MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENTS #3 IN A SERIES OF ➄ -- WEARING A HELMET CAN SAVE YOUR LIFE AND PREVENT SERIOUS INJURY, SUCH AS BRAIN DAMAGE, OR EVEN DEATH
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Queens Injury Attorney)
THE TEN THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT LAWS REQUIRING HELMETED MOTORCYCLE RIDERS.
5. Q: What effect do motorcycle helmet laws have on death and injury statistics?
A: This may seem an obvious point, but where all riders are required to wear helmets, motorcyclist death, injury, and the severity of the accident, decrease.
Some examples of helmet laws and their effect:
In 1992 California passed a helmet law that mandated helmets for all riders. Helmet use increased to 99% of riders from 50% prior to passage of the law. During that same period, the number of motorcyclist deaths in California fell by 37% percent to 327 in 1992 from 523 in 1991.
Nebraska re-enacted its helmet law in 1989 after repealing an earlier law in 1977. The state then realized a 22% drop in serious head injuries among motorcycle riders.
From 1968 until 1977, Texas had a universal helmet law, which was liberalized in 1977 to only require helmet use by riders under age 18. Texas blamed this weakened law for a 35% increase in motorcyclist deaths. In 1989 it re-passed its helmet law for all motorcycle riders. Helmet wearing increased from 41% to 90% and to 98% by June of 1990. But in 1997, Texas once again weakened its helmet law, requiring helmets only for riders under age 21. By 1998 helmet use in Texas dropped to 66%, and fatal crashes by motorcycle drivers increased by 31% in the first full year following the enactment of the weakened helmet law.
In 1998 Kentucky repealed its universal helmet use law. In 1999 Louisiana did the same. These actions resulted in lower helmet use, and motorcycle deaths quickly increased by 50% in Kentucky and by 100% in Louisiana.
As I previously noted, in year 2000 Florida weakened its helmet law to exclude riders over age 21 with at least $10,000 of medical insurance coverage. A study determined that Florida's motorcyclist death rate rose by about 25% after it weakened its helmet law. The death rate rose from 31 deaths per 1,000 crashes before the law change (1998-99) to 39 deaths per 1,000 crashes afterwards (2001-2002). Experts estimate that 117 deaths could have been avoided during 2001-02 if the helmet law had not been weakened.
6. Q: Are there other benefits from requiring motorcycle riders to wear helmets?
A: This may sound funny, but helmet use laws are believed to lead to a decrease in motorcycle thefts. To avoid notice, potential thieves tend not to walk around carrying helmets. But, they risk attracting even greater attention from law enforcement in a full helmet law state by riding on a stolen bike without wearing a helmet. Between 1988 and 1990 , after Texas passed legislation requiring that everyone wear a helmet, in 19 Texas cities theft of motorcycles decreased 44 percent, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Theft of motorcycles also decreased in Europe after full-wear helmet laws were enacted.In 1973 London (Great Britain), motorcycle thefts dropped 24% after enactment of a helmet law. In 1975 The Netherlands won a 36% drop in thefts when it, similarly, enacted a full helmet use law. In 1980, in what was then West Germany, a step up of helmet law enforcement efforts caused a 60% drop in motorcycle theft.
