Study Finds Fatality Rates
Increase with Repeal of Helmet Laws
March 31, 2008 - 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fatality rate has increased in states that repealed their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states that repealed motorcycle helmet laws from 1997 to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,” is available
for purchase and was published in the American Journal of
Public Health.
