Legislators in Illinois so far have no plans to introduce a law requiring motorcyclists to wear helmets. That’s despite the fact Illinois is one of only four states in the country without a helmet law.
State senator John Cullerton has tried several times to propose motorcycle helmet legislation. “I found it actually counter-productive to introduce this law,” Cullerton says. “In the past, what happened was it helped organize the motorcyclists moreso than the people who would be in favor of the law.”
Cullerton says motorcycle accidents are much worse when riders don’t wear helmets, and that ends up costing the state more to care for crash victims.
Fatal motorcycle accidents have been on the rise in Illinois since 2002, but so has the number of registered motorcycles in the state.
The city of Chicago in 2004 proposed a motorcycle helmet ordinance, but Illinois law prevents home rule entities like Chicago from making their own helmet laws.