Michigan Votes Forum

There was a chance that Granholm may have left office early to become a State Supreme Court Justice. That would mean that Lt. Governor John Cherry (who has been a long time supporter of helmet-choice) would've been appointed governor on January 1st 2009! That also would've meant that if this bill hadn't passed by then that helmet-choice would've been guarenteed by the summer of 2009, and without all the bullcrap amendments. No paying to ride free. However Granholm's advisors told her that if she bailed out of the governors seat while Michigan remained in dire straights that she would look really bad. The only way she could do it without looking bad would be if Michigan were in great shape by that time. In other words, it ain't happening. I guess that this bill, the economy, and the overall well being of Michigan are less important than Granholm "looking bad." Too bad it would've a win-win for everyone. Obviously it would've been great for motorcyclists and freedom-loving Americans. It would've been good for Lt. Governor Cherry because in 2010 he would've been the encumbant governor running for re-election as opposed to seeking a new position. It would've been in Granholm's best intrest as well. Once 2010 comes and goes she's going to be term limited out and out of a job. There are no term limits for State Supreme Court Justices. However it looks like we're stuck with her for another 40 months. But the fact that she is even entertaining the idea says that she believes there is nothing she can do as governor to fix our situation. The saddest thing is that 53% of Michigan voters were duped into believing in someone who doesn't even believe in herself. What a shame!

Too bad she didn't come to that conclusion before last years election!

some idiot wants a federal helmet law. says that helmets will solve these higher deaths throughout the country. the thing that the idiot doesn't understand is with gasoline going ever higher, more people are going to start riding motorcycles, scooters, mopeds. with more people riding brings higher chances of crashes and deaths. EVEN WITH A NATIONAL HELMET LAW !!!!! it is all in the numbers. the helmet is NOT a magical thing to keep people from dying. anyone that has half a brain knows that it is AWARENESS AND EDUCATION THAT WILL DROP THOSE STATS. but, it is to easy. that is why our IDIOT governor vetoed a bill that was by THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE THRU THEIR LEGISLATORS. SHE IS SOOOOO OUT OF TOUCH!!!!!!!

it's all about money !!! $100.00 to ride without a helmet. what about the people that come from out of state ???? are they going to have to pay a daily free like you do at the state park ??? what a cluster f***. only in the state of michigaistan can there be such stupid ideas, or that this state is in such dire need for $$$$ that it comes up with ridiculus wording for a law that will end up being thrown out !!!!!! $20000.00 in increased insurance coverage ???? that will get eaten up in the first ten minutes after the crash. to avoid ALL of this B.S.. more signs. more tv ads. more newspaper ads. more pop-ups for awarness on the internet. real simple. real easy. maybe thats why we don't see them. NOBODY IN LANSING IS SMART ENOUGH TO FIGURE IT OUT !!!! and the are the one in control ?????

I am 35 years old. I have been driving for 20 years, riding a motorcycle for 17. I have been driving trucks for a living for the last 10 years. Since I have been driving trucks, I drive as many miles in a month as most people do in a year. 12 years worth of driving per year multiplied by 10 years 120. Plus 10 years of driving before I became a truck driver equals 130 years of driving experience. During that time I have had exactly ZERO accidents in a car, motorcycle or truck. Perhaps I "lucked" my way through 2 lifetimes worth of driving in 20 years. Or maybe, just maybe, I KNOW WHAT THE F-CK I'M DOING!!! The only thing being forced to wear a helmet has done for me is cause me to have chronic neck pain. I see idiot drivers on the road on a daily basis and I'll tell you this, I'm not the one who needs to be wearing a helmet!

I am 35 years old. I have been driving for 20 years, riding a motorcycle for 17. I have been driving trucks for a living for the last 10 years. Since I have been driving trucks, I drive as many miles in a month as most people do in a year. 12 years worth of driving per year multiplied by 10 years 120. Plus 10 years of driving before I became a truck driver equals 130 years of driving experience. During that time I have had exactly ZERO accidents in a car, motorcycle or truck. Perhaps I "lucked" my way through 2 lifetimes worth of driving in 20 years. Or maybe, just maybe, I KNOW WHAT THE F-CK I'M DOING!!! The only thing being forced to wear a helmet has done for me is cause me to have chronic neck pain. I see idiot drivers on the road on a daily basis and I'll tell you this, I'm not the one who needs to be wearing a helmet!

What happened was illegal. There have been bills passed to make motorcycle safety groups focus on prevention rather that so-called safety gaer. ABATE is not the only organization you should be involved with, you should belong to the M.R.F. as well. They do what ABATE does on a national level. Saying relaxing helmet laws causes more fatalities is like saying Florida has more motorcycle accidents in January than Michigan. Not because Florida has a modified helmet law but because Florida has more bikes on the road that time of the year. States that have modified there laws have seen fatality increases but that's because the number of bikes goes up. Opponets of freedom will tell you that Florida's fatalities went up 80% after modifying their law. But they don't tell you is that ridership has increased by 150%. Threrfore the fotalities PER BIKE or FATALITY RATE has accually DROPPED since Florida Modified their law. Also before Florida modified their law in 2000, Wisconsin had more bikes registered than Florida. Keep in mind that not only is Wisconsin a cold weather state but thier total population is less than Florida's. The reason Wisconsin had more bikes registered at that time is because they modified their helmet law back in 1978. Florida did not pass up Wisconsin until AFTER they modified their law!

RECALL GRANHOLM !

...I heard something about a group called the Michigan Taxpayers Alliance that is actually looking into recalling Granholm. I'm not sure about the numbers but I thought they said to get the ball rolling they needed 1,000 registered voters to sign a petition. I've got just one question; WHERE DO I SIGN !!!!!!!!!!

Webster's dictionary defines the word "jenny" as; a female jackass. How right they are!

...is doing the same thing and expecting different results. Are the 53% of the people who voted for Jennifer insane?!

I'm very disappointed and embarrassed by the fact that Granholm got re-elected. However Jennifer did not get re-elected last year, she got re-elected on November 2nd, 2004! What am I talking about? I'm talking about the Democratic tsunami that was the 2006 election. The Democratic takeover in the House and Senate in Washington was the America giving Bush the middle finger. Furthermore 38 states had gubernatorial elections last year. 12 states that had Republican governors now have Democrats. Not one state went the other way, NOT ONE! None of this would have happened if Kerry would have beaten Bush in 2004. What's worse, what we have now? Or Kerry as president, DeVos as governor, the helmet law history (without the ridiculous fee), and no threat of Hillary being the next president?! That's why I voted for Kerry in 2004. He may not have been the best guy, but it would've been better than what we have now. Under no normal circumstances could any governor get re-elected with a track record as bad as Granholm's. But when you have a dumbass for a president that has a dismal approval rating of maybe 30% the unthinkable can and DID happen! Hopefully the next elections will be better.

should i move to another state to ride free n helmetless?!!

No helmet for $100. How about no seat belt for say $500 or no kiddee car seats for $1000? It makes as much sense to me!

Yes!

Why not also give a fee pass for drunk driving, say a yearly fee of $1000,00? You people will anything for money, and this is blood money!!!!!!!

Out of state can ride helmetless for free but if you live in this state you pay to do so. Sounds like another way to penalize us for wanting to ride free of a helmet. Spaz

I signed it!

Why should I have to pay extra to ride without a helmet? Most of the accidents with motorcycles are caused by auto drivers. Education of auto drivers on the awareness of 2 wheeled transportation is the key. $20000 extra insurance is a drop in the bucket to the medical bills incurred by a rider. Every accident (2) I've had has been the cause of an auto drivers.

Let me ask this, this bill provides us the ability to buy a sticker to affix to our bikes that allows us to ride helmetless. What if I own 2 bikes? Or if I ride someone elses bike that hasn't paid for the sticker? Are we covered by our one payment, or do we need to pay $200 for each bike? I assume that what this bill really provides is a chance to ride helmetless on one bike that we buy a sticker for. Am I correct?

And when? Where do I have to go and how much time do I have?!

Against the wishes of Jennifer and by a vote of 69 YES to 39 NO and 2 absent HB-4749 passed the Michigan House of Representatives late Thursday afternoon October 11th. Two of our YES votes were absent and both ofthere representatives called to apologize and let us know that they were with us in spirit. It was no cake walk either! The action on the floor was hot and heavy opposition coming from the following list. Remember these names next election, they work actively AGAINST us. If you are in their district you might just give them a call and let them know that your disappointment will be shown at the ballot box. Be NICE though! KATHY ANGERER (D) Dist. 55 (Also wants to raise insurance.) Steve Beida (D) Dist. 25 Aldo Vagnozzi (D) Dist. 37 David Law (R) Dist. 39 Marty Knollenberg (R) Dist. 41 Andy Coulouris (D) Dist. 95 Morris Hood III (D) Dist. 11 Andy Meisner (D) Dist. 27 Chuck Moss (R) Dist. 40 Mark Meadows (D) Dist. 69 Howard Walker (R) Dist. 104

This bill is about nothing more than trying to give the governor something to seriously look at. We know that we have every effort to give her a good bill, something she could deal with. We have an adult optional (21 and older), an education stipulation, money for state coffers, insurance coverage (even though more riders are insured, percentage wise, than car drivers), and a sunset clause so we can seriously review fatalities for 5 years. And she doesn't even the common courtesy to confer with us and let us know what we can do to work with her! During the floor debate, her cronies were telling legislators that we don't pay into the MCCA and using OUTRIGHT LIES to get her whiney-ass way! It's time to statr tying up her phone lines. Here's the number to call: 517.335.7858 Tell them you want the governor to support HB-4749

Women make up about 50% of the population and vote. 90% of women voted for Granholm. (0% of half is 45% of the whole voting spectrum. African-American's make up about 15% of the population and about 8% of the total vote. 8% + 45% = 53% of the total vote. Women and minorities ruined this election!

But we have a commie C U Next Tuesday for a governor who only knows how to steal your money and your rights!

Smoke for $100 a year? Now that they have admitted that it has nothing to do with health or any of the other B.S. reason and it is ALL ABOUT THE MONEY.

It'ss another way to get your coney in their pockets. They couldn't care less about you, your safety or anything else except YOU MONEY.

not ruining your life for a stupid "drunk driving" ticket. Most of which are bogus taxpayer ripoofs anyhow. First of all it is a POTENTIAL injury that you are being arrested for. Maybe we can arrest anybody the owns a bathtub (this would save the libs) for this POTENTIAL injury thing since more people are hurt or killed in these dangerous contraptions every year than by so called drunk drivers. Second, if almost all drunks crash at .24 and over why do we arrest good decent folks for a couple of beers at .08????

and those that feel that YOUR FREEDOM OF CHOICE should be renewed. start callin your senators and the governors office. tell them that this is a doable bill that will help bring $$$ to this sorry state. the governor needs to be hammered on this issue. after running jobs out of michiganistan and now raising taxes, how many more are leaving ??? thank GOD that you don't need jennys approval to move to a different state. oh oh, i hope this doesn't give her another freedom of yours to try to take away......

This has been a long time coming but there should be no fee. If someone wants to ride without a helmet it ought to be their choice, as should wearing a seat belt. Once again though, our reps have shown what this all about, THE MONEY! They don't care about safety, just new ways to raise money for their pet programs.

Time to Go!!!

AND while we are at it lets get rid of the Alltime DRUNK of DRUNKS MIKE SAK...What a loser!

one hundred dollars make riding without a helmet any safer? does it confer some 'blessing' on the rider's decision to ride helmetless? or does it absolve the state from it's supposed obligation to our safety? if the state is comtemplating a fee to allow you to do something that it has for years considered UNSAFE, then how unsafe could it have been? i notice that the state DIDN'T consider it UNSAFE until the feds showed them that they could CHARGE PEOPLE MONEY if they didn't ride with helmets. all they had to do is pass a law. now that the people are complaining, and the law is in the process of being found UNCONSTITUTIONAL, the state wants to 'allow' us to be UNSAFE. many states have followed this same path, michigan once again shows NO LEADERSHIP on this issue. it blindly followed the federal mandate to punish helmetless riders, and now, it blindly follows the lead of other states who have stepped up and allowed helmetless rider to ride freely. where was the concern for FREEDOM OF CHOICE? it was NON-EXISTANT.

Thats a good question. I was wondering the same thing myself. Can anyone out there help us?

I am 64, been riding for 30 years, and got so fed up with Michigan's ridiculous helmet law we now spend 1/2 the year in Florida where I can ride without my helmet. With the way Jenny has brought down this state, I think the move may be permanent. Michigan is a beautiful state to ride in and I know personally out of state bikers who refuse to carry a helmet to wear here. We are the only Great Lakes state to have such a ridiculous law still on the books. By the way, it isn't even really a law...it is a State Police Dept. "RULE" we are forced to follow. Recall Jenny and every legislator who didn't support Freedom of Choice. My gawd...isn't FREEDOM what this country is supposedly founded upon? Jenny's gotta go back to Canada!!!

Besides the stupidity of charging us $100 bucks to ride without a helmet, our neighboring state bikers could all come into Michigan and ride helmetless free of charge. That is the dumbest part of this legislation. I think now I WILL change my residence to Florida so I can come back to MI in the spring, summer and fall to ride helmet free without paying $100. Com'on Lansing...what are you folks thinking??? We pay you big salaries to use more common sense than that. All the comments below mine make more sense than anything produced so far in Lansing!!!

HEY !!!!!!Wake up out there in Mi. Gov. Jenny sure does't have a clue what people think of her.I get to see alot of people everyday all over the U.P.. there is never anything good said about her.. Anyway just the other day my son called and the first thing out of his mouth was he got a phone call and has to leave the state of Mi..I said what? He said ya dad,she[Jenny] is raising the tax on everything and I got to go to any other state but here...I said sad but true..I see why alot of people and jobs leave Mi. but our goverment can't see it..Can you?PLEASE GIVE US SOME FREEDOM BACK ,THATS ALL WE MAY HAVE LEFT TO KEEP US HERE.. THINK ABOUT IT FOR AWHILE..PS THEY CAN SPEND 800,000 ON SOME ROAD SIGNS THAT WERE JUST FINE ,AND WHY DOESN'T MI. HAVE ANY MONEY..THINK!!!!!!!well please repeal the helmet law and keep a few 100,000 bikers in Mi. like me. and who knows if she ask for help from us we could most certain balance the budget for her..LETS MAKE THIS A FREEDOM STATE!!!! BIG DADDY

how the motorcycle jockeys here ethusiastically endorsed and embraced this legislation when it was first introduced. All they read was the helmetless part. Now they discover the hook in the doughball they snapped at, and whine endlessly about the $100 fee. Poor crybabies. I personally think this is terrible legislation, specifically because of the $100 fee. The fee is an outrage. It was from the beginning. But I also have little sympathy for fools who endorse bills like this because all they see is the benefit they want without considering principle from the start.

I don't even want to tell you how much money my wife and I have spent this year riding out of state with friends. We ride with the freedom of no helmets elsewhere. I have been a rider for 34 years,and have watched the unhappy riders leave with hords of cash to spend in neighboring helmetless states. I guess the Smiling Viper doesn't think the state could use any of the motorcycling communitys dollars. Door county here I come again, it's a great place to ride. Doc

As a nurse case manager who specilaizes in Traumatic Brain Injury as well as Spinal cord injuries , I am just appaled that anyone would think that $200.00 would make it appropriate to ride without a helmet. I see the horrific and life changing events everyday from motorcylce acidenets even with helmets. Many of my clients are in residential setting for the rest of their lives. Their famalies lives are forever changed. If the human aspect does not move you the finacial issue should. These cases run into the millios of dollars very easily. We as citizens absorb that cost when insurance rates skyrocket. I plan on keeping alist of who voted ofr this foll hardy and frankly stupid bill and will make sure my collegues know who they are. Case Managers make up a large group of voters and not only will I not vote for that reperesentative but I would also support a recall. Work with one day and your heart will break if you at all human and you will see first hand the consequences of this passing. Shame on all of you!!!!!!!