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Bikers take helmet-choice issue to Salem Staff and wire reports SALEM -- Dreams of riding helmetless, with the sun beating down and wind whipping through their hair, brought leather-clad bikers roaring to the Capitol on Wednesday. "It makes a whole world of difference," Mel Yeager, a 35-year biking veteran, said of the feeling he gets while riding without his helmet. Yeager, who commutes daily between Albany and Salem on his Harley-Davidson, said he wants the state to repeal the law -- but that wouldn't mean he'd leave his helmet behind every day. "I've worn my helmet religiously," he said. "I want the right to choose to wear it." But Yeager and other bikers may be beating their heads against a wall by pushing a bill to allow bikers 16 and over to choose to wear motorcycle helmets. While the Senate Transportation Committee endorsed the bill Wednesday, the issue hasn't seen much success in past legislative sessions. Voters canned the idea a decade ago, making helmets mandatory for all bikers. Two years ago, after heavy lobbying by the bikers, both chambers approved a bill requiring helmets only for those under 21. It was vetoed by Gov. John Kitzhaber, a former emergency room doctor. It's not likely Kitzhaber has had a change of heart since then. Sen. Joan Dukes, who serves on the transportation committee, said Oregonians shouldn't have to cover medical treatment for bikers injured while riding without helmets. "I don't see this any differently as seat belts," the Astoria Democrat said. So why are the bikers back? "Being right brings us back," said Brian Stovall, director of Bike PAC of Oregon. "We are right. There's no question about it to us." According to the Oregon Department of Transportation, the number of Oregonians killed in motorcycle accidents has been halved in the decade since the helmet law was passed. But Stovall and other bikers dispute that the drop is because of the helmet law. They say mandatory motorcycle training and drug and alcohol education programs have made a difference. "They ignore better licensing, they ignore alcohol use programs, they ignore things we've done to clean up motorcycling," Stovall said. And bikers say the helmets don't protect bikers from many injuries. Helmets are safer only if you're traveling under 15 mph, said Sondra Nolan, secretary for the local motorcyclists' rights group ABATE, or A Brotherhood Against Totalitarian Enactments. Because the helmet's weight puts so much pressure on the rider's neck and spinal cord, in an accident he or she is more likely to have spinal cord injuries, she said, adding that helmets don't hold up in a 55 mph crash. "For us, it really is a safety issue," she said. Sen. Lenn Hannon, R-Ashland, a member of the transportation committee, plans to support the bill. "I've never voted for mandatory safety requirements of any kind," he said, referring also to required use of seat belts and wearing of helmets for young bicyclists. "It's like trying to legislate stupidity. You should have the common sense to use a safety device, but if you do not choose to, no law we have on the books is going to force you to wear one." Sen. Gary George, the Newberg Republican who is sponsoring the bill, said it will likely be approved in both chambers even with Kitzhaber's reluctance to sign it. "There's things that are just right to do," said George, who donned a leather jacket, bandana and sunglasses for his floor speech supporting the bill in 1997. Nolan thinks the chances of repealing the bill are better this time. "There's a change of personnel in the Oregon Legislature, and I think that motorcyclists and motorcycle groups are gaining more respect and are more visible," Nolan said. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA