News Story - Fewer Helmets, More Deaths... - Motorcycle-Journal Forums

Nexus242 · 03-04-2005, 08:14 PM

Ripped from the pages of the Orlando Sentinel newspaper thursday March 4, 2005....

Fewer helmets, more deaths

Fatalities have doubled since state eased law in 2000

By Scott Powers
Sentinel Staff Writer

March 3, 2005

Ed Dow, retired firefighter and avid biker, has seen the deadly consequences when a motorcyclist crashes without a helmet.

But don't tell Dow there should be a law forcing bikers to wear the headgear.

"The way it is now is a good way: Let he who rides decide," said Dow, who dons a helmet whenever he hops onto his Honda Gold Wing. "But I also think everybody who rides should wear a helmet. After 30-some years in the Fire Department, I've seen a lot of smashed-up heads."

Since Florida relaxed its law, making helmets optional for riders 21 and older, Florida's roads have gotten more dangerous. At the same time, the popularity of motorcycles has exploded -- and so has Florida's motorcyclist death toll.

An Orlando Sentinel analysis of federal crash data reveals the number of motorcycle deaths has more than doubled since 1999, the last full year that all Florida riders were required to wear helmets.

In 2003, the most recent year for which data are available, 365 people, including passengers, were killed on motorcycles in Florida, compared with 178 in 1999.

In 1999, as many as 156 riders wearing helmets died, and in 2003, 142 did. Yet 10 times as many riders died without helmets in 2003 -- 223 -- as in 1999, when there were 21 such deaths, according to federal data.

Yet even as the deaths go up, many motorcycle riders like Dow stand by their right.

With the coming of Bike Week, which begins Friday in Daytona Beach and runs through March 13, Central Florida prepares for an invasion of bikers riding countless safe miles and espousing freedom. The area also braces, inevitably, for a few tragedies.

James "Doc" Reichenbach, president of bikers' rights group ABATE of Florida, insists the rise in deaths since June 30, 2000, the last day Florida required helmets, is mainly because there are far more motorcycle riders, and they're cruising far more miles.

There were 38 percent more licensed riders and 62 percent more motorcycles registered in Florida in 2003 than in 1999, according to state figures.

Road-safety advocates say the sharp increase in motorcycle deaths happens in every state that decides to make helmets optional, making some minor crashes deadly.

Rae Tyson, a rider and helmet wearer who is the spokesman for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said when bikers crash, they inevitably make contact with some hard surface.

"It may be a guardrail. It might be a tree. It might be with another vehicle. It might be with a road. If you get real lucky, it won't be with your head. But chances are it will be your head, and all bets are off."

'The throttle just stuck'

That's what happened to Rufus Williams, 34, of Daytona Beach on Jan. 19. According to police reports, Williams had just stopped at a stop sign on a residential street and then turned right, quickly lost control of his 1997 Suzuki and went down.

Williams was not wearing a helmet. He died six days later without regaining consciousness.

"They say he wasn't going but about 15 mph. He wasn't going real fast on the motorcycle. The throttle just stuck; that caused the bike to flip over on him. Some of the witnesses took the bike off him," said his mother, Betty Davenport of Daytona Beach.

The age group that saw the biggest increase in motorcycle deaths in Florida between 1999 and 2003 is riders younger than 21. Deaths in that group more than tripled, federal data show. By law they are supposed to always wear helmets, but 20 of the 48 young riders who died in 2003 were not, according to the data.

Law-enforcement officials say they have a hard time enforcing the age limit. The Florida Highway Patrol only enforces the younger-than-21 helmet rule after troopers pull the rider over for some other traffic violation -- unless there is "reasonable suspicion" the driver is younger than 21.

"Sometimes they whiz by you so fast you can't tell if they're male or female, let alone how old they are," said Trooper Kim Miller, spokeswoman for the patrol's Troop D, which covers most of Central Florida.

Reichenbach, whose group lobbied hard for the 2000 law change, said the risks must be balanced against personal freedom. He added that helmets make it harder to see and hear, and the weight can cause neck injuries.

"I'm an adult. I'm 56 years old. I believe I have the right to decide for myself what's best for me," he said. "I don't need the government coming into my life telling me what's right for me."

That argument troubles many helmet-law advocates, such as Allan Williams, retired chief scientist at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, who says too many crash victims don't have enough insurance to pay hospital bills.

Under Florida's current law, helmetless riders need to have at least $10,000 in injury insurance. Riders who wear helmets do not need insurance.

"To some extent it's not an individual's choice if it is costing citizens money," Williams said.

A 2002 survey of three trauma-center hospitals in Florida found average medical costs ranged from $32,426 to $44,053 for riders who suffered head injuries while not wearing helmets, and $28,602 to $31,437 for those who wore helmets.

Not surprisingly, Florida's deadliest times for motorcyclists are in March -- during Bike Week -- and October, when Biketoberfest comes to Daytona Beach.

Since 1999, about half the motorcycle deaths in Volusia County occurred either during the first two weeks of March or the last two weeks of October, according to federal data. During those four weeks from 1999 through 2003, 46 riders died in Volusia County. An additional 48 died during the other 48 weeks of the year.

Of the 27 who died in Volusia during early March or late October since the helmet law changed on July 1, 2000, all but three were not wearing helmets, according to federal data.

State, federal discrepancy

State and federal reports disagree about how many Florida riders died with or without their helmets on. Federal data analyzed by the Sentinel show at least 61 percent died without helmets in 2003. The state contends 52 percent died without helmets on. Neither government is clear on why the numbers are so different. But both agree the percentage of helmetless deaths has skyrocketed since 1999.

Generally, riders are evenly split between those who wear helmets and those who don't, a 2002 survey found.

The state-sponsored survey of 3,001 riders in 13 counties, including Orange, Brevard and Volusia, observed 47 percent who were wearing government-approved helmets, 47 percent who weren't wearing any helmets, and 6 percent who were wearing nonapproved helmets.

Previous studies found 59 percent of riders wore approved helmets in 1998, and 84 percent in 1993, and almost all the others wore nonapproved helmets. Less than 1 percent were seen wearing no helmets in either year.

The risks of riding motorcycles are no secret to experienced bikers such as Russ Birkett, 57, of Christmas. A tree farmer who also owns a trucking company, Birkett says anyone who rides will crash sooner or later. He said most riders accept that.

Still, he prefers not to wear a helmet on his Harley-Davidson.

"Not that it's safer to ride without a helmet than with a helmet, but it's my choice," he said.

David Albershardt, 40, of Altamonte Springs wasn't wearing a helmet the November night that a deer dashed in front of him on State Road 46 just outside of Geneva in Seminole County. His family is convinced a helmet wouldn't have saved him.

Albershardt saw his Harley-Davidson as much as an extension of his lifestyle as a way of getting around, family members said. He loved thrills, freedom, individual expression, a big machine and an open road.

"The minute they lifted that law, off came the helmet," said his father, Dick Albershardt of Altamonte Springs.

Albershardt's older brother, Mark, used to ride with his helmet off. But he doesn't anymore.

"I really miss him," said Albershardt, 44. "After the accident, I've been wearing mine every time I ride."

Scott Powers can be reachedat spowers@orlandosentinel.comor 407-420-5441.