OK I'm not looking to start a riot, really. It'd be interesting if we could dig up more facts on this as well, I suspect there's some skewing of the truth going on one way or another:
New Stats Show Motorcycle Drivers Dodge Death by Not Wearing Helmets http://www.wcjb.com/news.asp?id=13254 Quote:
Many folks are surprised about new figures released from the Department of Motor Vehicles. They show that motorcycle drivers who do not wear a helmet are less likely to die in crashes than those that do.
The figures come from Florida's annual traffic crash report from 2004.
Forty four and one half percent of all motorcycle drivers in accidents suffered incapacitating injuries while wearing a helmet in 2004.
Less than 44 percent suffered similar injuries while not wearing the protective head gear.
Some say those numbers are skewed because there are more bikers on the roads, but others believe if you are traveling fast enough, the damage will be done no matter what you wear.
"A helmet will bounce and in the case of bouncing on an impact, it will induce stress on the neck and in fact break your neck or cause some damage to the spinal column," Alachua County Chopper Owner Nelson Citta said.
Troopers say the cost of speeding tickets went up because so many were not wearing helmets.
You do have the right not to wear a helmet if you have a 10,000 dollar bodily injury insurance policy.
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I'm not sure I'd be quoting 'Alachua County Chopper Owner Nelson Citta' as serious safety expert and the lack of solid numbers for both sides of helmet usage is missing. Also I personally suspect that helmet wearers walk away from and thus report fewer accidents and require fewer trips to the hospital/morgue overall.
10-01-2005, 06:52 PM
Florida: New Stats Show Motorcycle Drivers Dodge Death by Not Wearing Helmets 
