Helmet Laws & More
Motorcycle SafetyDiscuss Helmet Laws & More in the Other Topics forums; Here is a press release I just received. Curious how people respond to it.
Fatality Rates Increase with Repeal of Helmet Laws, MU Study Finds
COLUMBIA, Mo. – Since 1975, ...
Here is a press release I just received. Curious how people respond to it.
Fatality Rates Increase with Repeal of Helmet Laws, MU Study Finds
COLUMBIA, Mo. – Since 1975, more than 100,000 motorcycle riders in America have died in crashes. The majority of states required motorcycle helmets in 1975, but today, only 20 states have universal helmet laws that require all riders to wear helmets, 26 states have partial coverage laws (usually only for young riders), and four states have no helmet laws. A recent study by a University of Missouri professor found that the motorcyclist fatality rate has increased in states that repealed their universal helmet laws during the past decade.
Lilliard Richardson, professor in the MU Truman School of Public Affairs, and David J. Houston, associate professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, compared the changes in helmet laws across all 50 states and the District of Columbia from 1975 through 2004. In states where repeals of universal coverage were instituted, the fatality rate increased an average of 12.2 percent. Conversely, in states with universal helmet laws, the fatality rate was 11.1 percent lower than in states with no helmet mandates.
“Previous studies have been limited to certain states and fail to distinguish the states with partial coverage from those with no legislation,” Richardson said. “Our focus was not limited to a single state or a single change. We looked at effects in states that went from universal helmet laws to partial laws and states that went from partial laws to no laws, and states which kept their laws in place. We highlighted repeals of laws in six states by using separate variables to distinguish the effects of universal and partial coverage. We included controls for temperature, precipitation, per capita alcohol consumption, income, age, population density and other traffic safety policies.”
Experts have estimated that an additional 615 motorcyclist fatalities occurred in the six states that repealed motorcycle helmet laws from 1997 to 2004, Richardson said. The researchers also found that fatality numbers in states with partial laws were not statistically different from those with no helmet laws.
“The federal government has pressured states to adopt universal helmet laws, but the trend has been toward more state control of helmet laws,” Richardson said. “The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration promotes the effectiveness of helmet laws for getting motorcyclists to wear helmets, but there is no strategy for encouraging states to maintain or adopt universal coverage laws. This does not bode well for the future of universal helmet laws and motorcycle safety in the United States.”
Currently, several states are considering modifying their helmet laws.
“Advocates in many states are pushing to repeal state universal helmet laws or impose partial mandates that require only young riders to wear helmets,” Richardson said. “Many assume that wearing helmets becomes a habit for riders like wearing a seatbelt is for drivers and that having a law in place isn’t necessary. This is a misconception. When laws aren’t in place and enforced, the evidence shows that a majority of riders do not wear helmets.”
The study, “Motorcycle Safety and the Repeal of Universal Helmet Laws,” was published in the American Journal of Public Health.
Riding with a helmet is safer that riding without one . Oh really, a no brain-er. I always wear a helmet, I also believe it should be a individuals own decision. Just another way the bureaucrats are trying to chip away at our rights.
Here in PA we have a partial coverage law. I beleave it is a great idea to let the individual decide for themself. I wear my lid 95% of the time, when I am just running 3 miles or less on back roads to Wally World is the few occasions that I dont. And that is my choice.
Did they bother to compare the number of bikes on the road ? I would bet that there are a lot more on the road today then in 75.
__________________ Most motorcycle problems are caused by the nut that connects the handlebars to the saddle
Hutch and UP
Thank you for being fair.. Yes it should be up to the individual.. I never wear one..
Ok,, this is a political prob and you know darn good and well that if either Chang Kai-Hillery or Barack Bin Laden gets in office they will establish a Nation-Wide Universal Helmet Law if for no other reason than this----
If the GOVERNMENT is going to require and pay for OUR/YOUR/EVERYONES
Health insurance they will also mandate everyone to be as ""safe"" as possible and to conduct themselves as safely as possible.. Of course that means Their interpretation of what is safe for US..
Since comming to my senses recently that is one reason I have decided to vote for John McCain..
Since he is No-Where near as Conservative as I wish he was, I will shove a stick up my ass when I go to vote to remind me how Un-pleasant it is to vote for him but I have NO choice.. He will simply be the Least Harmful to US..
__________________ "Fill your hands you son of a bitch"
Rooster Cogburn
I believe that it should be an individual decision based on ones particular circumstance and mindset. I am vehemently, adamantly, diametrically opposed to government protecting me from myself or raising my children vicariously in government schools and through the invasive legislation of a Nanny State.
However, having had said that - I also feel that I have the right to keep my money unto mine own self and that I choose to not pay, through no fault of my own, unnecessarily inflated insurance rates, or for your medical bills, or for a lifetime of disability benefits and after care in your now vegetative state, also of your choosing, having had spilled you brains all over the yellow line. All in all Id have to say, hell yeh, I’m fine with that. Your dilemma is not my quagmire, so if “ID” feels good, by all means, do it!
Last edited by servicarrider; 04-04-2008 at 02:45 PM.
It is a choice - It needs to be up to the individual. When you read that article - waht is missing the the amount of licensed riders in each year verses the amount of driven miles. if you look at it that way - it has actually gone down. As they said in statistics class - statistics make liars - liars make statisitcs .... in other words - you can make them say want you want.......it is not the destination - it is the ride.......
__________________ FREEDOM is NEVER FREE - GOD BLESS THE U.S.A.
2007 Ultra Classic
There are two theories to arguing with women. Neither one works
I think it should be an individuals choice also, your not puting anyone, besides yourself, at harm by not wearing one. My therory: If I crash I want to die, not to be a veggie.
frisco-stick is a good idea, just make certain you use the right size. But theres plenty of time till Nov to try out all you can find. Just Kidding bud. But there are really no great ones running, so Ill take the least of the evils.
__________________ "HELL IS EMPTY, ALL THE DEVILS ARE HERE."
I believe that it should be an individual decision based on ones particular circumstance and mindset. I am vehemently, adamantly, diametrically opposed to government protecting me from myself or raising my children vicariously in government schools and through the invasive legislation of a Nanny State.
However, having had said that - I also feel that I have the right to keep my money unto mine own self and that I choose to not pay, through no fault of my own, unnecessarily inflated insurance rates, or for your medical bills, or for a lifetime of disability benefits and after care in your now vegetative state, also of your choosing, having had spilled you brains all over the yellow line. All in all Id have to say, hell yeh, I’m fine with that. Your dilemma is not my quagmire, so if “ID” feels good, by all means, do it!
Hotrodsporty, I've said exactly the same thing you did and they thought I was crazy! Sorry servicarrider you speak of inflated insurance rates, medical bills, and disability benefits etc,etc that shouldn't be coming out of your pocket. Well lets see now. Mexicans coming over the border and getting free medical, welfare, food stamps, Lunch programs for kids who have parents that are to lazy to get off their asses and go to work,corporate subsidies, welfare recipients who use hospital emergency rooms for their doctors visits etc, etc. Gee, I wonder who's paying for that? The tactic that they're using is called brainwashing. It's just another way of trying to force helmets on us! And also statistics show that there are states that don't have helmet laws where the death rate has actually dropped and states that have helmet laws where the death rate has actually increased. So much for Peters line of bull****! Oh! And she also claims to be an avid rider! Prove it Peters!
Helmet Laws & More 
Stay Out Of My Life 
. Oh really, a no brain-er. I always wear a helmet, I also believe it should be a individuals own decision. Just another way the bureaucrats are trying to chip away at our rights. 
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