(MPRN-Undated) The sponsor of the law to repeal Michigan’s mandatory helmet law was killed Monday night in a motorcycle crash. It’s not known if state Representative Peter Pettaliawas wearing a helmet when he died.
Authorities were not sharing many details other than Pettalia was riding a motorcycle on M-33 in northern Michigan’s Montmorency County.
It’s not known if Pettalia was wearing a helmet, but he was the sponsor of a bill that helped lead to the 2012 law that repealed the helmet requirement for motorcyclists. A recent study found motorcycle fatalities in Michigan jumped by 23 percent between 2014 and 2015, and researchers say the repeal of the helmet law almost certainly played a part.
Pettalia chaired the state House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. He was serving his third and final state House term, and briefly considered a run for Congress earlier this year.