Less than 24 hours after Ben Roethlisberger’s motorcycle crash, the Cincinnati Post runs an editorial demanding federal motorcycle helmet laws. Nut quote:

At one time all states required helmets, but under pressure from those who advocate “freedom” lawmakers in 30 states have rolled back those laws, including in Ohio and Kentucky.

Ben Roethlisberger is a grown-up. He made a grown-up decision. Consciously (he has boasted about not wearing a helmet when he rides). He’s now paying for that decision. It’s not the government’s job to regulate away risk. It’s telling that personal freedom is so scarce these days that editorial writers feel the need to put the word in scare quotes.

Last November, Jacob Sullum wrote an excellent piece for Reason on why motorcycle enthusiasts were able to beat back helmet laws, and why, by comparison, Nanny State foes couldn’t defeat mandatory seat belt laws.

Thanks to Jessie Creel for the tip.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 13th, 2006 at 9:01 am by Radley Balko and is filed under Nanny State, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.