June 14, 2012 | 1:12 PM |

CDC: Universal Helmet Laws = Significant Cost Savings

FILED UNDER: Medicine/Science, helmet laws, public health, traffic accidents

(CDC)

The next time you’re in New Hampshire, for instance, and see a motorcycle rider without a helmet you can think, “Not only are you an idiot but you’re costing your fellow residents money…”

That’s Carey’s take on a new study by the CDC that finds states with universal motorcycle helmet laws (like Massachusetts) report on average nearly four times greater cost savings (per registered motorcycle) compared to states without these comprehensive laws (like New Hampshire). The savings, according to the CDC’s June 15 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, come from reductions in crash-related injuries and deaths.

According to a CDC analysis of fatal crash data from 2008 to 2010, 12 percent of motorcyclists in states with universal helmet laws were not wearing helmets. In comparison, 64 percent of riders were not wearing helmets in states with partial helmet laws, and 79 percent of riders were not wearing helmets in states with no helmet law. Partial helmet laws require only certain riders, such as those under age 21, to wear a helmet.

The report concludes:

In 2010, approximately $3 billion in costs were saved as a result of helmet use in the United States; however, another $1.4 billion could have been saved if all motorcyclists had worn helmets.

(CDC)

About the author

Blogger, CommonHealth Rachel Zimmerman worked as a staff reporter for The Wall Street Journal for 10 years, most recently covering health and medicine out of the paper’s Boston bureau. Rachel has also written for The New York Times, the (now-defunct) Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the alternative newspaper Willamette Week, in Portland, Ore., among other publications. Rachel co-wrote a book about birth, published by Bantam/Random House, and spent 2008 as a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT. Rachel lives in Cambridge with her husband and two daughters. View all posts by Rachel Zimmerman →

  • Rcperugini

    Ridiculous inference from the data. This has actually been looked at in Rhode Island. Summary of results: helmeted individuals involved in motorcycle accidents actually cost MORE. Why? One reason could be that they have a higher chance to survive the accident…with associated injuries that require medical treatment. Unhelmeted riders have a higher likelihood of dying at the scene, limiting cost to system.

    I’m not saying we shouldn’t have helmet laws. But we should not use lower health care costs as a reason.

  • MC Safety Instructor

    My question is what constitutes a helmet in this study? Massachusetts law requires all motorcycle riders to wear a DOT ( Dept of Transportation ) approved helmet. If you look around, you will see somewhere between 25-50% of riders wearing “novelty helmets”. These are close fitting often rediculously small plastic skull caps which have no enegry absorbing material and are therefore almost completely ineffective in preventing head injuries. Like loud pipes, these laws are completely uninforced because they have been challenged in court so the police have completely stopped issuing citations so they are everywhere. Without enforcement, there is no law.