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Two studies were released yesterday, concluding states that repeal laws like helmet requirements on motorcycles run the risk of increasing the number of deaths and health care costs as a result.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration conducted the first study, and it found that in the three years following Florida’s decision to repeal its mandatory helmet law in 2000 that there were 933 motorcyclists killed. The number of Florida motorcycle deaths increased 81 percent, an increase from the 515 bikers killed from 1997 to 1999.
While Florida law requires helmet use by riders under 21, fatalities among that group nearly tripled in the three years after the repeal, and 45 percent of those killed were not wearing helmets. When adjusted for inflation, the cost of hospital care for motorcycle injuries grew from $21 million to $44 million in the 30 months after the helmet law was repealed.
The study’s findings resembled a 2003 federal review that found fatalities grew by more than 50 percent in Kentucky and 100 percent in Louisiana after the two states eliminated its mandatory helmet laws. In a second study also released yesterday by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, it found the death rate of motorcyclists from 2001 to 2002 increased 25 percent compared with the two years before Florida did away with the helmet law.
Twenty states and the District of Columbia all require motorcycle riders to wear protective helmets, which is significantly less than the 47 states that required helmets in 1975. In 2004, the number of fatalities resulting from motorcycle accidents nationwide increased nearly eight percent to 4,008. That was the first year since 1987 that motorcycle deaths exceeded 4,000 since 1987.
Over the past seven years, motorcycle deaths have increased every single year.