Senate OKs bill loosening motorcycle helmet law
NASHVILLE (AP) — The state Senate on Thursday approved legislation to allow some motorcyclists to ride Tennessee roads without helmets, despite objections from several lawmakers that the change would be costly to the state.
The Senate voted 24-8 in favor of the measure, with one member, Sen. Joe Haynes, D-Nashville, declaring himself present but not voting. The House has not yet scheduled debate on the measure.
Tennessee law currently requires all motorcyclists to wear a helmet. The bill approved Thursday would allow riders age 25 or older to travel without them as long as they meet several other conditions.
“Part of the pleasure to the motorcyclist is the freedom of the road, the freedom of air rushing past you, of being in touch with where you are instead of being enclosed in an automobile,” Sen. Douglas Henry, D-Nashville, said before voting in favor of the measure.
The bill would require motorcyclists to register with the Department of Safety, where they would present both proof of age and proof of private health insurance. They also would be required to take a motorcycle safety course.
Once approved, riders would receive a “special designation” on their driver’s licenses they could present if pulled over by police.
Registration would cost $15, with $5 of that paying for costs associated with the process and the remaining $10 going to the state’s Traumatic Brain Injury Fund. A rider’s failure to report the cancellation of his insurance would result in a misdemeanor charge.
But Sen. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, worried the punishment isn’t stiff enough to dissuade people lacking private health insurance from riding without helmets. If those people got into an injury accident, he says, the cost of their treatment would ultimately come out of state coffers.
“This (bill) has not been studied as in depth as it should have been,” he said. “It is injurious to the health of Tennesseans and the budget of Tennessee.”
Currently, some 20 states — along with the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico — require all drivers to wear helmets. Another 27 states have age limits similar to those Tennessee is considering.
Bill sponsor Sen. Tim Burchett, R-Knoxville, brushed off his colleagues’ concerns that the bill would mean more injury and death on Tennessee roads.
“There’s a false security that a helmet provides,” he said. “There are no definites in this world. What it comes down to is whether you trust Tennesseans to do what they think is right.
“I do, and that’s what it boils down to.”
Besides Cohen, members voting against the bill were: Sens. Jerry Cooper, D-Morrison; Roscoe Dixon, D-Memphis; JoAnn Graves, D-Gallatin; Thelma Harper, D-Nashville; Roy Herron, D-Dresden; Rosalind Kurita, D-Clarksville; Don McLeary, D-Humboldt.
———
On the Net:
Read SB0861/HB0952 at Tennessee General Assembly: www.legislature.state.tn.us