on June 10, 2012 at 9:19 AM, updated WASHINGTON –Deaths on the nation's roads and highways have fallen sharply in recent years, to the lowest total in more than a half-century. But the news for motorcyclists has been increasingly grim. So it might be no surprise that biker groups are upset with Washington. The twist is what they are asking lawmakers and regulators to do: Back away from promoting or enforcing requirements for safe helmets, the most effective way to save bikers' lives. Fatalities from motorcycle crashes have more than doubled since the mid-1990s. The latest figures show these accidents taking about 4,500 lives a year, or one in seven U.S. traffic deaths. Yet if the biker groups' lobbyists and congressional allies have their way, the nation's chief traffic cop, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, will be thwarted in its efforts to reduce the body count. The agency would be blocked from providing any more grants to states to conduct highway stops of motorcyclists to check for safety violations such as wearing helmets that don't meet federal standards.

Beyond that, the rider groups are seeking to preserve what essentially is a gag rule that since 1998 has prevented the agency from advocating safety measures at the state and local levels, including promoting helmet laws. And the bikers' lobbyists, backed by grass-roots activists and an organization whose members include a "who's who" of motorcycle manufacturers, already have derailed a measure lawmakers envisioned to reinstate financial penalties for states lacking helmet laws. motorcycle tires yellow letteringThose moves partly are intended to maintain the bikers' clout in state legislatures, which have been rolling back motorcycle helmet regulations for three decades. motorcycle shops in bedford indianaOnly 19 states (including Oregon) have helmet laws covering all riders, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. motorcycle dealers in stamford ct

In the late 1970s, by contrast, 47 states had such requirements. "This is ... an interesting and dangerous road they are going down," said Jackie Gillan, president of the Washington-based nonprofit Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety. "They are so emboldened now, not only do they try to repeal laws and stop them from being enacted, they try to stop the hands of law enforcement, saying you cannot use grant money to have motorcycle checkpoints. Can you imagine if they said the same thing about sobriety checkpoints?" used yamaha motorcycles pittsburghBiker groups, contending that helmet laws curtail personal freedom, say the federal government instead should emphasize rider training to prevent crashes from occurring in the first place. red wing boots osloBut it is far from clear that training does anything to reduce crashes or deaths. bikes for sale in karachi on olx

A 2007 Indiana study, for instance, found that riders who completed a basic training course were 44 percent more likely to be involved in an accident than untrained riders. Researchers speculated that the courses gave riders unwarranted confidence, and that they ended up taking more risks. Mandatory helmet laws are widely considered the closest thing to a silver bullet that regulators have to thwart deadly accidents. The traffic safety administration estimates that helmets saved 1,483 lives in 2009, and that another 732 deaths could have been avoided if all riders had worn them. The social costs of the carnage are also huge: a 2008 agency estimate concluded that $1.3 billion in medical bills and lost productivity would have been saved if all bikers had worn helmets. (In Oregon, the average fatality rate dropped from about 69 a year to about 29 a year after helmets were required in 1988.) That motorcyclists have evaded the kind of regulation that has made seat belts and car seats standard equipment in other motor vehicles shows the influence of a vocal minority of riders whose libertarian message seems to resonate more than ever with lawmakers inside and outside the Beltway.

And their efforts receive support from the leading motorcycle manufacturers. Manufacturers generally endorse the use of helmets but, loath to offend their customers, they also are an important dues-paying membership bloc in the American Motorcyclist Association, an ardent opponent of helmet laws. The rider lobby's powerful friends include U.S. Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., whose state is home to Milwaukee-based Harley-Davidson Inc. He has led efforts in the House to block the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration from promoting state and local safety measures and using federal funds for motorcycle checkpoints. , a database run by the nonprofit Center for Responsive Politics. The Motorcycle Riders Foundation spent $2.1 million in lobbying during the same period. As more riders have gotten on the road and the number of states with mandatory helmet laws has declined, biker deaths have soared. The death toll climbed from 2,116 in 1997 to 4,502 in 2010, the most recent year for which figures are available.

Helmet advocates say the public ends up getting ripped off when it has to pick up the tab for health costs associated with catastrophic accidents. "If you don't wear a helmet, and you sustain a moderate to severe injury that doesn't kill you, you are going to be a drain on society for the rest of your life," said Thomas Esposito, chief of the Division of Trauma, Surgical Critical Care and Burns at Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago. ) is a nonprofit, online investigative news organization focused on safety and health issues. For other people named Jason Williams, see Jason Williams (disambiguation). Jason David "Jay" Williams (born September 10, 1981) is an American former basketball player. He played college basketball for the Duke University Blue Devils and professionally for the Chicago Bulls in the NBA. He last signed with the Austin Toros of the NBA Development League, but was waived by the Toros on December 30, 2006 due to lingering physical effects from a 2003 motorcycle accident.

[1] Although he had been known as Jason, he asked to be called Jay on joining the Bulls in 2002, to avoid confusion with two other players in the NBA at the time, Jason Williams and Jayson Williams. The 6-foot-2-inch (1.88 m), 195-pound (88 kg) point guard grew up in Plainfield, New Jersey, and attended St. Joseph High School in Metuchen, graduating in 1999. He not only excelled at basketball, but took an active interest in other activities, most notably chess. His nickname in high school was "Jay Dubs." Williams also played junior varsity soccer during his freshman year and varsity volleyball during his senior year. In basketball that year, Williams was named a First Team All-State Player in New Jersey, the New Jersey Player of the Year, a Parade All-American, a USA Today first team All-American, and a McDonald's All-American, where he competed in the Slam Dunk Contest and the McDonald's All-American Game, scoring 20 points in the contest. He was also named the recipient of the 1999 Morgan Wootten Award for his basketball achievements and his work in the classroom, where he maintained a 3.6 GPA.

At Duke, Williams became one of the few freshmen in school history to average double figures in scoring and was named ACC Rookie of the Year and National Freshman of the Year by The Sporting News, averaging 14.5 points, 6.5 assists and 4.2 rebounds per contest. He was also a first team Freshman All-American by Basketball Times. The next season Williams started all 39 games and led the Devils to the 2001 NCAA National Championship, earning NABC Player of the Year honors. His 841 points broke Dick Groat's 49-year Duke record for points in a season, while he led all tournament scorers with a 25.7 ppg average. Williams also set the NCAA Tournament record for three-pointers attempted (66), while also making 132 three-point field goals—good for the sixth-highest total in NCAA history. His 21.6 ppg led the ACC and made him the first Duke player since Danny Ferry (1989) to lead the league in scoring. His 6.1 assists were good for second in the league, while he also ranked second in three-point field goal percentage (.427) and first in three-pointers made (3.4 per game).

Williams was widely considered the best player in college basketball, earning both the prestigious Naismith Award and Wooden Award as College Basketball's Player of the Year in 2002. He graduated with a degree in Sociology in 2002, and left Duke with 2,079 points, good for sixth all-time, and with his jersey number 22 retired at Senior Day. He had 36 double-figure scoring games in a single season (tied for 5th-most in Duke history as of March 28, 2010, with Jon Scheyer, Shane Battier, and J.J. Redick). In 2001–02, Williams, Carlos Boozer, and Mike Dunleavy Jr. each scored at least 600 points for the season, a feat only matched at Duke by Jon Scheyer, Kyle Singler, and Nolan Smith in the 2009–10 season.[2] Williams (841) and Shane Battier (778) on the 2001 national championship team were one of only two Duke duos to each score over 700 points in a season, the other duo being Scheyer (728) and Singler (707) in the 2009–10 season. Williams was selected by the Chicago Bulls with the second overall pick in the 2002 NBA draft, after Yao Ming was selected by the Houston Rockets.

He played for the US national team in the 2002 FIBA World Championship. Williams was a starter in the Bulls' line-up for most of the 2002–03 NBA season. Although his performance was inconsistent and he competed for playing time with Jamal Crawford, he showed signs of promise including posting a triple-double in a win over his homestate team, the New Jersey Nets. On the night of June 19, 2003, Williams crashed his Yamaha R6 motorcycle into a streetlight at the intersection of Fletcher and Honore streets on Chicago's North Side. Williams was not wearing a helmet, was not licensed to ride a motorcycle in Illinois, and was also violating the terms of his Bulls contract by riding a motorcycle.[5] Williams injuries included a severed main nerve in his leg, fractured pelvis and three dislocated ligaments in his left knee including the ACL. He required physical therapy to regain the use of his leg. A week after the motorcycle crash the Bulls drafted point guard Kirk Hinrich. When it became clear Williams would not be returning to the Bulls for a long time, if at all, because of his injuries, he was waived.

The Bulls legally did not have to pay him any salary because his injuries occurred while he was violating his contract by riding a motorcycle. Instead the Bulls gave Williams $3 million when they waived him, which Williams could use toward future rehabilitation expenses. Williams stated at the time that he would continue to train and make a return to the Bulls, but in his 2016 memoir he mentioned that a lot of the Bulls' severance package fueled his addiction to illegal pain killers. In the interim, he appeared in college and high school basketball broadcasts on ESPN as a commentator. Williams made an attempt to continue playing basketball. Although the Bulls no longer expressed much interest, on September 28, 2006, the New Jersey Nets announced that it had signed Williams to a non-guaranteed contract, giving Williams the opportunity to play in his home state. However, less than a month later on October 22, the Nets released Williams. He then signed with the Austin Toros of the NBA Development League, but on December 30, 2006, the Toros waived him due to injury.