Study: Since Pa. Motorcycle Helmet Law Repeal, Deaths Up

[Bunny]

http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/automotive/16587141/detail.html?rss=pit&psp=news

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PITTSBURGH -- In the five years since Pennsylvania repealed its motorcycle helmet law, the number of riders has gone up and so has the number of head injuries resulting in death.

We found that after the repeal, motorcycle helmet use went down, and the death rate from head injuries from motorcycle crashes went up about 32 percent," said lead study author Dr. Kristen Mertz.

Mertz compiled data from the year before the helmet law was repealed in 2003 and the year after. Her findings not only indicate the death rate rose 32 percent, but the number of riders hospitalized for head injuries also increased by 42 percent.

"Helmets reduce risk of death by about 37 percent, so they're not perfect," she said. "They don't prevent the non-head injuries, and they don't prevent all head injuries, but one out of every three people who die could be saved if they have a helmet on."
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If you ride a bike, please wear a helmet.

A skid lid:

A full face:

Or something in between:


Please put something on your cranium!

[depakid]

1. Get ready for libertarians shouting "nanny state" memes

:popcorn:

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

2. PA Biker:

"But I won't be able to see or hear!!!"

Note to PA Biker: Being dead or vegged out doesn't help those senses much, either.

I hear the bike accidents in PA on my scanner. Lots of Class 5's. Lots. Class 5 means "You be all deaded up".

[AlCzervik]

3. adults making adult decisions.

i am for a helmet law but if there isn't one and you ride without you take your chances.

[GoneOffShore]

4. Equally important is eye protection.

A bug in the eye at any speed means almost immediate loss of control.

Of course, a lot of the folks I see riding without helmets are also riding in shorts and tee shirts. I just hope they have the organ donor box checked on their licenses.

From "Oath of Fealty" - "Think of it as evolution in action"

:popcorn:

[Greyskye]

5. If I hadn't been wearing a full face helmet...

...I'd only have half a face right now.

I will never. Ever. Ride without a full face helmet.

Oh yeah - I want this to be my next bike (drool!):


Electric Motorcycle, just in production within the last couple weeks.
http://www.electricmotorsport.com/store/ems_electric_motorcycle_gpr-s.php

[ingac70]

6. I'm against helmet laws...

Let nature sort out the stupid.

[MadHound]

38. The trouble is, in many case, we the taxpayer get to pay the tab

Both for the medical care(which is usually in vain) or from the resultant success, but lifetime disability. Sorry, but I don't want my tax dollars to go to the stupid. Nor do I want to see my insurance rates rise because of the stupid. A helmet law helps prevent this.

[Crunchy Frog]

7. How many lives have been saved by the resultant donor organs?

[elocs]

8. The truth be told, there is little of importance that we choose to do that only impacts ourselves

and does not affect others. That includes wearing helmets (I have had a motorcycle license for over 35 years now). To somehow believe that not choosing to wear a helmet only impacts you is shortsighted. Take something as simple as a small rock that hits you in the head and would have bounced off a helmet, but because you weren't wearing one, you crash. What if you are not by your lonesome self, but are in traffic? Now you get to involve others in "your" choice, but they had no choice in it. You lose control and maybe another motorist hits you or swerves out of the way and has an accident themselves, injuring or killing them. Have a mother, father, children, brothers or sisters? How do they deal with your "choice" at your funeral or when they visit you in the hospital for weeks or months, or until the plug is finally pulled?

In spite of the fact that many fancy themselves as rugged individuals, in our society no man or woman is an island. We make many choices in our lives which do impact the lives of other for good or for bad, and sometimes there is the law of unintended consequences. That being said, any of you motorcycle riders out there who choose to ride without a helmet--please have your organ donation card signed and inform your family of your wishes.
No sense in letting your good parts go to waste.

Remember: there is no Constitutional right to drive or car or ride a motorcycle, so states have every right to impose seat belt laws as well as helmet laws.

[NotThisTime]

16. Not to be callous either, BUT....

I have a very hard justifying the cost of medical care for someone who has received a head injury during a motorcycle crash received while they were riding a motorcycle... why should insurance companies cover that liability? There should be a waiver, if you want to be stupid and ride a bike without a helmet, but realize there are consequences.

This hits very close to home, my brother was on a bike, with a helmet, thick jeans and a leather jacket when he was literally T Boned by a car that did not see him at an intersection.... He bounced off the car and was found 50 feet down the road, his helmet CRACKED IN HALF, his body filled with road burn... he was in the hospital and therapy for months due the the shattered leg he received, however, he was LUCKY not to have received a head injury.... but imagine, helmet CRACKED IN HALF. Thank god he was dressed appropriately and had a helmet, otherwise he'd be dead because of some stupid ass who was trying to make a light on a red no less....

[ThomWV]

9. Why do they tell us what percentage injuries went up but not how much ridership went up?

They say the number of riders has increased but they don't say a word about how much and then go on to tell us that injuries have gone up by some specific percentage. For all I know the injuries have gone down per number of riders or number of miles that rides drive. Shitty way to act if you ask me.

[A HERETIC I AM]

10. Spot fucking on.

I was thinking the same thing.


Not giving the increase in ridership makes this basically half an argument.

[msongs]

11. sounds like evolution at work nt

[whistle]

12. Darwinian selection ought to raise the IQ of motorcycle drivers

[ThomWV]

13. Nope, not one bit of IQ improvement, but those of us with fast reactions survive

In a world full of fucking idiots in cars that try daily to kill us.

[NashVegas]

19. There Are Idiots On All Sides

I had a biker pull right out in front of me 3 days ago; I had to slam the brakes on and steer away to avoid hitting him. Further up the road, at a slow down, he went to the right and passed a line of cars.

There are some bikers who take far too much advantage of their maneuverability, thus giving some car drivers the impression that bikers can sidle around anything. Combine that with a little road rage, and boom.

[whistle]

20. That's true, I forgot about that, but only if you have faster hogs

[DS1]

22. and new riders who switched to bikes due to gas prices

[MedleyMisty]

26. IQ is somewhat linked to reaction times

Faster processing speed, and all that.

[riverdeep]

36. Not if they've already reproduced.

The typical motorcycle owner in 2003 was 42 years old, according to the Motorcycle Industry Council's latest available Motorcycle/ATV Owner Survey. That was up from 1998, when the typical owner was 38, and a leap from the typical 24-year-old owner in the 1980s. As a result, the average age of fatally injured motorcycle drivers climbed to 39 in 2006 from 37 in 2000 and 30 in 1990.

Nearly 10 percent of owners in 2003 were women, up from 6 percent in 1990. Only 3 percent of motorcycle drivers killed in 2006 crashes were women, while 87 percent of passengers who died were women.

http://www.iihs.org/research/qanda/motorcycles.html

(under question 6)

By 42 most people that are going to reproduce have done so, thus passing on stupidity to the next generation.

[seabeyond]

14. outlaw motorcycles. there are more deaths from people who ride cycles than cars

outlaw little cars. there are more deaths from little cars than big cars

outlaw big cars. all must drive hummers.... just cause i am bored

it is all relative

[DrDan]

15. same thing happened in Florida when the helmet laws were repealed

[hfojvt]

17. I cannot find her stats

What I find for Pennsylvania is
2003 - 156 deaths, 118 wearing a helmet, 11 unknown
2004 - 158 deaths, 74 helmeted, 11 unknown
2005 - 205 deaths, 106 helmeted, 12 unknown

there's no information that I can find about number of riders or miles driven, which would be another factor. Deaths for riders without helmets went from 27 to 70 to 87. However, there's no data to show that helmets would have saved lived in any of those cases. What I find is that 75.6% of fatalaties were wearing helmets in 2003. That went down to 46.8% in 2004 and to 51.7% in 2005. Seems to me that there's a chance that many of those unhelmeted riders would have died in the same accident even if they'd been wearing a helmet.

I keep dreading the day when bicycle helmets will be required by law.

[moondust]

18. Boomers.

Getting older. Reflexes not as good as they once were. Won't give up the bike...

[riverdeep]

37. That part of it.

They tend to ride cruiser bikes though. Another big factor is the young that ride 'superbikes'. These are basically racing bikes put on the street. They can go 190 mph, have huge horsepower and are lightweight and maneuverable. Combine that with an eighteen year old male with more testosterone than common sense, and you wind up with a big ole splatt.

[Rosemary2205]

21. I have no problem with that at all.

I've seen what happens sometimes when someone "survives" with the helmet on. "survive" being open to interpretation because the disability caused by the injuries is so great.

Charge them up the wazoo for life, disability, health and motorcycle insurance but let them enjoy their life.

[Bunny]

23. UPDATE: Here is an article with a little more information on this study!

It gives a little more detail as to the study methodology.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08165/889612-114.stm

<snip>
Researchers from several of Pitt's Schools of Health Sciences examined discharge data from all acute care hospitals in the state for the two years preceding and the two years following repeal. They found a 32 percent increase in head injury deaths, and a 42 percent increase in head injury hospitalizations. The non-head-injury death rate did not change.

There were 1.3 head injury deaths per 10,000 motorcycle registrations in 2001 and 1.9 in 2002. In 2004 and 2005, those jumped to 2.8 and 3.0, respectively.

The number of head-injured, hospitalized motorcyclists requiring further care at facilities specializing in rehabilitation and long-term care increased 87 percent after repeal of the helmet law, the researchers found. Total acute care hospital charges stemming from motorcycle-related head injuries rose 132 percent.

In dollars, for 2001 and 2002 together, acute care hospital charges totaled $53.5 million. They rose to $124.2 million for the years 2004 and 2005.
<snip>

[Tesha]

24. Wot a shock!

You know what doctors and nurses call motorcycle riders?

"Organ donors"

Tesha

[jakem]

25. To those of you who don't ride, yet take on a righteous attitude...

I wear a helmet, required in my state (MA). But when I lived in MN, I did not wear a helmet.

A few thoughts...

- Helmets are of course a good safety idea. Duh.
- We are responsible for our own decisions.

But before you get all uptight about paying "for my medical care" after a bike accident, please be sure that you:

- never drive while tired, talking on the cell, or eating
- stop eating all fast foods
- get daily exercise
- make perfect choices about your health

Because odds are, you are going to cost me just as much as I will cost you.

Riding a motorcycle is not just about being safe. Many activities are not.


While I would pretty much always wear a helmet these days (mostly due to my wife and son), it is insulting to berate those who make the choice to do otherwise.


With a a possible exception:

- young riders should be required to have a helmet until they log 20,000 miles of so


I have plenty of friends who have lost their lives on a bike.
Without exception, it was the careless error of a driver of a car.

[Carnea]

27. I agree with wearing a helmet. But for the love of God I hate the law.

Mainly because I hate adult bicycle helmets and I won't be hypocritical. As for accident rates on motorcycles I think is has more to do with how old most motorcyclists are now. I'm not saying people over sixty shouldn't ride motorcycles but there are an awful lot of them and they are screwing up the accident rates on a per mile basis.

[Fumesucker]

28. Race car drivers wear helmets..

If all car drivers were to wear helmets it would save far more lives than for motorcycle riders to all wear helmets..

Why do we not advocate for laws forcing car drivers to wear helmets?

[old mark]

29. This really is a "no brainer", pun intended...

I used to ride in my more agile youth, and wore a full face Bell skull bucket.
BUT...my former boss, a supreme asshole, rides helmet free every day, and I support his right to choose.

mark

[Dulcinea]

30. Two words: Ben Roethlisberger. eom

[Edweird]

31. If they don't want to wear one, why force them? Let nature run its course.

I've been riding for 23 years. REAL riding, not "going to hooters for bike night" but commuting daily and traveling. I always wear a helmet, but that is my choice. Let others decide for themselves.

[The Straight Story]

32. Naw, some here aren't really pro choice ya know

It's all about controlling your body for their benefit.

[biermeister]

33. I agree-

I live in a state that requires helmets so I wear one. I've ridden in states that allow people to make their own decisions and have chosen not to wear one. I'm a big boy and should be able to make my own decisions about helmets and seatbelts. It should be about liberty and personal responsibility not the government making decisions for me

[Winterblues]

34. Wonder how many cagers suffer death through head injuries?

Why should the same not apply to them?

[Spike89]

35. Wearing one, but don't like the law much

The statistics are really difficult to parse because there are so many variables. We've gone from helmet law to no law and back here in Oregon. I've almost always wore a helmet even when not required, but I know that one of the things keeping me safer than the shell is my own awareness/fear/senses. I loathe full-face helmets, not just in Summer when the weight is a problem, but always. I wear a 1/2 shell because I want to hear and see everything I can. In real bad rain, I'll wear a standard helmet with a clear shield, but having padding and plastic over my ears more than takes away the mild comfort of a more protective hat. BTW - I'm torn between modifying my exhaust to make the bike I ride louder--I know that loud pipes get you noticed, but they also make it harder to hear for the rider.

[riverdeep]

39. The other day I saw an interesting sight.

This guy riding was not only not wearing a helmet, he wasn't wearing a shirt. Just some jeans and boots. If he goes down, that's beyond road rash, the skin would peel away like a breast of chicken.

[Spike89]

40. Horrid visual, but a shirt pretty useless

Even heavy jeans are pretty much good for soaking up the blood. Leather isn't just a fashion statement, it doesn't shred, it ablates. Denim will shred at any speed serious enough to worry about critical road rash. If you're not in a leather jacket (or comparable protective synthetic), you might as well go topless.

[Edweird]

42. Hehehe, I saw one on the expressway wearing swim trunks and flip-flops...and nothing else.

"I want you to meet my friend Stimpy; he's an idiot"

[Pisces]

41. Biggest anti helmet lobby is the insurance industry. Cheaper for people to die than have injuries.