news-record.com

We don’t need no stinkin’ protection.

So said a motorcade of 40-odd bikers that rumbled around the governor’s mansion three times on New Year’s Day in a small but noisy protest against the state’s new helmet law. The law requires cyclists to use helmets that are federally approved to meet certain safety standards such as shells hard enough to withstand the force of a crash and inner cushions soft and thick enough to absorb it.

Some cyclists complain that the helmets are uncomfortable, unwieldy and, worst of all, uncool, suited only for girlie men and girlie women too timid to appreciate the rush of the wind through their hair on the open road. They also say the new law places too great a burden on them to choose which helmets meet the federal standard.

But their objections ring shallow against one study after another that proves the effectiveness of tougher helmet laws. Over the last 10 years motorcycle deaths have doubled nationwide. In states that pass strict helmet laws, however, deaths and head injuries from motorcycle crashes typically decrease.

According to the UNC Highway Safety Research Center, those fortunate enough to survive head injuries cost themselves and the general public in expensive rehabilitation that their insurance can’t fully cover.

As for which helmets to choose, the manufacturers make that clear by affixing "DOT" stickers to federally certified helmets.

Until now in North Carolina the law merely prescribed that wearing a helmet — any helmet — was good enough. That led some bikers to skirt the intent of the law by buying lightweight helmets that provided minimal protection. In a morbid acknowledgment of the obvious, some bikers refer to the token hats as "brain buckets."

The bikers are well within their rights to express the displeasure (some people don’t like seatbelt laws either).

But this clearly is one issue not worth anyone losing his or her head over.