More bikes, no helmets equal more fatalities

More collateral damage from high gas prices: motorcycle deaths.

Transportation experts around the nation agree that with the higher price of fuel, more people are turning to motorcycles, which are great on gas mileage but not so great on safety. For South Carolina, it will mean more biker deaths in a state that already ranks 14th in motorcycle fatalities.

Why? Because in the Palmetto State, there are two laws missing from the books: one is a helmet law and the other is a motorcycle road test. As it stands, only riders under 21 are required to wear helmets. And if a person can pass a written and a vision test, a permit is granted: no road test, no skills course, no safety instruction required.

The argument for biker safety isn't simply rhetoric; the numbers are all too real.

In South Carolina, motorcycle deaths have increased by 40 percent from 2003 to 2007, according to a new study by AAA Carolinas. Last year, there were 122 fatalities, up from 87 in 2003. State Department of Public Safety numbers indicate that in about 75 percent of those deaths, the rider or passenger wasn't wearing a helmet.

Of the state's 2007 biker deaths, about 78 percent of those killed weren't wearing helmets, Public Safety Department statistics show.

With more people buying motorcycles, going helmetless and having no road test to pass, the highways may become even more deadly.

According to the Motorcycle Industry Council, a national trade association representing manufacturers and distributors of motorcycles, new South Carolina motorcycle sales increased from 13,600 in 2003 to 15,750 in 2006. Used motorcycle sales are not tracked; however, Department of Public Safety statistics showed that in 2003, there were 66,974 motorcycles registered in South Carolina. By May, that number increased to 128,643.

Simply put, more bikers without helmets equals more dead bikers.

Passenger car deaths, for example, are at a 15-year low, according to AAA; however, motorcycle fatalities are at a nine-year high.

It's time to get serious about two-headed legislation that puts motorcyclists and their passengers first. South Carolina needs a comprehensive road test — a skills test that shows the driver is capable of handling their bike. We also need a helmet law that will help protect bikers from injuring or killing themselves or others.

Past legislation attempts have lost to conventional arguments that if you put a helmet on a biker, you take away his or her freedom. If an Americans actually believe that laws mandating seat belts, speed limits or helmets strip away their freedom, they're not seeing the bigger picture.

You'll also hear anti-helmet groups argue that deaths from head trauma are no different than deaths from body trauma. The argument holds no merit.

It might take a change of culture to understand that helmets are actually good for motorcyclists, and especially in light of the increase in biker deaths, the legislature needs to do a better job in protecting South Carolinians.