AUGUSTA (AP) – With arctic winds still blowing and snow flying across northern New England, motorcycle season is still a ways down the road. But the debate over helmets will soon rev up in at least one of the states where the motorcycle death rate is up sharply: Maine.

Maine, like neighboring New Hampshire, repealed its helmet law years ago. There’s no sign of a helmet bill surfacing this year in the Granite State, home of an annual weeklong gathering of bikers and where the slogan “Live Free or Die” not only marks license plates.

Vermont seems content with its motorcycle helmet law. Vocal opposition is not organized, and there have been no bills offered this year that would do away with the mandate.

But in Maine, where there hasn’t been a whisper of a helmet law for 15 years, a proposal to require the protective headgear has suddenly ridden into Augusta.

Maine had a helmet law for a decade before lawmakers repealed it in 1977. Sponsors of bills to bring back the law returned faithfully to the State House for years following repeal, only to be met by determined bikers, clad in leathers, who said “no way” to the proposals.

In the meantime, Maine politicians made friendly with the bikers, appearing at and participating in annual toy runs in the capital. Gov. John Baldacci and the governor he succeeded, Angus King, are both Harley-Davidson owners themselves.

A motorcycle helmet bill hasn’t appeared among the thousands to make it into Maine’s legislative hopper since 1989. State law does require helmets for passengers under 15 and motorcyclists with only a learner’s permit or operators who have had their motorcycle license for less than a year, according to the Bureau of Highway Safety.

Now, a bill calling for helmet use by all operators and passengers of motorcycles, on or off the highways, has appeared. It would make Maine the 21st state, along with the District of Columbia, that requires helmet use by all motorcycle drivers and their passengers.

The sponsor, Rep. Walter Wheeler, D-Kittery, said he sponsored the bill at the request of an 86-year-old constituent whose young relative was critically injured in a motorcycle accident. That tragedy coincided with a surge in motorcycle deaths in Maine, the other two northern New England states – and the nation.

The number of motorcycle deaths rose to 22 last year in Maine, two more than during the previous year and nine more than in 2002, according to state figures. At the same time, the number of motorcycle registrations also increased sharply.

In New Hampshire, 29 motorcyclists died last year, compared to nine the year before. Vermont recorded 11 fatal crashes, more than in the three previous years combined.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said 3,661 motorcyclists were killed in 2003 on the nation’s roads, a 12 percent increase from 2002.

In Maine, Wheeler is convinced a helmet law is a good idea. He expects the mandate would play out like a law banning smoking in bars, which incensed some smokers when it first took effect last year.

“Now, you don’t hear anything about it,” said Wheeler. While he conceded that his bill will probably not get far, he can count on one supporter, a man from South Paris who promised to testify in favor of the measure.

“He said he had three accidents and if he hadn’t had a helmet, he’d probably be a vegetable today,” said Wheeler.

New Hampshire state Rep. Sherman Packard said the House Transportation Committee he chairs hasn’t seen a helmet proposal in the past six or seven years and he sees none coming this session. Past efforts to pass a law were routinely shot down, he said.

“It’s a question of what you believe your government should be mandating,” he said. For New Hampshire residents, the decision whether or not to wear a helmet is considered “an individual liberty thing.”

Wheeler can count on opposition to his bill from United Bikers of Maine, which has long opposed helmet bills as an intrusion by government. UBM’s mantra is, “Let those who ride decide.”

Mac McCreary, UBM’s president pro tem, said his group does not discourage helmet use, but considers it an issue for motorcyclists themselves.

He said state figures on Maine motorcyclist deaths last year show about half wearing helmets and half not wearing them. But the figures are inconclusive. Some studies, McCreary said, suggest helmets might contribute to injuries.

The helmet bill also comes up as the Baldacci administration focuses its highway safety efforts elsewhere: making seat belts mandatory.

Current law makes seat belts mandatory for those under 18, and booster or child safety seats are required for young children.

For those over 18, police cannot cite an unbuckled motorist unless the driver is stopped for another traffic violation. Baldacci’s bill would authorize police to stop a motorist for a seat belt violation alone, and increase the fines for violations.

Baldacci acknowledges the bill’s intent – to save lives, prevent injuries and avoid the medical costs of preventable injuries – also would apply to a helmet law.

While Baldacci said this is not the time for a fight over helmets, a spokesman said he is not ruling out a helmet law in the future.

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