Are those the same mythical healthcare savings we were supposed to have from reducing smoking? Only studies show that the shortened life span of smokers keeps other costs, like social security to name one, to lower than expected payouts. So the cost is (SURPRISE!) a wash when added up smoking verses non-smoking.

Helmet, and for that matter seatbelt, laws are the same. They needlessly intrude into the lives of individuals. I personally think that NOT wearing seatbelts and helmets is idiotic. Still, no one has the right to tell me what I have to do. Is not wearing a seatbelt or a helmet infringing on the rights of another? Nope. So there is no need for it. It is stupid not to wear one, but let each person make that decision. But guys like Mr Roth want to bring us down to his level ala Quentin Crisp(presumably the rights of your average Chinese national).

And you’re a “law”yer too…anything else in the Constitution that we need to ignore Ed?

Lordy lordy! Legislate more to protect me from myself! I’m obviously too stupid to make an intelligent decision, so I need lawyers and politicians to think for me.

“In ‘America’, they came first for the ‘helmentless’, and I didn’t speak up because I ‘ believe in freedom of choice and don’t ride a motorcycle (after I had kids and my wife made me sell it);

And then they ‘tried to dismantle the greatest health care system in the world’ , And I didn’t speak up because I ‘had always made prudent choices making sure my family was covered’;

And then they ‘tried to raise the cost of cheap energy by claiming global warming was going to destroy the earth’, And I didn’t speak up because I ‘thought it was silly and everyone would realize it was a sham’;

And then… they came for me… And by that time there was no one left to speak up.” Modern US version of the Pastor Martin quote

“Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good
of its victim may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live
under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies.
The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may
at some point be satiated, but those who torment us for our own good
will torment us without end for they do so with the approval
of their own conscience.” CS Lewis

So Eddie, your addition to this was the headline and “That’s right governor. Good going”? What fantastic journalism! Here’s another Quentin Crisp quote for you “I recommend limiting one’s involvement in other people’s lives to a pleasantly scant minimum”

Let’s hear it for the control freaks! They scored again.

Just wait till they set their sites on you Eddie. You know, you’re looking a little chubby around the collar. Maybe we’d better save you from you diet and elevators.

Well now that we have a self appointed “Great Protector” on our side. The most imporant item Mr. Nixon and his cohort Mr. Rahn should do today is BAN ALL TOBACCO PRODUCTS IN THIS STATE. After all its about saving lives and money………and nothing cost this society more. By the way which helmet does the state want me to wear since none will guarantee me from injury when I ride the speed limit……tell me so I can have a name for reference……..Thanks

Please people, get off the anti-government crap. It’s a PRIVILEGE TO RIDE A MOTORCYCLE, NOT A RIGHT. Nothing was taken away from you today. If you don’t like it, you have the RIGHT to move to another state.

Randy, It may seem anti-gov, but - speaking for me - it’s more anti-you and the rest of you control freaks that enable the government’s actions to make a claim on my skull. You insist on welfare - everywhere welfare - and then use it as a rationale to choke off my conduct.

Government is really [now] nothing but the armed force of the majority of you; no matter how stupid your ideas are, if there’s enough popular support, there’s a gun backing it up. It wasn’t always this way. Back in the day, there were limits on what was considered proper domain for the government.

Randy - You can call it “anti-government ####” all you want … but the fact is, we provide food stamps and Medicaid for obese people, allow them to purchase unhealthy food with those food stamps, then pay for multiple hospital visits for diabetes and heart problems. And, we give them a disability check because an obese diabetic person can’t work. This isn’t some story I read on a right-wing website, this is a person I know who lives near me. Every time I see her, I exhort her to walk around the block twice a day, but she just won’t do it. In the past 8 months, she has had two lengthy inpatient hospital stays, paid for by us.

And yet, Mr. Roth has focused like a laser on this helmet issue, and has never said one word about the much greater issue of poor eating habits amongst those on public assistance. How about it, Mr. Roth? Studies have shown that a small number of people consume a large portion of Medicaid dollars, due to obesity, alcoholism, drug abuse, and other factors we can control. Why do you never have a word to say about this?

You guys miss the point; this is not about government taking away a right. All this is about is a simple rule for riding a motorcycle. We have rules for the road about Speed, Stop Signs, Seatbelts, etc. You guys want to make this about government and some right. We have much more pressing issues, like border control and gun rights, then to worry about a simple rule to follow when riding a motorcycle. Keep up the good fight, but make it worth while.