I urge all of you to take a stand against unnecessary regulation, even if you don't agree with my views on helmet laws. Will anyone be left to stand with you when your pastime becomes regulated? A great American once said, "Those that would sacrifice freedom for security deserve neither."
Seat belts are a safety device that have been proven to save lives.
Our government, having been elected by you, decided that you needed to have a law stating that you have to wear your seat belt. In fact, they didn't require expert testimony or expensive graphs, it's known that seat belts save lives. Don't worry, the police cannot stop you for not wearing your seat belt, they must stop you for something else first, like going ninety mph in a school zone, or hitting the policeman's car outside the doughnut shop and leaving the scene...
Helmets are a safety device that may or may not save lives.
Congress, after testimony from "experts", initially passed a law stating that states that did not pass a helmet law would forfeit some of their federal highway funds. After hearing the word "blackmail" again and again, this statute was repealed. However, some states refused to repeal a federally mandated helmet law. Some state laws require a "safety" helmet to be worn by a motorcyclist AT ALL TIMES. Fifty degrees or ninety degrees, street riding or dirt bikes, that helmet will save your life, according to medical "experts". A motorcyclist without a helmet, obeying all traffic laws, can be stopped, detained (aka arrested), and cited for not wearing a helmet.
A little inconsistency from our government?
So, what's the story here? The main disagreement currently used for not allowing people the right to choose is the one of perceived public burden. Let's look at what that public burden actually is, along with some other interesting information that shows the ignorance of the government and individuals requiring us to wear helmets. Yes, I said ignorance. But ignorance can be cured.
The perceived public burden that injured motorcyclists place on the taxpayers is, in reality, extremely minute. Motorcycle accidents account for only 1/10 of one percent of total US health care costs. 1
According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHSTA), motor vehicle accidents in general account for 1% of total medical costs.
Motorcyclists are just as likely to have private medical insurance coverage as are other road accident victims. 2
It is claimed that uninsured, injured motorcyclists are a public burden costing taxpayers significant dollars to provide medical coverage for their injuries. Researchers from the North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center report that 49.4% of injured motorcyclists had their medical costs covered by private insurers, while 50.9% of other road trauma victims were similarly insured. Click here to see average cost data and crash statistics.
"Helmet use was not found to be associated with overall injury severity (ISS), discharge facility (home, rehab, etc.), or insurance status."2
Motorcyclist injuries may be LESS costly to the public than injuries to other victims of vehicle accidents. Medical costs for motorcycle accident victims was 20% less than other vehicle accident victims. Only 7.9% of motorcycle accident victims relied on Medicare or Medicaid compared to 13.9% of other road trauma cases and 27% of non-road trauma cases. Motorcyclists had the highest insurance payment rate of any group.3
The federal government (NHTSA) will try and state that they have a study showing that that public burden of motorcyclist injuries is exceedingly high. This study is called "The Crash Outcome Data Evaluation System" (CODES). This study contains a major flaw which severely misrepresents the cost to the public for injured motorcyclists.
The CODES study is based on discharge records. When any patient's medical expense payments shifts from insurance or self-pay to public funds, the discharge records state that the costs were public pay. This means that if you paid 99.99% of your health coverage, but public sources paid as little as 0.01%, the CODES study reports the ENTIRE AMOUNT of their inpatient costs as public pay.
Other charts in the study also reflect these lopsided figures regarding public or private pay, although not as dramatically. One chart showed that only 28 cases from a total sample of 1593 cases make up the public pay category of one chart. Want to know more about the NHTSA?
Still confused about CODES? See the AMA's and MRF's response to the CODES studies below.
Additional Resources:
Public Burden White Paper - from California ABATEPAC.
Public Burden Due to Mandatory Helmet Laws
Public Burden Attack - Information from NCOM.
Why motorcycles are targeted.
AMA response to CODES study
MRF's response to CODES study
As with anything requiring your concentration, motorcycling requires the operator to be comfortable while operating their machine. Imagine typing at your keyboard with two pound weights attached to your wrists. This is very similar to wearing a helmet at highway speeds. The force of the wind against an helmet causes an increase in reaction times from the motorcyclist. Fatigue does set in. Being uncomfortable actually increases your chance of an accident when on a motorcycle, just as in a car. Does this mean that helmets cause motorcycle accidents? No. But it can be a contributing factor in an experienced and trained rider.
Motorcycle fatalities are actually decreasing! And it's due to training, education, and, to some extent, licensing of motorcyclists. The fatality rate per registered motorcycle has decreased by 50% since 1966, and the fatality rate per 100 million miles travelled has decreased by nearly 75%4. More info
Copyright © 1997, 1998
Stephen W. McDermott
Material attributed to sources are copyrighted by their respective authors.