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July 15, 2012

Any way you slice it, bad law is bad law

By Fred Goldenberg Local columnist

My wife and I recently drove to Kalamazoo to meet up with family. As we buzzed down U.S. 131 I was thinking how I had just spent several hundred dollars for new tires and how well they held the road. I looked down at the steering wheel and saw imprinted on it SRS – Supplemental Restraint System – which meant I had an airbag ready to deploy in the event of a crash. Next to my head was a side impact airbag. Plus I was wearing my safety-belt; remember when they were called seat-belts?

I felt safe. I thought about the overall impact these safety features had on reducing auto accident fatalities. In 2011 the National Highway Safety Traffic Safety Administration reported that safety-belt usage was at about 84 percent. So for every 100 cars on the road with me at that moment, there were 16 people flaunting Michigan law.

In Michigan it is illegal for me to be driving without wearing my safety-belt. If stopped I can be ticketed – Click it or Ticket – and fined. First time offenders pay $25 with repeat offenders paying more. But no matter what, we are mandated by law to wear our safety-belt because it saves lives and reduces the cost of insurance we are also required to carry on our vehicles.

Michigan law requires nofault insurance. Every registered car must be insured. Every car owner must buy basic coverage to get license plates. It is a misdemeanor to drive or let your car be driven without basic no-fault coverage.

If you are convicted of driving without basic no-fault insurance coverage, you may be fined up to $500, put in jail for up to one year, or both. You may also incur additional fines and costs pursuant to the 2003 Michigan’s Driver Responsibility Law.

As I continue to think about this issue I am passed by Captain America and his sidekick Billy (remember “Easy Rider”), both sans helmets and traveling over 80-mph.

In April Gov. Rick Snyder signed Public Act 98, which repealed more than three decades of a mandatory helmet law.

In exercising their newly gained freedom many riders have taken to the highways and by-ways of Michigan tempting fate and – if projections be true – costing we taxpayers money.

The new law allows motorcyclists to ride without a helmet if they have a $20,000 medical policy, have had a cycle endorsement for at least two years, or completed a motorcycle safety course.

Yet, according to AAA Michigan, “the repeal of the motorcycle helmet law will result in at least 30 additional motorcycle fatalities each year, along with 127 more incapacitating injuries and $129 million in added economic costs to Michigan residents.

This analysis by the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning is based on the experience of other states where similar measures have been enacted.

As evidenced by increased medical costs passed on to taxpayers, motorcycle deaths and long-term catastrophic injuries are on the rise.”

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