In today’s Columbus Dispatch, Molly Onstott of American Bikers Aimed Toward Education writes a brief letter to the editor:
I am an informed, educated, experienced adult motorcyclist. I believe I can make the decision for myself as to whether I wear a helmet or not when I ride. And it is no one’s business but my own what my decision is.
I have a bias toward civil liberty, and so I am initially sympathetic to Onstott’s statement. But I have a few questions. Has Onstott informed her motorcycle’s insurance company, which if informed would surely raise its rates to cover the hugely increased probability of covering extensive damages? Is Onstott willing to pay higher life insurance rates, and higher medical insurance rates, for her decision? Is Onstott willing to pay the significant medical costs that her insurance plan won’t cover, and that a hospital is likely to absorb in the event of her extensive head injuries? Is Onstott planning on paying extra money into the Social Security disability system that she is more likely to draw from should she survive? Or are all these costs something that she expects others to absorb? If the answer to this final question is “yes,” then her decision is hardly only her business.
Well, then be it if they want this to be their own decision on whether or not use a helmet. Just don’t point fingers when you get your skulls cracked on the pavement.
It’s not just about pointing fingers, as Jim points out. It’s about the fact that, when we look at the ways all our systems of law, medicine, insurance, etc. work out, whether or not you wear a motorcycle helmet isn’t just your own business.
Let’s consider the circumstances under which Molly not wearing a helmet would actually be her own business and nobody else’s:
Molly has a motorcycle accident resulting in serious head injury. She’s lying in the road unconscious. Do the other drivers slow down and help? No. None of their business. Do they swerve to avoid running her over? No. None of their business. Does an ambulance come get her? No. None if their business. Would the morgue or an undertaker come to pick up the body? No. None of their business. Would the garbage men come and throw her on the truck? No. None of their business. Would neighbors come along and roll her into a ditch? No. None of their business.
So Molly would still end up being other people’s business. A dead squirrel lying in the road is enough of a nuisance, let alone a dead human being. Molly would take a lot longer than a squirrel to get flattened out by all the cars passing over her, so hundreds of motorists would have to slow down while she still effectively acted as a speed bump. That would inconvenience hundreds of other motorists. What about THEIR rights. Besides, don’t the neighbors have the right to live in a neighborhood without a smelly, disgusting Molly road kill slowly disintegrating in front of their houses?
Now, that’s absurd, of course. We don’t treat other people like that in this society. That’s because, personally and collectively, we treat each others’ welfare as our business. Some envision a libertarian fantasy world in which everybody’s welfare is their own business.
Human roadkill is just one of the things you would see in the libertarian utopia.
Friend of mine just asked,
“What’s the problem with riding a helmet anyway?”
I sort of get why there’s the slight issue with bulky helmets for bicycle riders, but motorcycles are bulky anyway, the helmets go pretty well with them.
I once had a boyfriend with a Harley and a flag on the back of his jean jacket. Here’s how he explained it: “If you have an accident and you are not wearing a helmet, you will be killed outright. If you ARE wearing a helmet, your life will be saved, but the helmet will cause you a certain type of injury and you will be paralyzed from the neck down. I would rather die than be paralyzed from the neck down.”
He had an accident without an helmet and survived it–had a scar on his nose where he skidded on his face on the pavement. The Harley was totaled.
I once took care of a young guy who was paralyzed from the neck down from a motorcycle accident. He could only move his tongue, and had a speakerphone beside his pillow and could answer the phone by pressing the button with his tongue. He had got a lot of insurance money, so he had a special apartment with wheelchair-access shower built in.
Is this really an area for the government to mandate? Maybe the helmets are designed differently now?