June 11, 2012

The Philadelphia Inquirer (6/11, Schmitt) reports, “In a highly touted safety achievement, deaths on the nation’s roads and highways have fallen sharply in recent years, to the lowest total in more than half a century.” However, “motorcyclists have missed out on that dramatic improvement, and the news for them has been increasingly grim.” Despite this development, biker groups want federal regulators and lawmakers to “back away from promoting or enforcing requirements for safe helmets, the most effective way known to save bikers’ lives.” Lobbyists for biker groups are attempting to block more National Highway Traffic Safety Administration grants “to conduct highway stops of motorcyclists to check for safety violations such as wearing helmets that don’t meet federal standards.” Moreover, biker groups want a 1998 rule that prevents NHTSA from advancing motorcycle safety measures at the state and local level to be continued.