Gov. Jay Nixon says helmets will still be required in Missouri
JEFFERSON CITY — Gov. Jay Nixon said today that he will veto a bill that would have repealed Missouri’s helmet law for motorcyclists, keeping in place a law safety advocates say saves lives.
Motorcycle enthusiasts have been trying to repeal the mandatory helmet law for a couple of decades, and this is the second time the Legislature agreed with them. In 1993, then-Gov. Mel Carnahan vetoed a similar repeal.
Lawmakers argued that it was a freedom issue, siding with cyclists who find the helmets stifling and unnecessary.
Pete Rahn, Missouri’s director of the department of transportation, had been lobbying Nixon hard to veto the bill. In a news conference last month, Rahn pointed to a survey that said Missourians overwhelmingly want motorcyclists to wear helmets. Rahn said repealing the law will lead to deaths, based on highway statistics that show riders without helmets are more likely to die.
Until today, Nixon had been mostly silent on the issue. He disagreed with advocates for the law who said that the governor had given them assurances he would sign it. And he chided Rahn for spending public money on a lobbying effort. Rahn’s actions caused Nixon to veto $33,000 in MoDOT’s budget, the same amount of federal money the transportation department had spent on the survey.
In the end, though, Nixon ended up on Rahn’s side.
“In terms of lives and of dollars, the cost of repealing Missouri’s helmet law simply would have been too high,” Gov. Nixon said. “By keeping Missouri’s helmet law intact, we will save numerous lives, while also saving Missouri taxpayers millions of dollars in increased health care costs. Keeping our helmet law in place was the safe and cost-effective choice for Missouri.”
I am 15 year motorcyclist. I am for government out of my life. I will not weep if someone gets themself killed due to thier stupidness (not wearing a helmet). But due to my experence as a RN, the tax payers will have to take care of these knuckel heads who don’t get killed, and scrampled thier heads just because they were not wearing a brain bucket. We are talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars per person that we the tax payers have to foot the bill for. Insurance will only cover so much and so long. In this case, its not a manner of freedom, its a manner of tax payer’s MONEY!!!
dumbest Veto ever… none of the border states around Missouri have helmet laws. I guess its the right thing for Missouri for those folks to just ride around Missouri instead of visiting here. We don’t need no stinking tourism. Nixon is a goof, he could have veto’d it a month ago, I guess the political timing wasn’t right until today. Unless someone wants to buy an $80.00 helmet he is building a wall around the state to keep folks out of his little police state. all the people who fought so hard to get this Bill passed is gonna remember this come election day. Veto= “will of the people” doesn’t count.
It should be a matter of choice period.
“The government has no right to tell you to do something, like putting on a helmet, if not doing it has no affect on the rights of others.”
I agree, but would present this argument, which I am not claiming I think this way, but simply am presenting a possible retort:
It effects me because my insurance rates are impacted. If you get yourself killed, fine, but when you get injured and collect from the insurance company for the rest of your life in a vegetated state, my premiums go up to compensate. Me paying more because people like yourself don’t feel like taking the time to wear a helmet IS affecting my rights.
If you want to get on a high horse about the government dictating what you can or can’t do, consider anti-sodomy laws (Missouri had one until 2006), or banning gay marriage (which Missouri has done). While I agree the government should stay out of things that don’t impact others (smoking outdoors is another example), there are bigger ones out there that seem to take a backseat.
Sad to think how backwards MO is that having to wear helmets makes people so mad but banning people’s ability to wed someone they love doesn’t raise many eyebrows.
ECF ~ EXCELLENT!
I’ve been waiting a long time to ride my bike without a helmet in MO. This again is government not listening to the will of the people. It should be the motorcyclist who choose not those who don’t ride or the governments. Nixon would serve us well to be 4 and out!
Three cheers Jay!
I ride motorcycles, always wear a helmet and wear my seatbelt in my car too. I do not want my insurance rates to go up, because of people on Harley’s! They are only group of motorcyclists who oppose wearing helmets, by the way. They think it looks cool to not wear a helmet. In reality the worst handling motorcycles on the road are Harley’s and if anybody should be forced to wear a helmet, it should be Harley riders. LOL
thanks to all that have tried to get this bill passed. There are many reasons why people do and dont wear helmets, just as there are many who bungee jump and those who dont. There are many who drink wine and ride thier bicycles and those who dont. There are many who like to ride horse’s and there are those who dont. I could care less eitherway, my helmet goes on and off with my mood, just as a skydiver stays on the ground when he doesnt want to jump. Mind your own business, its better that way.
Nixon did the right thing. I would only support overturning seat-belt and helmet laws IF we went to no-fault insurance in the state. Then, if you want to be an idiot and ride a motorcycle w/o helmet then YOUR insurance pays. It’s all about liability, folks. Your “right” (as if) to not wear a helmet ends when my insurance company pays to have them scrape your brains off the concrete with hopes to stuff it back into your head.
This is fantastic news!!! To those who say that wearing a helmet only affects you: What about those family members you leave behind? Or, those loved ones that have to care for you when you’re too brain damaged to do it yourself? Oh yeah, your crash wouldn’t impact these folks at all… not to mention my tax dollars that are spent to care for you when your insurance is expended and you lose your job because you can’t return to work.
Not wearing the right safety gear (helmet, armored jacket and pants, gloves, boots, eye protection) is only being “selfish” because you ultimately just want to look cool and be a weekend warrior seen by all your buddies. Maintaining this law is a good move and will save lives! From a rider with years of experience… consider increasing the fine for not wearing a DOT compliant helmet (instead of those fake helmets that have no impact absorbing material in them to help prevent brain injury) to a FINE ($250?) that is more likely to change behavior! Thank you Governor Nixon!!!!!