A bill that would have made motorcyclists wear a helmet crashed and burned - at least temporarily - during a standing committee meeting Monday morning.
Opponents of the bill cheered when members of the Energy, Natural Resources and Agriculture Standing Committee voted 6-3 not to pass the bill out of committee with a favorable recommendation. But committee members did not vote to table the bill, so it can still be raised on the floor of the House of Representatives by a simple majority vote.Last week, Rep. Walt Bain, R-Farmington, sponsor of HB103, said he would try to lift it from the floor for a vote if it was defeated in committee.
"The issue is not going to go away," Bain said. "Helmets do save lives and reduce the chance of head injury."
States that passed helmet laws saw a 35 percent drop in fatalities, he said. He predicted that passage of the bill in Utah would boost helmet use from 35 percent to more than 90 percent.
Opponents of the bill said it would deny them freedom of choice. Helmets, some said, actually increase the chance of accidents because they interfere with vision and hearing.
Some spectators had to be turned away because there wasn't room for everyone in the overflowing committee room. Following the vote, motorcyclists gathered in the rotunda to cheer briefly.
Bain commiserated with Marsha Burns, whose son was killed last year in a motorcycle accident. Todd Burns, 19, was not wearing a helmet at the time of his accident, and his mother is one of the bill's staunchest supporters.
"We'll be back next year or the next year or the next year. In California, it took them five years," Burns said.
Motorcyclists had a different view.
"Freedom wins out again," one exulted as he and friends exchanged "high fives" in the hall outside the committee room.