Helmet Law Aims to Protect
Reported June 18, 2008
(Ivanhoe Newswire) Motorcycle enthusiasts may enjoy the feel of the wind in their hair, but theyre taking a big and costly risk every time they hit the road without a helmet.
In the 5 years since Pennsylvania repealed its motorcycle helmet laws for riders over 21, the head injury death rate jumped 32 percent. Hospitalization for head injury rose 42 percent.
The data comes from a study done at the University of Pittsburgh. The numbers stand in stark contrast to the statistics from a 2-year period when the law was in place. During that time, the rate of motorcyclists involved in crashes dropped from 82 percent to 58 percent.
The research also showed the number of head-injured, hospitalized victims who needed rehabilitation and long-term care increased 87 percent after the 2003 repeal. Acute care hospital charges also rose a staggering 132 percent.
We looked at both head injuries and non-head injuries to get a clearer picture of the impact of the helmet law repeal, said Kristen Mertz, MD, MPH, lead author of the study. Metz, an assistant professor at the Department of Epidemiology at the Universitys Graduate School of Public Health went on to say, The relatively large increase in head injury deaths and hospitalizations after the repeal suggest that the law was protecting riders.
Motorcycle helmet laws have been weakened since 1975 when the federal government stopped withholding highway money from states without them. At present only 20 states require all riders to wear helmets.
SOURCE: American Journal of Public Health, online June 12, 2008