Helmet Laws

 
 


  Effects of the Mandatory Helmet Laws on the Helmet Usage December 2010 Can Berk Senolsun* Michigan State University


 

ABSTRACT When we step into our car, the first thing that we do is to fasten our seat belts. The reason behind it for most of us is to save our lives or to avoid a seat belt ticket. What about motorcycles? When you look around, you immediately notice that they are not protected with a metal carcass like the car drivers, and they are only relying on their helmets. The problem out there is, most of the motorcyclists don’t wear a helmet if it is not required by the state. Motorcycle helmets clearly work to reduce injuries and fatalities among motorcyclists. If a state universally requires helmet usage, that state has a higher helmet usage ratio. If a state only requires helmet usage for certain age groups, less people wear helmets. If a state does not have any helmet laws, that state has almost no helmet usage. Helmet laws are the way to achieve high helmet usage rates.


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  * Can Berk Senolsun, Michigan State University, Economics. Email: [email protected]
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  1. INTRODUCTION


 


 

The trend in transportation safety is to make driving safer by putting new laws into effect, or making vehicles that assist drivers to drive safely. Introduction of airbags, anti lock brakes, active seatbelts, lane assist systems, adaptive cruise control systems, night vision sensors and so on. Almost all of the improvements between model years are about safety concerns. The results of all the technological improvements absolutely paid off. The car mortalities have been decreasing substantially in the past decade, because of the safety improvements. However, the results for other transportation devices are not the same. 16 years ago, bike mortalities were substantially less than today, and car mortalities were higher. Surprisingly, bike mortalities have increased drastically, along with the injuries, which forces us to question the reasons behind it. Research shows that there are not many improvements in safety field for the motorcycles and that there is almost no chance for a motorcyclist to survive in case of an accident, especially on highways. Also, it is a fact that if a motorcycle driver gets in an accident, almost 100% of the time the motorcyclist gets injured, lightly or severely. However, one may assume that seeing the motorcyclists doing all the stunts on the highways also shows that they are risk takers. Seat belts are known to help save lives, and they are mandated by states to the drivers. Thirty-one states have seatbelt laws, whereas only twenty-seven states have mandatory helmet laws. Do we not know that helmets save lives? Do we really need to have a law that requires the use of the helmets? Helmet laws increase helmet usage, which in turn saves lives and reduces head trauma. This has been proven numerous times through the state fatality data that allowed comparison of deaths and injuries before and after helmet laws were enacted. The most accurate reflection of a state’s helmet use law is through the comparison of that state’s helmet usage rates and helmet
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laws. My research will prove the effectiveness of the helmet laws on helmet usage, by showing proofs from various statistical data providers of the government.


 

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  2. LITERATURE REVIEW


 


 

There are many studies done in the field of effectiveness of helmets, and the results are almost always the same. Helmets save lives, we know that, but why are there still states without a helmet law? There is excuse to not to enforce a helmet law for the government. Dr. Tilman Jolly, M.D. Associate Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine of The George Washington University Medical Center has a very good quote in this topic. “A physician dreams about having the opportunity to save as many lives as legislators save with the single act of passing a universal motorcycle helmet law.” This is one sentence with a very important message. NHTSA’s existing research documents prove that almost all fifty states showed approximately the same trend: • When universal helmet laws are enacted, helmet use increases, and fatalities and serious injuries decrease. • When these laws are repealed, helmet use decreases, and injuries and associated costs increase, far exceeding the number of new motorcycles registered. • Motorcyclist fatalities increase when a helmet law is repealed.

These results are consistent in every state where studies on the effectiveness of motorcycle helmet laws have been conducted. Additionally, the data shows that age-specific laws do not protect that group of riders that are historically victims in a fatal crash: those over the age of 21 years. (UCLA School of Public Health, Center for Injury Prevention -)


 

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  Every year, NHTSA publishes a new report on motorcycle fatalities, and the numbers are


 

increasing every year. Although there are a number of published articles and data out there, some states are still insisting on not passing a helmet law.


 

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3. THEORY AND MODEL SPECIFICATION 3.1. Theory The data used in this paper is mostly from the State Traffic Safety Information For Year 2009. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) data not only provides the mortality information, but also the injuries and the helmet usage percentage. The fact is that almost 99% of the time, a motorcyclist that is involved in an accident gets injured, lightly or severely, so we can easily assume that the number of accidents is almost equal to the number of injuries, and more if there are more than one person riding the bike. The focus of the report is on motorcyclists’ willingness to wear helmets. There is a big variation in motorcycle helmet law coverage from State to State. Some States require all motorcyclists to wear helmets, while others cover only younger riders (the definition of younger varies as well, but we assume that they require riders below 21 to wear a helmet). NHTSA also publishes the percentage of the killed people that were wearing a helmet at the time of the accident and they also have a method to calculate the lives saved with the current helmet usage rate and possible lives saved at 100% helmet usage rate. My analyses show that mandatory helmet laws have a huge impact on the increased helmet usage. All the states should have a helmet law that requires motorcyclists to wear a helmet all the time, and there should be huge penalties for not doing so.


 

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  3.2. Model First OLS estimate: Dependent Variable: • Helmet Usage Percentage


 


 

Independent Variables: • Universal Helmet Law Dummy Variable (1 if there is a universal helmet law, 0 if not) • Age specific Helmet Law Dummy Variable (1 if there is an age specific helmet law, 0 if not) Second OLS estimate: Dependent Variable: • Lives saved by the helmets

Independent Variables: • Universal Helmet Law Dummy Variable (1 if there is a universal helmet law, 0 if not) • Age specific Helmet Law Dummy Variable (1 if there is an age specific helmet law, 0 if not)


 

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  4.RESULTS


 


 

As seen in Table 2, OLS estimations of the effects of the helmet laws on the helmet usage throughout the United States, the states that require helmets to be worn have a significantly higher percentage of motorcycle riders with helmets compared to the ones that don’t. The dummy variables “Helmet Required” and “Helmet Required for 21 and Down” help us see the effects of the regulation on helmet usage or not. The coefficient for the intercept shows the percentage of people that do not wear a helmet in any case. There is not much to do about them, as they don’t care about their health no matter if there is a helmet law or not. The coefficient of the “Helmet Required” dummy variable shows that if a state mandates the helmet usage to all age groups, we see an increase in the helmet usage by 65.5 percent, which is significantly higher. However, if a state requires only the age groups of 21 and below to wear a helmet, it only increases the helmet usage by 13.5%, as shown by the second dummy variable (Helmet Required for 21 and Down). 13.5% is not satisfactory when it comes to human health, and there is no reason on setting a specific age to enforce the helmet law, as motorcyclists are always going to get injured in case of an accident no matter what age they are. Basically, age specific helmet laws simply cannot be enforced, as it is almost impossible to guess the riders’ age when they are on the move. Based on a comparison of fatal crashes involving motorcycles with two riders, at least one of whom was killed, the National Center for Statistics and Analysis (NCSA) of the National


 

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Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has estimated helmets to be about 29% effective between the years of 1982 and 1987. This figure was based on cumulative fatal crash mortality data in the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) files from 1982 through 1987. In 2004, NCSA revised the estimate of 29% helmet effectiveness rate to 37% effectiveness rate based on recent data to reflect changes that may have occurred in helmet materials and design since 1987. The estimate of effectiveness is a composite of the separate effectiveness of helmets in protecting the lives of motorcycle operators and passengers. If the total number of motorcyclists who died despite the protection of their helmets is known, then there must be a potential number of fatally injured helmeted motorcyclists that include the number of whose lives were spared due to helmets. The number of Lives Saved (LS), therefore, must be equal to Fatalities Potential, the potential fatalities, multiplied by the effectiveness: LS= Fatalities Potential * .37 The number of potential fatalities is unknown, as there is no way to predict that, however we do know that the number of helmeted fatalities is equal to the number of potential fatalities reduced by the complement of the effectiveness, which is 37% in our case. Therefore: Fatalities Helmeted= Fatalities Potential * (1-.37) and potential fatalities are: Fatalities Potential = Fatalities Helmeted / (1-.37) Therefore, as the equation of Lives Saved, we now have:


 

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  LS = Fatalities Potential * .37 or more accurately,


 


 

LS = Fatalities Helmeted *.37/ (1-.37) NCSA also has a method to estimate the number of lives that would be saved with 100 percent compliance to the helmet law, ignoring the state’s helmet law status. The number of Potential Lives Saved (PLS) would equal the sum of the estimated Lives Saved and the total number of fatalities, both helmeted and unhelmeted, multiplied by the effectiveness of helmets: PLS = (Fatalities Total + LS) * .37 (Deutermann 2005) Potential Lives Saved and Lives Saved per state data can be found in the Appendix, Table 1. In Appendix, Table 3, OLS estimations of the effects of the helmet laws on the lives saved throughout the United States show that if the state has a universal helmet law, that results in saving 38 more people. If a state has a helmet law for only certain age groups, this results in saving 8 more people from dying in motorcycle accidents.


 

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5. SENSITIVITY TESTS and IMPLICATIONS The data used in this paper is mostly from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The way that they calculate the helmet usage percentage only shows the helmet usage of the people that were involved in a fatal accident, which means the people whom were never got involved in a fatal accident are not counted in this study. This brings up the question of the validity of this report since the people that were never involved in a fatal accident might still be wearing their helmets, and assuming that mostly the risk takers get involved in accidents. The numbers prove that risk takers also don’t wear helmets. The other motorcyclists that are still alive might still be wearing/not-wearing helmets but they are not included in this report. Still, we can assume that the data that we have shows the trend of the helmet usage according to the state’s helmet law, as the values are statistically significant. Also, the significant increase in the helmet usage when it is mandated by the state is present in the analysis as expected. The same issue is present for the other dummy variable, the effect of the age specific helmet laws. This shows an increase in the helmet usage, which is within the expected limits, less than the universal helmet law states and more than the states without a helmet law. It is unfortunately not possible to get accurate data of the number of people that wear helmets, so we are required to work with the numbers that are available, which are the numbers from fatal accidents. The research still, it reflects the big picture successfully, as the problem that we are trying to solve are the fatalities caused by the motorcycle accidents, and the data that we have is from the motorcycle accidents database.


 

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  6. CONCLUSION


 


 

Despite the fact that less than 3 percent of registered passenger vehicles are motorcycles, motorcyclist fatalities represent about 9 percent of all passenger vehicle rider fatalities. Considering that passenger car rider fatalities are trending downward, policies that result in raising public acceptance of the protective value of helmets can have a significant impact on reducing the total number of lives lost annually on America’s highways. Having a universal helmet law increases the helmet usage by 65%, and all fifty states must have a helmet law to reduce the motorcycle fatalities. Only having a helmet law for ages 21 and under itself increases the helmet usage by 13.5%. There cannot be a valid reason to not have a universal helmet law for any state, and wearing helmets not only reduces the fatality rates but it also reduces the amount of time and money spent on treating the people that get injured. Just one helmet law can help save thousands of lives each year. The average charge for inpatient care for motorcyclists who sustain a brain injury is more than twice the charge for motorcyclists receiving inpatient care for other injuries. Helmet laws not only save lives, but also develop an excellent economic sense. Hopefully one day, every state will have 100% mandatory helmet laws. Let’s wear a helmet, and warn the ones that don’t.


 

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  7. REFERENCES


 


 

1. UCLA School of Public Health, Center for Injury Prevention. Universal Helmet Laws Reduce Injuries and Save Lives. Thesis, Los Angeles: UCLA, -. 2. Deutermann, William V. Calculating Lives Saved by Motorcycle Helmets. Report, NHTSA, Washington DC: NHTSA, 2005. 3. Starnes, Timothy M. Pickrell and Marc. An Analysis of Motorcycle Helmet Use In Fatal Crashes. Analysis, U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Washington DC: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2008. 4. Shankar, Umesh G. Motorcyclist Fatalities in 2001. Analysis, National Center for Statistics and Analysis, Washington DC: National Center for Statistics and Analysis, 2003. 5. Administration, National Highway Traffic Safety. FARS - Fatality Analysis Reporting System. December 05, 2010. http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/Main/index.aspx (accessed December 05, 2010). 6. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. State Traffic Safety Information For Year 2009. - -, 2009. http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/departments/nrd30/ncsa/stsi/usa%20web%20report.htm (accessed December 05, 2010).
 


 

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  8. APPENDIX: Table 1:


 


 

The following data represents the helmet usage statistics of the fifty states and their helmet laws. Also, NHTSA provides the data for lives saved at the current helmet usage rate and additional lives that could be saved if the helmet usage rate was 100%. Additional Lives That Could Be Saved if the Helmet Usage was 100% 3 1 25 14 17 23 10 3 80 4 8 7 40 33 15 12 19 9 7 4 3 4 15

State Alabama: AL Alaska: AK Arizona: AZ Arkansas: AR California: CA Colorado: CO Connecticut: CT Delaware: DE Florida: FL Georgia: GA Hawaii: HI Idaho: ID Illinois: IL Indiana: IN Iowa: IA Kansas: KS Kentucky: KY Louisiana: LA Maine: ME Maryland: MD Massachusetts: MA Michigan: MI Minnesota: MN

Percentage Of the Helmet Lives Helmeted Required Saved Riders at Helmet for only with the time of Required Age 21 Current the for and Helmet accident Everybody? down? Usage 91 YES ALL 41 71 NO YES 3 44 NO YES 32 45 NO YES 18 88 YES ALL 205 31 NO YES 16 39 NO YES 10 36 NO YES 3 48 NO YES 118 92 YES ALL 76 40 NO YES 8 41 NO YES 9 19 NO NO 14 20 NO YES 13 18 NO NO 5 33 NO YES 9 42 NO YES 21 75 YES ALL 46 21 NO YES 3 86 YES ALL 35 87 YES ALL 28 89 YES ALL 58 22 NO YES 7


 

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  Additional Lives That Could Be Saved if the Helmet Usage was 100% 2 8 7 2 1


 

State Mississippi: MS Missouri: MO Montana: MT Nebraska: NE Nevada: NV New Hampshire: NH 38 NO NO 5 5 New Jersey: NJ 78 YES ALL 30 5 New Mexico: NM 3 NO YES 1 15 New York: NY 86 YES ALL 79 8 North Carolina: NC 90 YES ALL 83 6 North Dakota: ND 0 NO YES 0 3 Ohio: OH 22 NO YES 21 49 Oklahoma: OK 27 NO YES 17 30 Oregon: OR 85 YES ALL 27 3 Pennsylvania: PA 49 NO YES 58 40 Rhode Island: RI 33 NO YES 4 5 South Carolina: SC 23 NO YES 15 31 South Dakota: SD 13 NO YES 1 5 Tennessee: TN 79 YES ALL 57 9 Texas: TX 35 NO YES 88 104 Utah: UT 40 NO YES 7 7 Vermont: VT 75 YES ALL 4 1 Virginia: VA 92 YES ALL 42 2 Washington: WA 87 YES ALL 36 3 West Virginia: WV 80 YES ALL 12 2 Wisconsin: WI 33 NO YES 16 21 Wyoming: WY 23 NO YES 2 4 Totals: 20 27 1479 734 Average helmet usage: 52% Note: There are 3 states that don’t have any laws regarding helmet use (New Hampshire, Iowa, Illinois)

Percentage Of the Helmet Lives Helmeted Required Saved Riders at Helmet for only with the time of Required Age 21 Current the for and Helmet accident Everybody? down? Usage 87 YES ALL 24 74 YES ALL 38 23 NO YES 4 64 YES ALL 6 95 YES ALL 24


 

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  Table 2:


 


 

OLS estimations of the effects of the helmet laws on the helmet usage throughout the United States. Dependent Variable: Helmet Usage in Percentage Independent Variables States with a Universal Helmet Law States with a age specific helmet law (21 and down) 65.5* (8.9932) 13.46* (8.8757) 18.5* (8.5747) 50 0.8309

Intercept Observations R-Squared

Standard errors in parentheses. Bold values are statistically significant values.
* at 95% confidence level.


 

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  Table 3:


 


 

OLS estimations of the effects of the helmet laws on lives saved throughout the United States. Dependent Variable: Lives saved at current helmet rate Independent Variables States with a Universal Helmet Law States with a age specific helmet law (21 and down) 38.05* (25.4547) 8.6785* (25.1219) 9.5* (24.2701) 50 0.16

Intercept Observations R-Squared Bold values are statistically significant values. Standard errors in parentheses.
* at 95% confidence level.


 

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