Motorcycle helmet repeal bill dies in Senate

• By WILL SENTELL
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Jun 12, 2008 - Page: 7A - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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A bill that would repeal Louisiana’s mandatory motorcycle safety helmet law was killed Wednesday in a Senate committee.

The measure, House Bill 1295, won narrow House approval last month.

But the Senate Health and Welfare Committee voted to shelve the measure without discussion and without any objections from panel members.

The outcome was not surprising. The bill was assigned to the committee by Senate President Joel Chaisson II, D-Destrehan, who was one of the sponsors of the current, mandatory helmet law.

Opponents of repeal argued that the 2004 law has saved lives and that undoing it would lead to more deaths and head injuries.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I implore you, don’t take Louisiana away from its helmet law,” said Jim Champagne, former executive director of  the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission.

“Let’s give these individuals a chance to survive the crash by requiring them to wear a safety helmet,” Champagne said.

Current law requires motorcycle operators and riders to wear approved helmets or face fines.

The bill, which is sponsored by state Rep. Mert Smiley, R-St. Amant, would make helmets optional for those 18 and older.

Smiley said provisions in the bill that would require motorcycle riders to undergo training courses, and to carry at least $100,000 in health insurance coverage, would lead to fewer deaths and injuries.

“I have nothing but safety in mind,” he said.

Smiley also said that more died in motorcycle accidents in the four years after the mandatory helmet law took effect than in the previous four years.

Dr. James Aiken, an associate professor of emergency medicine at the LSU trauma center in New Orleans, said passing Smiley’s bill would carry deadly consequences.