Kansas City Star Monday editorial

In one of its more baffling acts of the 2009 session, the Missouri legislature passed a bill repealing the state’s helmet law for motorcycle riders.

Transportation Department Director Pete Rahn is right in saying the move makes no sense and will cost lives.

Gov. Jay Nixon is reviewing the measure. He should veto it.

In a recent poll financed by the state Department of Transportation and conducted by Abacus Associates of Hatfield, Mass., 84 percent of respondents said they backed Missouri’s current law, which requires helmets for motorcyclists and passengers.

If that statute is repealed, wearing of helmets would be optional on state roads but still required on interstates. Riders under 21 would still have to wear helmets on all roads.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 42 lives were saved in Missouri because existing law boosted helmet use. In states that repealed helmet laws, use of helmets fell from 99 percent to 50 percent and motorcycle deaths rose.

Looking at current trends, Rahn says it’s an especially bad time for repeal.

Traffic fatalities as a whole have dropped in Missouri, but since 2004 motorcycle deaths have nearly doubled. Last year, they rose by 13 percent to 107. This is no time to repeal the state’s helmet law.