AUGUSTA (AP) — A new bill to require all motorcyclists to wear helmets in Maine has been referred to committee.
Lawmakers on Tuesday sent Rep. Paulette Beaudoin's bill to the Transportation Committee. The Biddeford Democrat introduced a similar bill in 2009, but it was rejected.
Current Maine law requires motorcyclists under 18 years old to wear a helmet when driving or riding as a passenger. The law also applies to motorcyclists operating under a learner's permit or within one year of completing a driving test.
Beaudoin's bill requires all operators and passengers of motorcycles to wear protective helmets, restoring a law that was repealed in the late 1970s.
Lawmakers also referred to committee Beaudoin's bill to prohibit the use of a handheld mobile telephone while operating a motor vehicle.



Needless "Bills"
Rep. Paulette Beaudoin, how about concentrating on the real "BIG" problems at hand in Augusta ? We have a huge spending problem, how about putting your energy towards fixing the bloated spending problem you Progressives have contributed to ?
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all 13.01.25 ≠
Brain buckets work • They do
o m g - This is like the gun law thing though .
" It is my God given - r i g h t - to splatter my brains all over rt. 95 ! "
/s Steve , former Maine Cycle Salvage , Canal St. L/A worker . .• *<;-Q~
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.I wonder if Rep. Paulette
I wonder if Rep. Paulette Beaudoin polled her constituents to ask them what they thought, or if she's just interested in publishing a law...
What if she found out that the majority of her constituents and Mainers were not in favor of a helmet law... would she continue? You bet she would. This is just another example of "I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help you..."
From Social Security (I wish I could withdraw... my investments are doing WAY better than that losing battle) to what I can do with my own property, to how much soda I can drink in New York... Legislators think they're smarter than all of us.
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While wearing a helmet is common sense... it isn't the government's job to legislate it. This is just another instance of bureaucrats beleiving that they're smarter than us.
Heck... I'm the poster-boy for helmets. Cycling, Skiing, White water Kayaking... I wear one. But it's not the government's job to make that choice for me.
You want people to wear helmets? Have the insurance companies legislate it with their policies: When you insure a motorcycle, a quick questionaire on whether or not you wear a helmet. Those that don't, have a higher premium. Simple. You don't have yours on when you crash? Limited benefits.
it's not the government's job to legislate common sense... What's next? Telling me how much soda I can drink? (stupid New Yorkers...)
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I once was the business manager of a large motorcycle dealership.
When someone bought a bike I did the financing and after market sales. I always stressed the importance of wearing a helmet.
In the course of my 3 year tenure there I would read about riders who bought their bikes from our shop and were involved in accidents while riding. Only one young man out of many died while wearing his helmet. I'll never forget I has the last person he talked to before he went into a skid on his way home and a telephone pole guy wire severed his neck. In this case the helmet offered no protection but in all other accidents helmets saved lives.
I love the freedom my bike offers and I've learned from personal experience that if I wear my helmet my chances of enjoying this freedom are a lot better.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.It's about time... Motorists
It's about time...
Motorists are required to buckle up or face a stiff fine (even as a primary offense) for not doing so, all in the name of 'safety', while motorcyclists have been allowed to ride/drive helmetless since the 70's. What a crock.
It's about time....
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sure, just another law that the government is going to shove down our throats, not letting US have a say, just one more right taken away from us. What a country. Free? I think not!
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Perhaps at the taxpayers expense..... Is A Right???
Sure, Dan.......
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is quite adequate. How about a bill that goes to the heart of a lot of wasteful budget rule making such as "meeting once every 2 years and for just 6 months" ?
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Maine law is not quite adequate if it allows motorcyclists to ride without helmets. If that's what you want, then let's get together and repeal the mandatory law of being fined for not buckling up as a primary offense.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Sure it is, Jim.
It gives riders the opportunity to realistically appraise the value of their own brain.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.The helmet ,it's not the fix every one thinks it is !!
Seem you have no idea just what a helmet does and can't do .
As for the brain being protecting a person from a brain injury, it's a hit or miss .
The helmet can safe your face or your brains but it will surly break your neck .
They is no qustion about that .
Its been proven time and time again .
Guess it's better to live in a wheel chair unable to clean you own ass than it is to die to some .
.A helmet can't even stop the brains of football players from getting damage , they are only running into each other .
As for a motocycle ,any crash after twenty miles a hour is a long shot from being able to survie , fuill body armor would not help if the person driving the bike hits the ground or the car that cut him or her off .
You seem to have a nasty way of putting your remarks here .
I bet you have never driven A bike in your life !
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A helmet impedes vision and hearing and adds extra weight that the neck can't handle in a crash.
The effing nanny state is at it again!
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Do you buckle up when you drive a car? What's the difference? Once helps to keep you in the car during a crash. The other gives you chance at maybe surviving a crash still knowing the difference between your ass and your toes. No guarantees in either case.
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CDC study: Motorcycle helmet laws save billions in health care costs
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Even as a motorcycle cop.
And if a biker didn't care enough to wear a brain-cage - he didn't get any sympathy from me come ticket-time.
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