The following report by Channel 4 Action News reporter Paul Van Osdol first aired on Channel 4 Action News at 5 p.m. on June 13, 2006.

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Bikers said the issue here boils down to freedom of choice.

But doctors and highway safety advocates said that freedom is costing thousands of people their lives.

Bikers said there's nothing better than feeling the wind rush past you without a helmet on.

And Gov. Ed Rendell told Channel 4 Action News that the repeal of Pennsylvania's helmet law has not made that big a difference in motorcycle deaths.

"If you look at the statistics, motorcycle ridership has gone up dramatically in the last three or four years and the number of deaths has gone up consistent with that," Rendell said.

Well, not exactly.

The number of registered motorcycles is up 19 percent from 2003 -- when the helmet law changed -- to 2005.

But the number of fatal accidents is up 31 percent in that same period.

And a University of Pittsburgh researcher said those numbers do not tell the whole story because many more bikers are suffering non-fatal head injuries.

"The number of head injury-related motorcycle cases that were hospitalized increased 50 percent from 2002 to 2004," said Dr. Hank Weiss of the Center for Injury Research.

All those studies are not convincing to Bill Foley, local president of Abate, a group that led the fight to repeal the helmet law.

"It's a risky lifestyle. Riding on a motorcycle is risky. But the best racing helmet is only good in a collision up to 13 mph," Foley said.

The jury may still be out on the impact of Pennsylvania's helmet law repeal but according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, every study they've done over the past 20 years shows that when helmet laws are repealed , the number of fatal accidents increases.

The government studies show helmets reduce the likelihood of a crash by 37 percent. Helmets saved 16,000 motorcyclists lives in 20 years. Another 10,800 lives could have been saved if helmet laws were mandated nationally.

More and more states are repealing helmet laws. But a spokesperson for Michigan's Gov. Jennifer Granholm said Pittsburgh Steeler quarterback Ben Roethlisberger's crash helped convince her to veto a repeal of that state's helmet law.

The president of Abate in Pittsburgh said he expects a big fight over whether to keep the repeal in Pennsylvania.