Very seldom does something have all positive or all negative effects, and this includes helmets for motorcycles and seat belts for cars.

There is a very good chance that if a non-helmet biker gets in an accident, he will receive brain trauma that either kills him or leaves him permanently brain damaged. This also would happen even if he had a helmet on. The helmet would stop you from losing skin of your head, but it does not stop the most damaging part. This is the shaking of your brain inside your skull.

When you wear a helmet, hearing is decreased dramatically, even with a short beanie that has ears exposed. The wind resistance on your neck is more and causes fatigue and makes reaction time slower. The helmet also traps in heat trying to escape through your head.

Motorcycling can be dangerous, but the best prevention is for the driver to be extremely alert. I have been in quite a few close situations, and if I was not alert, I might not be writing this now.

I do not wear a helmet, but I do not put down anybody who does. It just goes along with what I believe this country stands for: freedom.

The only way to stop fatalities is to take away our motorcycles and then you might as well take away everything that propels our bodies at a speed great enough to harm us. Thank you, Maine, for giving us a choice.

Brian C. Laura, Augusta