02/07/2005

By LARRY O'DELL  / Associated Press

Motorcyclists who want to ride without a helmet ran into a roadblock on the House of Delegates floor Monday.

The House voted 51-46 to kill legislation repealing the state's helmet mandate for bikers 21 and older. It marked the fourth year in a row that bills to relax the helmet law have failed in a close floor vote after clearing committee.

Del. William R. Janis, R-Henrico County, acknowledged that it's safer to wear a helmet than ride without one. But he said adult motorcyclists should be allowed to decide for themselves.

Janis previously had called the helmet law "paternalism at its worst." He said on the House floor that he had changed his mind — that the law really is maternalistic.

"It is the nature of mommies to protect their children from skinned knees and bruised foreheads, but it should not be the nature of the legislature of the Commonwealth of Virginia to do it," Janis said.

Opponents of the bill have argued that much more serious injuries than scrapes and bruises result from riding without a helmet and that the taxpayers often have to pay the health-care costs of bikers who suffer brain damage or spinal injuries.

"There is a valid public safety issue here," said Republican Del. John O'Bannon, a Henrico County neurologist. "We don't let people with bad vision drive, we don't let people with bald tires on their cars drive, and this is in that same category. ...This is a no-brainer."

Del. Jackie Stump, who said he has been riding motorcycles for 40 years, argued that it's easier to hear and see without a helmet — and that translates into improved safety.

"If I want to ride with my daughter, I'm going to have my helmet on," said Stump, D-Buchanan. "But if I want to ride, and I'm on the Skyline Drive or somewhere like that and driving slow and it's 90 degrees, I'd like to have the choice to take that helmet on or off."