‘Murder Cycles’ and ‘Organ Donors’
Obviously these guys don’t care what happens to their organs if they die. Right?
I had a boss once whose favorite term for motorcycles was “murder cycles.” She hated them and believed that anyone who rode one would surely end up dead beside the road. Thirty-five years later, she is dead, of natural causes, and I’m still very much alive and very much still riding motorcycles.
Other people like to refer to motorcyclists who ride without helmets as “organ donors.” Both of these pejoratives are based primarily on ignorance but hey, we who ride are used to provoking ignorant people to dispel any doubt about who they are.
But sometimes we encounter someone who wants to take things a little too far. This is the case at the moment in Connecticut where a state senator, with the convenient name of Martin Looney, has proposed a bill mandating that anyone who dies in a motorcycle crash without a helmet is deemed to be offering their organs for transplant. Here’s the text of the bill:
AN ACT ESTABLISHING A REBUTTABLE PRESUMPTION THAT PERSONS KILLED IN A MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENT WHILE RIDING WITHOUT A HELMET WISH TO DONATE THEIR ORGANS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
That the general statutes be amended to establish a rebuttable presumption that a person who is killed in a motorcycle accident while
riding the motorcycle without a helmet wishes to donate their organs.
Statement of Purpose:
To improve public health.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all in favor of people donating their organs once they have no further use for them, but seriously? Why single out motorcyclists not wearing helmets? Why not a bill saying that all people who die prematurely, unless previously stated, shall be deemed organ donors. Or at least accompanying the unhelmeted motorcyclists with car drivers and passengers who aren’t wearing seat belts?
The American Motorcyclist Association issued a protest, saying:
“The bill shows callous disregard for the motorcycling public,” said AMA Government Relations Director Mike Sayre. “Organ donation is a noble cause that regularly saves lives around the country, but the decision to become a donor is a deeply personal one — one that this legislation would take away from motorcyclists.”
“Not only is this bill insulting to motorcyclists,” Sayre added, “but it also violates the religious liberty of those whose faith prohibits posthumous organ donation, and is clearly an unconstitutional violation of bodily autonomy for any American.”
How likely is this bill to pass? Who knows. Probably it won’t. But when the AMA contacted the senator’s office to inquire about the bill and spoke to one of his staffers, this was the upshot:
The staffer stated that their position was that if motorcyclists put their lives at risk by riding helmetless, they assume those riders don’t care where their organs end up.
Ignorance.
Biker Quote for Today
If you party like you ride, make sure to wear a helmet.
Tags: organ donors
