The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration encourages each State to have and enforce a law requiring all motorcycle operators and passengers to wear helmets meeting Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 218. Motorcycle helmets provide the best protection from head injury for motorcyclists involved in traffic crashes. The passage of helmet use laws governing all motorcycle operators and passengers is the most effective method of increasing helmet use. Additionally, NHTSA strongly supports comprehensive motorcycle safety programs that include the use of motorcycle helmets and other safety equipment, rider education, motorcycle operator licensing, and responsible use of alcohol.

• In 2006, 4,810 motorcyclists died and approximately 88,000 were injured in highway crashes in the United States.
• Per mile traveled in 2006, a motorcyclist is approximately 37 times more likely to die in a crash than someone riding in a passenger car.
• Head injury is a leading cause of death in motorcycle crashes.
• An unhelmeted motorcyclist is 40 percent more likely to suffer a fatal head injury and 15 percent more likely to suffer a nonfatal injury than a helmeted motorcyclist when involved in a crash.
• NHTSA estimates that motorcycle helmets reduce the likelihood of a crash fatality by 37 percent.
• A Crash Outcome Data Evaluation System (CODES) study found that motorcycle helmets are 67 percent effective in preventing brain injuries and that unhelmeted motorcyclists involved in crashes were three times more likely to suffer brain injuries than those wearing helmets.
• NHTSA estimates that from 1984 through 2006 helmets saved the lives of 19,230 motorcyclists. If all motorcycle operators and passengers had worn helmets during that period, NHTSA estimates that 12,320 additional lives would have been saved.
• A study conducted at the University of Southern California, which analyzed 3,600 traffic crash reports covering motorcycle crashes, concluded that wearing helmets was the single most important factor in surviving motorcycle crashes.
• A 1994 study by the National Public Services Research Institute concluded that wearing a motorcycle helmet does not restrict a rider’s ability to hear auditory signals or see a vehicle in an adjacent lane.
• All motorcycle helmets sold in the United States are required to meet Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 218, which establishes the minimum level of protection a helmet must afford each helmet user.
• Helmet use laws governing all motorcycle riders (universal helmet laws) significantly increase helmet use and are easily enforced because of riders’ high visibility.
• Repeal of State universal helmet use laws has resulted in fewer riders wearing helmets. According to the National Occupant Protection Use Survey, from 2000 to 2006, helmet use dropped from 71 percent to 51 percent nationally and remained at 51 percent in 2006.
• Data on crashes in States where only minors are required to wear helmets show that fewer than 40 percent of the fatally-injured minors wear helmets even though the law requires them to do so. Helmet laws that govern only minors are difficult to enforce.
• According to NHTSA’s 2000 Motor Vehicle Occupant Safety Survey, public support for motorcycle helmet use laws in the United States is strong, with four out of five people (81%) 16 and older supporting such laws. This support has changed little from earlier occupant protection surveys in 1998 (80%) and in 1994 (82%). Support was more prevalent among women (88%) than men (72%), and among non-motorcyclists (83%) than those who rode motorcycles (51%), with this gap seeming to have widened in the past two years. Support was also higher in States requiring all riders to wear helmets (84%), compared with States with lesser requirements (75%) or no requirement (79%).
• Reported helmet use rates of fatally-injured motorcyclists in 2006 were 59 percent for operators and 45 percent for passengers.

When Florida repealed its universal rider motorcycle helmet law in 2002, there were 40 percent more motorcyclists admitted to hospitals for treatment in the 30 months immediately following the helmet law change compared to the 30 months just before the law change (4,986 versus 3,567). Deaths increased by 24 percent above what was expected from the increased registrations after repeal of the all-rider motorcycle helmet law, beginning before the law was in effect in July. Fatalities in Florida per 10,000 registered motorcycles increased 21 percent compared to 13 percent nationally for the two years before and after the law change—75 percent higher than the national rate. Unhelmeted deaths of riders under the age of 21 increased 188 percent, even though the law still applied to them. Costs to treat motorcycle injures with head injury as the primary diagnosis more than doubled to $44 million (adjusted for inflation). Only one in four of injured motorcyclists who were hospitalized had costs less than $10,000, the required level of medical insurance to ride without a helmet. The hospital discharge data indicate that in the post-law change period, approximately 63 percent of admitted motorcyclists were covered by commercial insurance ($31 million), 16 percent self-paid because they were under-insured or uninsured ($8 million), while the remaining 21 percent had costs ($10.5 million) billed to charitable and public sources (e.g., Medicaid).

Motorcycle accident law is complicated and should not be handled without first speaking with a qualified Sacramento motorcycle attorney. If you  or a loved one has been injured in a motorcycle accident call Sacramento motorcycle lawyer at Travis G. Black & Associates, Inc. toll free: (888) 744-3575

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Travis G. Black & Associates, Inc. provides legal representation all over Northern California. We can meet with you at anyone of our convenient offices located in Sacramento, Elk Grove, Roseville, Gold River and Cameron Park.

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