Nanny knows best and will spend your tax dollars to prove it to the governor!

(For the record, I'm in favor of keeping the law, but I just have the inclination to poke at a certain state agency about their efforts.)

Yesterday, the Missouri Department of Transportation began a campaign to encourage Governor Jay Nixon to veto Senate Bill 202, which would eliminate the requirement for persons over 21 to wear a helmet whilst riding a motorcycle in Missouri. On the front page of MoDOT's Web site is a banner screaming "9 to 1", indicating that Missourians favor the helmet requirement by a 9-to-1 margin. That news release is where I start scratching my head.

From my experience dealing with news releases posted online, it is customary when citing statistics online to also upload the entire survey and the conditions under which it was conducted. MoDOT did not link to this information or even mention how many people were surveyed. Therefore, these figures are not sufficiently backed and must be treated with a grain of salt.

It is my hope that MoDOT, more than likely using state taxpayer money* to push for Nixon to veto SB202 (which passed the Senate 23-6 and House 93-55), will provide the source material for these numbers promptly as to make sure that Missourians are truly in support of maintaining the current law and that states where helmet laws are not in place (namely Arkansas, much to the disapproval of Gravette's Sen. Kim Hendren) are experiencing some of the worst numbers for motorcycle accident fatalities. One cannot rely on vague news releases and bleed-and-lead accident photos to convince people that "nanny laws" are truly needed.

*claim subject to imminent Sunshine Law request to MoDOT.