News
Fewer Helmets = More Deaths
Both the government and insurance agencies released recent studies drawing a direct correlation between helmet laws and death of motorcyclists. CNN reports the following:
“The second study released Monday, by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, found that the death rate of motorcyclists from 2001-02 increased 25 percent compared with the two years before the repeal of the helmet law in Florida.”
In brain injury rehabilitation, there has been a noticeable increase in the rise of severity of injury over the past twenty years, due in part to advances in technology and safety laws. Here’s what the US Department of Transportation report had to say about the Florida helmet law and brain injury:
“The Hospital Discharge database maintained by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration shows that in the 30 months immediately following the helmet law change, there were 4,986 motorcyclists admitted to hospitals for acute care treatment. This figure is 40 percent greater than the 3,567 admissions during the 30 months just before the law change. Head injury admissions increased by more than 80 percent.”
Eighty percent! It boggles the mind to think of how much strain fifteen hundred preventable brain injuries can place on a single state, not to mention the personal impact on the survivor and their loved ones. The report states that the dollar cost alone was nearly $22,000,000 over the three year period. If your state is considering a repeal of helmet laws, please forward your representatives a copy of the report.
Click here to read the CNN article “Deaths Up Following Helment Repeal“
Click here for the NHTSA report.
