearing a helmet."
Stine also references a 1986 study by Jonathan P. Goldstein, an economics professor at Bowdoin College in Maine, which found a trade-off between head and neck injuries for helmet-wearers. In accidents involving speeds greater than 13 mph, wearing a helmet may help riders avoid severe or minor head injuries, but it is also as likely to cause severe or minor neck injuries, the study says.
Stine says the helmet issue is both contentious and emotional, especially when injuries are involved.
"I think most people are educated and smart enough to make a lot of their own decisions," he says.
ABATE is not bothered by the under-18 helmet requirement, Stine says, because it agrees that children and teens are not ready to make educated decisions regarding their safety.
As for state law, there is no helmet legislation proposed for 2008, says State Sen. Patricia Jones, D-Salt Lake, in an e-mail. She has been involved in seat belt and other motor vehicle safety legislation in the past.
The last time such legislation was proposed was in the mid-1990s, and it was soundly voted down after dozens of bikers showed up at the state Capitol to protest.
Cindy Estes says she has not contacted a local representative about a law.
"We haven't had time. We are so focused on getting better every day."
Text 
