Motorcycle helmets have been shown to be at least 50% effective in reducing fatal head injury in motorcycle crashes
- 1, 2
Nationally, about half of all fatalities to motorcyclists from 1979 through 1986 were attributed to head injury
- 1
In Nebraska, for 2008-2013, there were 151 deaths resulting from a motorcycle crash, of those 88 (58%) were the
result of a head injury
- 2
Head injuries are one of the most common injuries after motorcycle crashes and were estimated to be the cause of
death in [over] 50 percent of these fatalities
- 3
Motorcyclists are at high risk in traffic crashes, particularly for head injury. A review of studies concluded that
helmets
reduce the risk of head injury by around 69 percent
- 1, 2
Analysis of [collected medical records] showed that motorcycle helmets are
67 percent effective in preventing brain injuries. Thus, if all motorcyclists had been wearing helmets,
67 percent of those unhelmeted motorcyclists who received inpatient care for a brain injury would not have sustained
the brain injury.
- 3
Unhelmeted riders are over 3 times (300%) more likely to incur permanent brain damage resulting in lifelong impairment
after a crash
- 1
Emergency room personnel at 8 hospitals throughout Iowa recorded accident, injury, and cost data on 268 motorcyclists who came or were brought to the hospitals from April through September 1989. Riders were included only if helmet use could be determined from interviewing the rider, ambulance staff, or investigating officers. The study coordinator, a registered nurse, used the descriptive injury data to assign AIS scores.
Permanent disability was suffered by 6.7 percent of the nonhelmeted riders compared with 1.6 percent of the helmeted
riders. (418% or 4 times more likely to receive permanent brain damage)
- 2
Eleven studies that compared the severity of injuries between helmeted and nonhelmeted riders all indicated that
helmet use reduced the severity of nonfatal injuries. These studies reported that helmet use reduced the incidence
of severe, serious, and critical head injuries by 46 to 85 percent. (two to five times (185% to 666%) more head
injuries among unelmeted riders across 11 studies)
- 3
California, a state with more than 10 percent of the nation's registered motorcycles and one of only two states that had never had a helmet use law applicable to adults, implemented a universal law in 1992, following extensive debate and publicity.
In the five years immediately before the universal law (1987-1991), the annual average of motorcyclists killed was
596. In the five years following adoption (1992-1996), the average was 274, a
54 percent decrease
- 1.
In 1997, Texas became the (one of two of the) first states since 1983 to repeal universal laws requiring all motorcycle riders to wear helmets. Helmet use (prior to repeal) was 97 percent in statewide surveys. By May of 1998 (after repeal), observed helmet use had fallen to ... 66 percent in Texas.
Texas motorcycle operator fatalities increased by 31 percent comparing 1998 with 1996.
- 1.
On July 1, 2000, Florida repealed the legal requirement that all motorcyclists wear protective helmets. State law now requires helmet use only by riders under the age of 21, and by older riders who do not have a minimum of $10,000 medical insurance coverage.
Fatalities in the two years following the law change were
71 percent greater than the two years before the law change.
- 1.
