Motorcyclist's Lobby Against Helmet Requirment
(Hartford-WTNH, Feb. 7, 2005 9:10 PM) _ Lawmakers are again looking at legislation that would require bikers to wear protective headgear, such as helmets.
On Monday, motorcyclists decked in Harley Davidson gear showed up today at the state Capitol to oppose a measure that would require them to wear helmets.
With the horses running underneath their seat, and the wind through their hair, a motorcycle becomes freedom for Glenn Boglisch and Tom Miller. It's a freedom you can feel, a freedom you can ride, but the problem is, both feel their freedom is in question when it comes to a proposal to bring back the helmet law at the State Capitol.
"I wear a helmet 95 percent of the time and it's a choice issue. I choose to wear a helmet, but just because I choose to wear a helmet should mean I should restrict your right on your decision of wearing a helmet or not wearing a helmet," Boglisch said, sitting on his bike.
In a room full of leather at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford, the concerns about bringing back the law were as loud as a Harley-Davidson.
"The legislature governs on the consent of the governed. In the case of the seatbelt law, the public at large did not object, but with the helmet law, the riders do object, and that's the different," said Rich Paukner with the Connecticut Motorcycle Riders Association.
But opponents say the statistics speak for themselves. Helmets save lives.
"I'll have less business if we have motorcycle helmets in Connecticut. I'll be happier to have less business, I don't need that kind of business," said Dr. Phil Brewer, formerly the president of the Connecticut College of Emergency Physicians.
For Glenn and Tom, it's about freedom of choice. A freedom that might be exercised if the law is passed.
"I might move, believe it or not," said Tom Miller, who kick-starts his bike to get back on the open road. "There's 27 states that don't have it (the law), it's worth it to me to have the freedom."
The original law was repealed in 1975.
