N.T.S.B. Urges Mandatory Helmet Usage

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-Ct.com

Connecticut is in the crosshairs, along with 30 other states, as the National Transportation Safety Board mounts another effort to make wearing a helmet when riding mandatory across the United States. Currently, only 20 states and the District of Columbia have universal helmet laws. At a press conference today in Washington, the NTSB released its updated Most Wanted List of Transportation Safety Improvements directed at state governments. Atop the list was Improve Motorcycle Safety, with enacting helmet legislation the solution. The NTSB noted that between 1997 and 2008, the number of motorcycle fatalities doubled as overall highway fatalities declined. While acknowledging a decrease in motorcycle deaths in 2009, the NTSB said the 4,400 deaths last year outnumbered those in aviation, rail, marine and pipeline combined. “USA Today” quoted NTSB vice chairman Christopher Hart as saying that more than 12 riders die each day in crashes in the U.S.; that the leading cause of death for riders is head injuries; and that while motorcycles comprise just 3 percent of vehicles on the road, they account for 13 percent of the fatalities. The “USA Today” story can be found here. The NTSB recommends that everyone who rides be required to wear a helmet.

Updated (11/17/10) – “The Union-Leader” newspaper in Manchester, N.H. has already editorialized against that the NTSB’s push, calling it “standard Washington bullying.” Read the complete editorial here.