LET THE RIDER DECIDE

But mah freedumbs!

I’m old enough to remember seeing the headline above on any number of car bumpers, on T-shirts, and on motorcycles. It was the response of a certain group of motorcycle riders back 45 years ago to the then-growing movement to require mandatory helmet-wearing for motorcyclists. There was good reason for the campaign: head injuries were the most prevalent injury a rider suffered in an accident; as with anything involving the human head, it was the most damaging injury, even when the accident was only a tumble. It was a fact then and now that a helmet can prevent an accident becoming a fatality. I remember the death of Richard Farina, husband of Joan Baez’ sister Mimi, riding his bike home from the publication party for his novel “Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me” in 1966, taking a tumble at 20 mph on a winding road in Marin County and meeting a telephone pole head-first. Critical head injuries tied up emergency rooms and involved the majority of the money paid out by insurance companies.

But the thought of “infringing mah freedumbs!” kept the issue from resolution for another 20 years. It wasn’t until the early 1990s that mandatory helmet laws started getting passed, and enforcement was still spotty in the years immediately after passage. And then, all of a sudden, even the outlaw bikers were wearing them (admittedly those were offensive: the smallest possible helmet, shaped like a Nazi helmet from World War II).

What happened?

Insurance companies happened is what. The offense of not wearing a helment was a moving violation; it had a low financial penalty in court. But after a motorcyclist got one of those tickets, their next insurance bill was a whopper - rates went up as much as 50 percent. Getting hit in the wallet got the message through to even the most rock-headed Hell’s Angel. Mandatory vehicle insurance laws added to the decision to comply. “But mah freedumbs!” took second place to being able to get insurance. You don’t see any motocyclist or passenger today who isn’t wearing a helment.

Motorcycle helmets aren’t the only things that underwent similar changes. Mandatory seatbelt laws were on the books by the mid-80s. Again, there was a small financial penalty for the ticket, but since the offense was a moving violation, the kick in the ass came with the next insurance bill, after the companies announced there would be a mandatory minimum increase in premiums of 25%, with higher rates for a seatbelt citation that was part of an accident that had personal injury.”But mah freedumbs!” took a back seat to the bank account. It’s now automatic to everyone to settle in their seat and strap in before turning the ignition key.

I can remember three times I was nearly run down crossing a street by a moron in an SUV, a Beamer or a Mercedes with that surprised look on their face as they made a left turn after the light changed, with their phone to their ear. I remember delaying left turns until there was no oncoming traffic after nearly being T-boned by drivers in SUVs, phones clamped to their ears as they drove through red lights they were too involved in their conversation to pay attention to the light having changed. I’ll never forget the idiot in a Ford Excursion who looked up from reading a text on his damn phone with that surprised “what the hell?” look when he realized he’d lifted his foot from the brake while scrolling through his ever-so-important text messages and rolled into the intersection in time to be hit by a truck with the right of way. “But mah freedumbs!” kept the argument over laws against talking and texting while driving going for a good ten years, and then when the law went on the books, again it had a low financial penalty in a fine for the ticket, which again was a moving violation..

And again the insurance companies considered a ticket for yakking while driving to be cause for a 25% increase in insurance premiums. And once again, “But mah freedoms!” came in second behind a $500 increase in the annual premium.

Perhaps you see where I’m going with this stroll down memory lane. All three laws were “things good for both individuals and communities” that were rejected by that minority who think their God-given American right to be a fucking moron supercedes your right to not have to put up with their moron stupidity.

This time, we don’t have to have a fight over a mandatory law that can have a similar effect. We already have the law. The Afordable Care Act requires one to have health insurance. We don’t need “vaccine passports” to solve this. All we need are for the money-grubbing insurance companies to jack up your health insurance premium if you insist on “But mah freedumbs!” All it takes is the insurance companies writing a new regulation into their rules, and - bingo! - within six months there will be universal vaccination.

It’s funny how “But mah freedumbs!” always takes a back seat to having to pay extra to exercise them.

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