Motorcycles - Do helmets hinder or help?
Attorney
(866) 735-1102 Ext 335
I've received several comments critical of my posts about motorcycle helmets and increased insurance coverage. Different in many respects they all have one argument in common. They argue there are many more collisions in cars that lead to brain injury and therefore the argument is made that if those riding motorcycles should be required to don a helmet then so should automobile drivers and passengers. Of course this argument is specious due to it ignoring the incidence of accidents for each type of vehicle and the miles each drives on an annual basis. Incidence meaning, how many cars are there on the highway as compared to how many motorcycles and the miles each use the public highways each year. Clearly there are more cars and trucks on the highways than there are motorcycles and motorcycles are not driven as many months or miles per year on the public highways. So we would expect to see more traumatic brain injuries in cars and trucks than for motorcycles. But that ignores which type of vehicle is more likely to be involved in a wreck that will lead to a head injury with brain damage. And that is where their argument falls short. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has studied this very issue and the argument is for all practical purposes resolved.
Compared with cars, motorcycles are an especially dangerous form of travel. Per mile traveled, the number of deaths on motorcycles in 2004 was about 34 times the number in cars.1 Motorcyclist deaths have been rising in recent years -- more than doubling between the all-time low in 1997 and 2005. Motorcycles often have excessive performance capabilities, including especially rapid acceleration and high top speeds. They are less stable than cars in emergency braking and less visible. Motorcyclists are more prone to crash injuries than car drivers because motorcycles are unenclosed, leaving riders vulnerable to contact hard road surfaces. This is why wearing a helmet is so important. Helmets are the principal countermeasure for reducing crash-related head injuries, the leading cause of death among unhelmeted riders.
Several comments argue helmets themselves cause an increase in accidents. And so the next question is whether helmets increase the incidence of injury or death for riders and passengers?
Claims have been made that helmets increase the risk of neck injury and reduce peripheral vision and hearing, but there is no credible evidence to support these arguments. A study by J.P. Goldstein often is cited by helmet opponents as evidence that helmets cause neck injuries, allegedly by adding to head mass in a crash.3 More than a dozen studies have refuted Goldstein's findings. A study reported in the Annals of Emergency Medicine in 1994 analyzed 1,153 motorcycle crashes in four Midwestern states and determined that "helmets reduce head injuries without an increased occurrence of spinal injuries in motorcycle trauma."4
Regarding claims that helmets obstruct vision, studies show full-coverage helmets provide only minor restrictions in horizontal peripheral vision. A 1994 study found that wearing helmets restricts neither the ability to hear horn signals nor the likelihood of seeing a vehicle in an adjacent lane prior to initiating a lane change. To compensate for any restrictions in lateral vision, riders increased their head rotation prior to a lane change. There were no differences in hearing thresholds under three helmet conditions: no helmet, partial coverage, and full coverage. The noise generated by a motorcycle is so loud that any reduction in hearing capability that may result from wearing a helmet is inconsequential. Sound loud enough to be heard above the engine can be heard when wearing a helmet.5
I'll continue with this series on motorcycle helmets, safety and insurance issues, but thought a partial list of references would help.
References
1National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. 2006. Traffic safety facts, 2005: motorcycle helmet use laws. Washington, DC: US Department of Transportation.
2Norvell, D.C. and Cummings, P. 2002. Association of helmet use with death in motorcycle crashes: a matched-pair cohort study. American Journal of Epidemiology 156:483-87.
3Goldstein, J.P. 1986. The effect of motorcycle helmet use on the probability of fatality and the severity of head and neck injuries: a latent variable framework. Evaluation Review 10:355-75.
4Orsay, E.M.; Muelleman, R.L.; Peterson, T.D.; Jurisic, D.H.; Kosasih, J.B.; and Levy, P. 1994. Motorcycle helmets and spinal injuries: dispelling the myth. Annals of Emergency Medicine 23:802-06.
5McKnight, A.J. and McKnight, A.S. 1994. The effects of motorcycle helmets upon seeing and hearing. Report no. DOT HS-808-399. Washington, DC: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
6National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. 2005. Without motorcycle helmets, we all pay the price. Washington, DC: US Department of Transportation.
