02/26/2016
Rusty Bongard February 24 at 2:45pm ·
I live in Michigan and have every statistic from the Office of Highway Safety Planning, a department of the Michigan State Police, for the last 20 years regarding motorcycle crashes. I also just retired from the Michigan State Police and have read over a hundred motorcycle crash reports in Michigan.
First of all, the statistics are very clear that the overall number of crashes, fatalities, and incapacitating injuries taken in context with the years prior to the helmet law modification and after vary so little as to be inconsequential. Second, every year since the modification helmeted riders outnumber non-helmeted riders for both fatalities and incapacitating injuries. That could mean more riders wear a helmet than do not but either way compared to the years prior to the modification there is no change in the totality of fatalities or incapacitating injuries. The slight fluctuation in one year or another in total numbers is largely due to the Michigan weather. Some years we have an early spring and a late fall. Others the opposite.
Based on my study of Motorcycle crash reports there are literally dozens of unaccounted for variables that contributed to most of the crashes. Everything from being shot in the back, to hitting the back of a vehicle at 120 plus miles per hour. Half of the crashes involved an unendorsed, untrained, rider. I don't care what helmet you have on when you are shot through the heart, or hitting objects at 120mph, you are going to die. The autopsy reports for motorcycle crashes are the real unaccounted for variable. Decapitation, limb loss, multiple spinal separations, crushed organs from blunt force trauma, catastrophic bleeding, as well as brain damage with or without a helmet, all are frequently reported in autopsy reports of motorcycle crash victims.
Anyone who thinks helmets are the end all say all of motorcycle safety should get their head checked.
Insurance companies pay big bucks when motorcyclists get hit by one of their car driving customers, which also account for half of all crashes. People get hurt bad when cars hit them, or pull out in front of them. In Michigan Insurance lobbyists are the most powerful lobbying group at the State Capitol, and would love nothing more than to decrease the number of motorcyclists on the road. Which is what happens when helmet laws are enacted. When helmet laws are repealed, motorcycle registrations rise. And so does tourism, by billions of dollars that goes into the pockets of businesses not Insurance Industry wall street shenanigans. Its all a scheme, with dollar signs in the eyes of the greedy. Training, Education, and Motorcycle Awareness decreases crashes. Not helmets.
One thing is certain if Tennessee lawmakers repeal the state law that requires motorcycle riders over 21 to wear a helmet — head injuries will rise.
