Georgia Injury Law Blog
States like Georgia that have universal motorcycle helmet laws in place see fewer wrongful deaths in motorcycle accidents compared to states that do not have such laws. The findings of a new study seem to confirm this conclusion. Hopefully, studies of this nature will encourage states without mandatory motorcycle helmet laws to make changes to their laws.
The results of the study were published recently in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons. The researchers compared motorcycle accident fatality rates in North Carolina, which requires all motorcycle riders and passengers to wear helmets, with the rates in South Carolina which only requires motorcyclists below the age of 21 to wear helmets. The researchers found in their analysis that motorcycle accident wrongful death rates were lower when the state mandated helmets for all, regardless of age or motorcycling experience.
Not only did wearing motorcycle helmets lead to a much lower chance of being killed in motorcycle accidents, but it also reduced the risk of serious personal injuries in a motorcycle accident. The researchers found that when the state mandated universal motorcycle helmet usage, the risk of serious injuries was significantly lower with just about 25% of motorcyclists wearing helmets admitted to the ICU for injuries sustained in the accident. In contrast, close to 40% of non-helmeted motorcyclists required admission into an ICU for treatment after the accident. Not only were they more likely to be admitted into an ICU after suffering an injury in an accident, but they were also more likely to require longer hospitalization, compared to those who were wearing a helmet at the time.