EDITOR: If you need to confirm this letter from Rep. Dan Frankel, please contact Ben Turner at 717-787-7895 or bturner@pahouse.net.
Restoring helmet law would help with health-care costs
Editor:
Pennsylvanians from both parties agree we need to do more to rein in skyrocketing health-care costs. That’s why I was disappointed to see a letter in the Post-Gazette (Jan. 17) calling it a waste of time to try to restore the common-sense motorcycle-helmet law that was repealed in 2003.
Restoring that law is one of the simplest things we can do to hold down health-care costs. It would prevent many unnecessary severe injuries and deaths. Whether or not a motorcycle rider has health insurance, we all end up paying the bills for their treatment, either through insurance premiums or our tax dollars.
In 2005, 205 cyclists died in crashes, accounting for 14 percent of all Pennsylvania highway deaths. That was the first time motorcycle deaths were above 10 percent of the total. To put that into perspective, motorcycles make up less than 2 percent of all registered vehicles and only 0.4 percent of all vehicle miles traveled nationally, according to the Advocates for Highway & Auto Safety.
I hope that the example of Ben Roethlisberger’s close call last summer has increased the chances of restoring our helmet law. Unlike many people riding in cars, Big Ben and other motorcycle riders don’t have air bags to protect them, let alone the seat belts that are mandatory for vehicle drivers and passengers in Pennsylvania. And as long as helmets remain optional for adults, all of us remain unprotected against the higher health-care costs that result.
State Rep. Dan Frankel
23rd Legislative District
Pittsburgh