As long as what someone else chooses to do with their body doesn't hurt me or other uninvolved people, then they should be free to do it; including not wearing a helmet while riding a motorcycle. Mandating self-preservation is a very slippery slope. Where does it end? It's a fact that riding a motorcycle is much more dangerous for the operator than driving a car, so should motorcycles be outlawed? Well, allowing people to drive themselves around in cars is way more dangerous than if everybody just took the bus, so let's get rid of cars, too.
I'm not saying that's necessarily where helmet laws are going to lead us to, but helmet use is a personal choice (regardless of what laws may exist mandating their use), meaning that someone's choice to wear or not wear one only affects themselves and those emotionally close to them.
Sure, you could go down the road of saying that riders who are injured because of not wearing a helmet cause everyone to pay higher insurance rates, and it's a burden on the health care system, but then you're trading one slippery slope for another one. People smoking, drinking and eating #$%*ty food is the cause of a much, much greater burden on health care and insurance than head injuries due to lack of helmets could ever even get close to touching.
Maybe motorcyclists in states with helmet laws should start riding around with signs that say "MY BODY. MY CHOICE".
I choose to wear a helmet when riding my motorcycles, but it doesn't affect me in the least if somebody else chooses not to, and it's not my right (or anybody else's) to try to force them to.
