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TATE & LOCAL
: riday, June 16,1989
4&M researchers optimistic about Texas helmet law
By Holly Beeson
STAFF WRITER
Texas A&M researchers estimate
115 lives will be saved annually in
Texas because of the mandatory mo
torcycle helmet law that will go into
effect Sept. 1.
This law will include riders of
raopeds and scooters, or any two
wheeled motorized vehicles.
A 15-member Public Administra
tion Research group, headed by po
litical scientist Dr. Kim Hill, exam
ined the two prior changes in the
helniet law Texas made in the past
20 years.
They found that the 1968 manda
tory helmet law saved 650 lives until
1977, at which time the law was re
laxed, requiring only riders 18 and
under to wear helmets.
From 1977 to 1988, the group es
timated that as many as 1,450 Tex
ans died because of the weaker ver
sion of the law.
“Perhaps what’s most remarkable
is that when the state dropped the
comprehensive helmet law in 1977,
the death rate increased by 68 per
cent and the injury rate increased by
20 percent annually,” Hill said.
Unlike the new law, the previous
mandatory helmet law was enacted
because of pressure from the federal
government.
“The first law (in 1968) was con
troversial because most motorcycle
riders didn’t want the law, but Uncle
“I
It returns the benefit to the public. The average
motorcycle rider is relatively young and we can expect
them to be important contributors to the economy and
tax-paying citizens.”
— Dr. Kim Hill,
political scientist
Sam really forced it on the states,”
Hill said. “There was a provision in
federal law that if a state didn’t re
quire all motorcycle riders to wear
helmets, they’d lose certain federal
funds.”
The federal law was changed in
1977 so states wouldn’t lose funds if
they required riders under 18 to
wear helmets.
Hill said the change in federal law
induced the biker community to
pressure the Texas Legislature to re
lax the state law — and it worked.
“The law stayed enforced that way
until this year,” he said. “The strong
commitment of a handful of state
legislators this year to the public
health benefits of having a compre
hensive helmet requirement was
what finally brought about the cur
rent change that we see now.”
Hill said the new mandatory hel
met law will impact society in at least
three ways.
First, he said, the new law should
reduce or at least hold down future
increases of motorcycle insurance.
Second, people should expect to
see lower public costs, Hill said.
“Other research has shown that
an unusually high percentage of mo
torcycle riders who did not wear hel
mets but who were injured in acci
dents didn’t have sufficient
insurance to cover the cost of their
hospitalization and care,” he said. “A
large number of these people ended
up on public welfare because the
state had to cover the cost of part of
their hospitalization and rehabilita
tion treatment.”
The third thing is the fact that
lives will be saved, Hill said.
“It returns the benefit to the pub
lic,” he said. “The average motorcy
cle rider is relatively young and we
can expect them to be important
contributors to the economy and
tax-paying citizens.
“A young Aggie that stays alive
might do great things for the econ
omy.”
The fine for not wearing a helmet
will be $45 in College Station and
$44 in Bryan.
A&M’s prevention unit offers new line on crime
PD gives information, asks students to help solve cases by dialing 845-6500
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ENIOR STAFF WRITER
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The University Police Department’s new
rime prevention unit has a line on crime,
rimeline, the unit’s recorded phone mes-
age, gives a report of the previous day’s
rimes and asks for help in solving them.
Crimeline, which began operating this
week at 845-6500, also gives tips on prevent
ing crime.
In addition to running Crimeline, the
crime prevention unit, which began about a
month ago, will devote its time to educating
the public on how to protect itself from crime.
“Our goal is to make A&M a safe place to
work and go to school,” said Officer Betty Le-
May, one of two full-time crime prevention
officers working in the unit.
The officers in the unit will attempt to pre
vent crime by giving lectures and speeches as
well as by conducting building security sur
veys, LeMay said.
Lt. Bert Kretzschmar, the other crime pre
vention officer, said crime prevention surveys
consist of going to a building and examining
its doors, fighting, shrubbery and other fac
tors to determine how safe and secure the
place is.
“We look at it from a criminal’s point of
view,” he said. “How would we do it? We see it
done all the time.”
Kretzschmar said stressing crime preven
tion isn’t new for UPD, but it hasn’t been any
one’s specific responsibility. Now crime pre
vention will be his and LeMay’s full-time job.
Kretzschmar and Lemay are not new at
A&M. Kretzschmar has worked at UPD for
five years, and LeMay has worked there for
four years.
“We know the problems,” Kretzschmar
said. “We know what people have to put up
with at A&M.”
Property crime has been high at A&M in
the past, and Kretzschmar said there has been
a slight increase in violent crimes. Educating
students, faculty and workers at A&M is one
way to help decrease crime, he said, because
many people are unaware of what goes on
here.
“Females go jogging alone at night,” he
said. “Then when we stop and tell them it’s
dangerous, they’re like, ‘Not here at A&M —
that stuff doesn’t happen here.’ ”
Bob Wiatt, director of security and campus
police, said he is happy to have gotten the
crime prevention unit approved by the Uni
versity. He said he sees a need to make stu
dents aware of crime on campus.
“We’ve been trying to get this established
for some time,” Wiatt said. “A&M is not Alice
in Wonderland, it’s part of the real world.
“Anyone can become a victim on this cam
pus, just as they can in any metropolitan city.”
Clements works to wrap up business from 1989 regular session
AUSTIN (AP) — Gov. Bill Clem-
; ents signed more than 800 bills into
[aw by Thursday night, highlighted
by measures to build more prison
tells, overhaul the criminal justice
System and bring water and sewer
Services to substandard “colonias.”
Working against a Sunday dead
line to wrap up work from the 1989
Legislature’s regular session, Clem
ents said he had neither finished
analyzing the $47.4 billion budget
nor issued vetoes of bills he doesn’t
like.
“I’m saving those for last,” he said
of any possible vetoes.
The governor said he had worked
until 1:30 a.m. Thursday and re
turned to his Capitol office later in
the morning to wade through the to
tal of 1,081 bills left by the Legis
lature when it adjourned on May 29.
“I’ve got about 200 to go,” he said.
Under the Texas Constitution,
Clements has until midnight Sunday
to finish the job, although he said he
expected to be wrapped up by Fri
day night. “I will, I guarantee you,”
he told news reporters while adding
a warning: “It might be pretty late.”
The governor said he was partic
ularly pleased with the criminal jus
tice overhaul.
That legislation calls for 11,000
new prison beds along with new sen
tencing options allowing judges to
place inmates in new community fa
cilities instead of state prisons.
“By our action, we are putting the
justice back into the criminal justice
system in Texas,” he said.
The prison reform package, writ
ten by Rep. Allen Hightower, D-
Huntsville, and Sen. Bob McFar
land, R-Arlington, is among the
most important and far-reaching ac
tions by the Legislature.
Texas is under a federal court or
der to keep the state prison popula
tion under 95 percent of capacity.
Counties have complained that state
inmates awaiting transfer are backed
up in county jails, costing local gov
ernments and resulting in local
crowding.
Democrat: Bush
bases wage veto
on two-bit logic
AUSTIN (AP) — President
Bush’s veto of a bill to increase
the minimum wage “is based on
two-bit logic” that takes from the
poor and gives to the rich, Texas
Democratic Party Chairman Bob
Slagle says.
In a news release Thursday,
Slagle also criticized Republican
Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas, whom
he said opposed the wage in
crease.
The House on Wednesday
failed to override the president’s
veto of a bill raising the hourly
minimum wage to $4.55 by Octo
ber 1991. T he Republican presi
dent wanted to raise the current
$3.35 wage to $4.25 by January
1992.
“At the same time, Bush is still
promoting a capital gains tax cut
of $30,000 per year for Ameri
cans who make over $200,000 per
year, calling that a way to stimu
late the economy,” Slagle said.
Slagle criticized Gramm for
fighting the wage increase. He
quoted Gramm as saying, “There
should be no minimum wage, pe
riod, in the great land of free en
terprise.”
FAMOUS FIRSTS
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FIRST
AIRPLANE
The Wright Brothers began
experimenting with kites in
the 1890’s and in 1903
became the first to sustain
flight for 852 feet over the
beach at Kitty Hawk.
FIRST CAR
FIRST LOVE
She was the only one who
didn’t laugh when you fell off
the jungle gym and broke your
leg. She even let you win at
checkers. What a woman!
The world’s first motor car,
the Lenoir, named after its
inventor, ran at an average
speed of 4 miles per hour. In
1863 the 11/2 horsepower
vehicle made its first drive of
6 miles in only 3 hours.
IMVERSITY TOWER
It’s time to introduce another Famous First, University Tower. In August, the privately-owned and
managed property will open as a dormitory. At University Tower you’ll find 24-hour on-site security, a
huge bedroom and private bath, full meal plans, an exercise and weight room, study rooms & com
puter room, an indoor pool, a sport-court, a volleyball pit, laundry facilities, housekeeping service, and
a shuttle bus to campus. It’s the first and only dorm of its kind at A&M. Call or come by for leasing
information for Fall/Spring '89-'90!
“Above and Beyond the Rest”
University Tower
410 South Texas Avenue
(409) 846-4242
1-800-537-9158
University Tower
1*0
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TEXAS
AdtM
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University Tower is managed by one of the most experienced student housing management company in the United States.
Dr. Richard A Bems, general manager for Wallerstein Property Management, manages dormitories at the University of Texas
at Austin and Arizona State University for over 1800 students.
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