Many years ago, I worked as an ER doc. I was doing a research fellowship, and moonlit just north of Fort Worth. Texas had no helmet law for motorcycles. I still remember telling two families that their son/husband had died at the age of 21. I remember accompanying another biker with blood coming out of his ear, unconscious to Fort Worth. This is more stupid than smoking cigarettes folks. Costly Ride: Bikers Protest Helmets, But Taxpayers Pay Price.

"The wind in your hair, the freedom you feel," is how Florida biker Jim Vugrich described it to ABCNEWS correspondent Jeffrey Kofman.

Just three states allowed motorcycle riders to go without helmets 25 years ago. Today 30 states do, although almost all say drivers have to be over 18 before they can go helmet-free.

Some say it's not just about comfort, it's about the Constitution as well. "We all like our freedom, and we don't want to lose our freedom," says motorcycle enthusiast Ernie Russo of Florida.

Passions like this help explain why bikers have pushed so hard, and so successfully, to overturn helmet laws in most states.

But there's a big cost, and not just to bikers. After two years without mandatory helmet laws, trauma doctors at hospitals in Florida, for instance, say they are treating more and more patients who hit the road without a helmet.

Stupid, just very stupid!