Question:
I heard a blurb on the radio this afternoon, that even with all of the deaths at Bike Week, the house or senate committee reviewing the bill to drop the helmet requirement passed the committe vote by 7 to 1. It will require however that if you ride without a helmet you have to carry $100,000 worth of medical insurance (ten times the normal required limit). It still has a long way to go (to the floor in both houses and the governor) before it is a law.

Anyone else heard any more on this one??? Sarge or any other Florida abatefolks, perhaps...

Answer: I guess that I will have to keep an eye on this situation. Since I will be moving back to Florida real soon like. Mandatory insurance coverages are not the answer, especially at that level. I guess that a brain injury on a bike costs more than a brain injury in a car. Or so it would seem. Actually, every year more drivers/passengers in cars sustain brain/head injuries than motorcyclists. They also incur more in total hospital/rehab costs simply because they tend to survive their injuries more than motorcyclists do. Most motorcyclists that suffer severe head/brain injuries die from other bodily injuries that auto occupants usually aren't subjected to (road rash, internal hemorraghing, excessive bleeding, ruptured aortas). If you look at head injuries in terms of actual $ amounts spent, the auto head injuries cost far more in the aggregate, but when viewed as a % of total accidents, the ratio of head injuries to accidents is higher for the motorcyclist. That latter statistic is usually the number that legislators use to convince the ignorant public when trying to pass or retain helmet legislation.