Motorcycle Helmet Law Repeal a Bad Idea?

    I really don’t blog all that much, unless it’s on tumblr and usually I’m not even blogging then. It’s just reblogging others peoples thoughts and ideas. Similar to twitters concept of retweeting. However, I am not here to discuss what social media I use and whatnot. Some of you may know me, others may not. Some of you may know my father, in fact, most of you may know my father, John Nichols, but most of you may not know me, so before I discuss what I want to discuss, let me formally introduce myself.

    My name is Kaitlin Nichols. I am a senior in high school. I really don’t have that much experience speaking out to the public. I think my greatest breakthrough was when I spoke out to Plymouth-Canton about the public bussing system and how it was failing us. Now you have a background, something has been on my mind.

   I was in the car with my dad and Grandmother coming back from visiting my piano teacher in the hospital. It was a beautiful day, high 80s I believe. Ann Arbor and Beck road was backed up, which is usually not that common. Here it was, a motorcycle accident. The motorcycle was flipped, and the biker was lying down in the middle of the street. Now I don’t know if he was conscious or not. I say he was, but my younger brother said he wasn’t. There was a lady holding his hand, and I just couldn’t get that image out of my head. Luckily, he was wearing a helmet, but I was thinking to myself, what were his odds of surviving if he didn’t wear a helmet? It was like my grandmother read my mind when she asked my Dad if Michigan had a helmet law (She is from North Carolina, so she had no clue). When I heard my Dad said no, it really got me thinking.

  I would be writing to our State Legislature about this issue, but I was informed that the issue was brought up, and Governor Rick Snyder had signed off on it. So I figured I’d find another outlet, and here I am blogging about it.  The question I have for him is what if it was someone that he was close to? That person lying out there in the street potentially unconscious was somebody’s father, somebodys brother, somebodys husband. Would that change his perspective on things? Or does he just not care.

    Based on information from the Governor’s Highway Safety Administration (GHSA), helmets are 37% effective in preventing fatalities for the biker, and 41% for the passenger. The National Highway Traffic  Safety Administration (NHTSA) says that 706 bikers that died weren’t wearing a helmet, and would have survived if they did. Roughly 19 states and DC have universal helmet laws, in 28 states, helmets are required for bikers under 18, and some under 21, and 3 states with no helmet law.

  In 2006, 88,000 motorcyclists were injured on the highway and 4,810 were killed in road accidents, and 11% of accidents all together involve motorcycles, with a head injury being the leading cause of death. Bikers who don’t wear a helmet are 15% more likely to suffer a head injury, and 40% are likely to die from a head injury, than bikers who wear a helmet. With the states that require helmets, fatalities decreased by about 37%. In 2005, for every 100,000 registered bikers, there were 73 fatalities.

  Between 1997 and 2005, motorcycle registration increased by 63%, and fatalities doubled. By 2008, 43% of fatalities occurred because of a biker not wearing a helmet, and by 2009, it increased by 1 Also according to the NHTSA, roughly 1,829 lives were saved in 2008 due to helmet use, and an additional of 882 lives could have been saved IF they used a helmet. Studies have also shown that helmet use has decreased when it isn’t repealed

 Department of Transportation says D.C plus 19 states mandate helmet laws, 7 states have repealed and helmet use decreased. Louisiana was at 1st place with a 108% increase in motorcycle fatalities.

  In April 12, 2012 is when the State of Michigan repealed the helmet law. In an Article on CBS Detroit that was written April of 2013 says that a University of Michigan researcher estimates that there could have been 26 fewer deaths and 49 fewer injuries in 2012 had helmets been used. At least 30 states went with no helmet laws. Why? It might increase tourism revenue.

     According to Carol Flannagen studied these crashes and fatalities. The Office of Highway Safety Planning says motorcycle fatalities have increased 18% since last year, 109 in 2011 to 129 in 2012. 74% wore helmets, compared to 98% bikers who wore helmets in the previous 3 years. That is a 24% difference.  Fatality rates increase by at least 3 times if a helmet is not used.

  Nancy Cain, a spokeswoman for AAA-MI said that there were 3 personal injury claims increased by about $1 million because a helmet is not used. At a National Conference of State Legislature, Florida repealed the helmet law and fatalities jumped from 259 in 2000 to 413 in 2009.  The GHSA also predicted that fatalities would decrease by about 21% if there was no repeal. As of right now, 31 states lack a helmet law due to the bill not passing, or the law successfully being repealed.

     What would you do if someone you know was part of that 18%? It is a PROVEN FACT that helmets can prevent a lot of head injury and even deaths if people wore them. I may be 17, I may be a senior in high school, and I may not know much. However, I do know that helmets protect peoples’ lives. They protect the ones we love, and we need them. Would you want your five year old son or daughter to be riding their bike without a helmet? What makes motorcycles and bikers any different? Think about that.

Resources:

http://www.motorcycleaccident.org/motorcycle-accidents-statistics-and-possible-causes/

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2013/04/10/impact-of-michigans-motorcycle-helmet-law-debated/

http://www.ghsa.org/html/publications/pdf/spotlights/motorcycles_2012.pdf