Made of protective padding and a hard outer shell, motorcycle and bicycle helmets are designed to protect you from injury in the event of a crash. While helmet use is not 100 percent effective in preventing fatalities or injuries, helmets have been shown to reduce risk of death and serious head trauma. Wearing a bicycle or motorcycle helmet each time you ride -- and wearing it properly -- could save your life.
Helmet Wear Facts
Although inexpensive, bicycle helmets are not often worn by bicyclists, according to KIVITV.com in Boise, Idaho. An estimated 10 percent of rural and/or inner-city children wear bicycle helmets while white-collar commuters wear helmets an estimated 80 percent of the time. An estimated 67 percent of motorcycle riders wore helmets in 2009, an increase from 63 percent in 2008, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. This increase in helmet usage is attributed to the greater number of traffic safety laws requiring motorcyclists to wear helmets.
Effectiveness
Wearing a motorcycle helmet has been shown to be 37 percent effective in preventing traffic-related fatalities. Refraining from wearing a helmet makes a motorcycle rider 40 percent more likely to experience a fatal head injury. While the exact effectiveness of wearing bicycle helmets is unknown, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluded that "the use of bicycle helmets is effective in preventing head injury."
Fatalities
In those up to 19 years old, head injuries were linked to 62.6 percent of bicycle-related fatalities, according to the Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute. Out of all head-injury related deaths in the United States, an estimated 7 percent are bicycle-related. If motorcyclists wore helmets regularly, an estimated 1,644 lives would be saved each year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Indirect Costs
Helmet safety can cost not only you, the cyclist, but also taxpayers who support medical insurance costs and claims. This results in indirect costs due to cyclists not wearing a helmet totaling $2.3 billion, according to KIVITV.com. The direct costs total $81 million to Americans annually. Part of this is because motorcycle accident victims often require longer hospital stays, according to the Michigan State Police. Even for those whose injuries are not fatal, effects of a head injury can include headaches, dizziness, memory loss and loss of brain function.
References
- KIVITV.com: Helmet Safety Statistics
- National Center for Statistics and Analysis: Calculating Lives Saved by Motorcycle Helmets
- Michigan State Police: Motorcycle Helmets
- National Center for Statistics and Analysis: Motorcycle Helmet Use in 2009
- Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute: Helmet Related Statistics
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Injury-Control Recommendations: Bicycle Helmets
Member Comments