Safety Advocates Push for New Helmet Law in Indiana
Current law mandates helmet use for those 18 and under, and some adult riders would like to keep it that way.
When you’re riding a Harley or any other motorcycle, you know that you and you alone are responsible for your safety. Having the right gear, like riding leathers and a helmet, are helpful in keeping you alive should things go wrong on the road.
Of course, if a given government doesn’t have a helmet law on its books, or has one focused on the youngest riders, you’ll likely leave the helmet at home. Such is currently the case in Indiana, though as Indianapolis ABC affiliate WRTV-TV reports, safety advocates want to see a new helmet law enacted.
“The big thing is protecting you from brain damage,” said David Dellen, co-owner of Harley-Davidson of Indianapolis in nearby Fishers, whose dealership sells plenty of Harley helmets, and emphasizes using them in their rider classes. “If something does happen, the helmet is designed to make sure that lessens the chances that happens.”
“Most of us have helmets because they are required in other states,” said Donna Gregg, a rider from Pendelton, Indiana. “But where it’s not required, we don’t wear them. And that should be our choice.”
According to WRTV-TV, the current helmet law in Indiana mandates use for riders 18 and younger, giving adult riders the choice to wear one or not. However, 40 percent of the 5,000 riders who were killed in 2017 were not wearing a helmet at the time of the accident, per the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration. The NHTSA adds that age-specific laws like the one Indiana has on its books now “are virtually impossible for police officers to enforce.”
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