Another Study Supports Helmet Laws

This time it’s the American College of Surgeons that is out with findings that support universal helmet laws. In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers compared the impact of partial helmet laws (for riders under age 18 or under age 21) in some states to the requirement by other states that all riders wear helmets. The data show that young riders are significantly less likely to sustain a traumatic brain injury (TBI) if they live in a state with a universal helmet law.

The results were presented yesterday at the 2014 Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons in San Francisco and concluded that “young riders in states with universal helmet use laws were 2.5 times less likely to sustain a traumatic head injury.”

“TBI is the biggest burden in trauma care, so we wanted to see whether having universal helmet laws versus age-specific helmet laws really made a difference in the younger population,” said contributing study author Dr. Bellal Joseph, a trauma surgeon and associate professor of surgery at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

“We know from research that helmet use is significantly greater in states with universal laws compared to those with age-limited laws or no laws at all,” said lead study author Dr.. K. Tinsley Anderson,  a general surgery resident at the University of Arizona. “What we also find is that having an age-limited law is the same as having no law at all.  The rates of helmet usage in those states are the same as not having a law at all.”

Only 19 states plus the District of Columbia require motorcyclists of any age to wear a helmet.  The highest death and injury rates among motorcyclists involve 20- to 24-year-olds.  A press release that detailed the results of the study noted:

The researchers found that the incidence of TBI was significantly less in states with universal helmet laws compared to states with age-restricted helmet laws.  In states with universal helmet laws, the rate of TBIs per 1,000 motorcycle accidents was 282 versus 307 in states with less than 18-years helmet legislation and 366 in states with less than 21-years helmet legislation. 

Further, the overall mortality from TBI was significantly less in those states with universal helmet legislation.

“Our study is unique because we prove that universal helmet laws save lives and decrease TBIs in the pediatric population as well,” said Dr. Anderson.  “I think it’s an important group to look at because they are the least risk averse group and most inexperienced rider population and are more likely to be unprotected in the absence of universal laws.”

Dr. Joseph added, “I think just having this kind of information may also help patients and the public take a different perspective, even where the laws don’t exist.”

– By Bud Wilkinson