Hendren offers bill to protect motorcyclists

GRAVETTE – State Sen. Kim Hendren has already filed a bill to require Arkansans who operate or ride a motorcycle to wear protective headgear and to carry $10,000 worth of medical insurance, but the bill may not be in its final form, said Hendren, R-Gravette.

The legislation is to be Senate Bill 29 in the next regular session of the state Legislature, which will get under way Jan. 12.

The bill is controversial in some quarters, from which he’s already hearing, Hendren said with a laugh.

“They send me these emails and tell me where to stick that helmet, and some of it would be very uncomfortable if I followed their suggestion,” he said.

But other Arkansans, including a Fort Smith doctor, support Hendren’s proposal and want to add to it, Hendren said.

“I got an e-mail this morning … and (the doctor) said, ‘Let me tell you something. I support your helmet bill. But I’ll tell you something you ought to do. You ought to put in that bill that any motorcyclist that rides without a helmet becomes an automatic donor, period – an organ donor (in the event of death) because, he said, usually they’re younger folks – more active and so forth – and that would be a good source of organs (for transplant),” Hendren said.

He’s not certain whether he’ll amend his bill to follow the suggestion, but adding an automatic donor provision is something he’ll very seriously consider, Hendren said.

“I don’t know whether it’s the right thing to do, but I’m telling you: It’s something to think about. … I think it’s probably a good thing for anybody to do it. Whether the government ought to mandate it – that may be going a little bit far. I don’t know about that. (But) it certainly ought to be suggested, I think,” the Gravette state senator said.

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