FATALITIES FALL IN MICHIGAN AFTER HELMET LAW REPEAL
�The numbers speak for themselves,� said Vince Consiglio, president of ABATE Michigan, in announcing a decrease in motorcycle deaths since the state repealed their mandatory helmet law. Despite dire predictions to the contrary, motorcycle fatalities actually have dropped by 7% based on statistics obtained from the Michigan State Police and the M...ichigan Secretary of State.

On April 12, 2012, the requirement for motorcycle helmets was amended to allow adult choice for bikers 21 and older, providing they completed an accredited motorcycle-safety course or had a minimum of two years riding experience.

According to an ABATE press release, from 2011 (pre-amendment) to 2012 (post amendment) motorcycle fatalities dropped from 89 to 85 in Michigan, a 4.5% reduction. During the same time period, the number of motorcycle registrations increased from 261,658 to 266,589, so ABATE concludes; "If the fatality rate is adjusted to the total of motorcycle registrations it shows that the fatality rate has decreased from 0.034% to 0.031% since the helmet-law amendment - a seven percent reduction."

"This data proves conclusively that the helmet-law amendment had no adverse effect on motorcycle safety," Consiglio told The Detroit News.

 

There were more motorcycles registered and fewer fatalities after the helmet law was repealed ?

That's going to be very difficult for some people to understand. Watch.

 

Maybe w/o helmets people are being more cautious?

 

So apparently the false sense of security that a helmet gives a rider is worse than actually not having a helmet .... How bout wear a helmet and pretend like you dont have one on lol...

 

I'm all for adult choice on whether or not to wear a helmet. But there are a few issues here:

One, as I've covered before, is that a helmet is only helpful in less than 10% of accidents, and only saves the rider's life in less than 5% of accidents. Nobody pushing for helmet laws is claiming that it helps you when your head doesn't hit anything. But since it's so uncommon for your head to hit hard enough to be injured, the sample size is significantly reduced.

Two, as a percent of motorcycle registrations are not the same thing as a percent of vehicle miles traveled, or per a percent of wrecks. To find out how well helmets work you have to compare the number of fatalities to the number of wrecks.

Three, Michigan doesn't have as long a riding season as some other states, so its numbers are going to be lower both before and after the law. Lower numbers means more room for statistical error. 4 out of 89 is incredibly prone to this. I've read stories of packs of motorcyclists being rear-ended by a large vehicle with more than 4 people dying in one go. Just a single such event (or lack thereof) can throw the entire thing off.

Four, weather from one year to the next can vary and throw off the results. Too hot, cold, or rainy and fatalities will drop because riding decreases.

Since 2012 isn't over yet, we don't even know what time period this study covers. Did they count all of 2011, but only part of 2012? Because that would be incredibly sloppy.

 

"Ride like you're invisible"

 

 

To expand on my previous comments, here are the total "motorized cycle" fatalities (includes trikes, etc.) in previous years for Michigan:
2010 - 137 (26% increase)
2009 - 109 (15% decrease)
2008 - 128 (4% increase)
2007 - 123 (8% increase)
2006 - 114 (8% decrease)
2005 - 124 (53% increase)
2004 - 81

So just from year to year without a change in helmet laws, we see anything from a 53% increase to a 15% decrease between 2004 and 2010. It's easy to see how a mere 4.5% change could easily be natural variability.

 

The numbers ( percentages ) can be massaged to reflect whatever position you're promoting ... However, the primary goal behind ABATE of Michigan was to regain some of the "choice" that was taken away by the initiation of the mandatory helmet law back a number of years ago. After the repeal of the law ( with, I might add .. an number of stipulations and qualifications attached ) there were local news agencies just "chomping at the bit" and waiting to report on motorcycle accidents ... one ( FOX Detroit WJBK ) even went as far as reporting on an accident that involved a motorcycle being hit on the side of the road ( it was disabled ) and the operator, who was away from the bike, was singled for not wearing a helmet at the time of the "accident" ... He wasn't even involved !

 

It's not right for the media to misreport what is happening, but it is equally if not more wrong for ABATE to misrepresent the statistics in an attempt to make their case. If the drive behind the repeal was choice, ABATE has no reason to attempt to fudge the numbers. The legitimacy of any attempt to repeal helmet laws suffers as soon as the "just as safe without one" argument starts, yet they still have to trot it out there.