Wearing a motorcycle helmet will not prevent a crash. But when a crash occurs, the freedom to ride without a helmet is paid for in different ways by different sources. The motorcyclist pays, and the public pays through taxes, insurance rates and health-care costs.
Motorcycle helmet laws significantly reduced the strain on public resources because unhelmeted riders, when involved in a crash:
Cost more to treat at the hospital.
Spend a longer time in rehabilitation.
Are more likely to require some form of public assistance to pay medical bills and rehabilitation.
Who pays the price?
Whether as taxpayers, insurance customers or medical consumers, we all pay when a motorcyclist doesn't wear a helmet. For example: A privately conducted California study put the average cost of hospital admission for a non-helmeted rider at $17,704. Of this initial amount, 72 percent of the costs for hospitalization were paid by the state, with another 10 percent being paid by other tax-based sources.
Tim Hoyt, vice president for safety of Nationwide Insurance Enterprises, said, "We may not be able to eliminate all the risk from motorcycling, but helmet laws greatly reduce the most expensive injuries — head injuries."
What about insurance?
Motorcyclists pay higher insurance premiums, but these premiums don't cover the complete costs of long-term rehabilitation for unhelmeted riders injured in an accident. Increased payouts by an insurance company eventually translate into increased rates for the public.
Recent statistics show that private insurance pays for about 66 percent of the costs of inpatient care for motorcycle crash victims. Another 22 percent is paid by public funds and 12 percent is categorized as another source (usually self-payment).
Some motorcyclists argue that motorcycles make up a small percentage of registered vehicles, and thus crashes represent a small burden to society. The fact is that while motorcycles account for only 2 percent of the registered vehicles nationally, motorcyclists account for 5 percent of traffic deaths each year. They account for more than 2,100 deaths and 56,000 injuries. The death rate per miles traveled for motorcycles is 16 times that of car occupants, and the injury rate is about four times that of car occupants.
Helmet laws
The highest courts in more than 25 states have held motorcycle laws to be constitutional, and even the U.S. Supreme Court weighed in when it upheld the Massachusetts motorcycle helmet law.
In that case — Simon vs. Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts — the court said:
"From the moment of injury, society picks the person up off the highway, delivers him to a municipal hospital and municipal doctors, provides him with unemployment compensation if, after recovery, he cannot replace his lost job, and, if the injury causes permanent disability, may assume the responsibility for his and his family's continued subsistence. We do not understand a state of mind that permits plaintiff to think that only he himself is concerned."
Courts have consistently recognized that helmet laws do not violate the right to privacy and other due-process provisions. Nevertheless, the legitimacy of other traffic laws — like driving on the right side of the highway, buckling a safety belt, using a child safety seat, not driving while impaired and obeying traffic signals — is readily accepted because drivers recognize that failure to obey these laws results in serious risk to themselves and others. Motorcycle helmet laws are no different.
Helmet laws increase usage, which in turn saves lives and reduces head trauma. This has been proved numerous times through state fatality data (e.g., Illinois, California, Washington, Louisiana) that allowed comparison of deaths and injuries before and after helmet laws were enacted.
Each state's data showed about the same trend.
Where the law requires all riders to wear helmets, helmet use has increased and deaths and serious injuries have decreased.
When these laws are repealed, helmet use decreases and injuries and associated costs increase, far exceeding the number of new motorcycles registered.
Age-specific laws do not protect riders over 21 years old.
A study revealed that 24 out of 26 states that repealed helmet laws requiring all riders to wear a helmet experienced an average 25 percent increase in motorcycle deaths.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates Utah would have saved $106,174,126 over a 13-year period (1984-1996) if every motorcycle rider in the state had worn a helmet. Currently, Utah law only requires those 18 or younger to wear a helmet when riding a motorcycle. The same report says that 76 people could have been saved from being killed.
Motorcycle helmets clearly reduce injuries and deaths among motorcyclists. That's why all riders should wear helmets and why all states need a helmet law that covers all riders.
Alton Thygerson, professor of health sciences at Brigham Young University, is the National Safety Council's first aid and CPR author and technical consultant. For more information, the National Safety council First Aid Handbook by Thygerson is available in local bookstores.