Barry Cassetty holds the helmet that belonged to his friend Greg Waynick. Cassetty, who was wearing a helmet, survived a wreck last summer. Despite his experience, Cassetty wants Tennessee’s helmet law repealed. / Samuel M. Simpkins / The Tennessean
By Tom Wilemon, The Tennessean
The helmet on Barry Cassetty's head saved him from death or disability when an SUV pulled out in front of his 2008 Harley-Davidson Screamin' Eagle Ultra Classic last summer.
Despite his personal experience, Cassetty wants Tennessee's helmet law repealed.
"Enough of our rights have been taken away from us," he said.
The Motorcyclist Liberty Restoration Act currently before the Tennessee legislature would put an end to the helmet requirement for motorcycle riders 21 and older. Even though no state has repealed a helmet law since Pennsylvania did it in 2003, the rising popularity of libertarian ideas gives the anti-helmet movement a boost. Medical associations in the state are keeping a close watch on the legislation, which will be discussed Tuesday during a noon hearing before the House transportation subcommittee.
"Government is not our mom and dad, and we're big people," said Rep. Glen Casada, R-Williamson County, a co-sponsor of the legislation. "If someone wants to ride a motorcycle without a helmet, they should have that choice."
Both houses of Tennessee's legislature are controlled by Republicans, and many of them value individual liberties over government protections. But the freedom to ride with the wind comes with financial consequences when taxpayers pick up the cost of traumatic brain injuries.
The fiscal note attached to the bill states that in the two years after Pennsylvania repealed its helmet requirement, the incidence of traumatic brain injury from motorcycle accidents more than doubled from the prior two years. If TennCare's expenditures for traumatic brain injury stemming from motorcycle crashes were to increase by 63 percent, the state would end up spending an additional $1.12 million. That figure does not include long-term care and rehabilitation costs, which would exceed that amount, according to the fiscal note.
Critics organize
Repeated efforts to repeal the law have failed in the past, but public safety organizations aren't sitting idle. The AAA Clubs of Tennessee supports the existing helmet law and issued a press release listing several insurance, hospital and doctors' associations as also being opposed to a repeal.
"It is not just an individual right," said Sharon Adkins, executive director of the Tennessee Nurses Association. "These individuals then have to be cared for. Brain injury is a lifelong issue. The citizens of Tennessee would end up with their tax dollars supporting these individuals, so it is much more than just an individual right. It's no different than seat belts."
Casada draws different correlations and says it's not the role of government to overreach into people's lives to protect them from accidents.
"If we get to the point where that becomes the overriding issue, then we won't be able to use fireworks and we won't be able to rock climb," he said. "A lot of the things that are personal freedoms that we enjoy in this country have risks. So are we going to have a - I'll use the word "benevolent overseer" - to dictate whether we can or can't eat Big Mac hamburgers and say we can't do fireworks? The story goes on and on and on."
At least one agency of the federal government, the National Transportation Safety Board, is monitoring the Tennessee legislation. Bill Goffard with the NTSB's office of communications said a repeal would increase motorcycle fatalities.
"Motorcycles make up 14 percent of highway fatalities, yet they are only 3 percent of the motor vehicles in the nation," Goffard said. "That's a frightening statistic and it's been going up."
Habit changed
Motorcycle owners in Middle Tennessee can cross into Kentucky to feel the rush of wind from cruising its highways and back roads because that state has no helmet law.
Cassetty used to take his helmet off at the state line, but now keeps it on following his accident last summer. The helmet he wears was given to him by the family of a friend who died in another accident. The friend wasn't wearing his helmet.
Preston Shaw, a member of The Steel Horsemen motorcycle club, thinks anyone who cruises down an interstate without a helmet is a "complete idiot." That does not mean he supports the existing law.
"I'm kind of a conservative bent, kind of libertarian in a lot of ways," said Shaw, another Harley-Davidson rider. "Personally, I think the government honestly should not legislate whether you have common sense or not."
Andrew Duthie, the owner of Nashville Motorcycle Repair, echoes the sentiment.
"I'm a big fan of motorcycle helmets, for sure," Duthie said. "As far as changing the law, the libertarian in me says, hey, if someone doesn't want to wear a helmet, that's fine."