- New U.S. study says a lack of helmet safety laws has killed 20,000 motorcyclists since 1976
- The number of riders wearing helmets is higher than ever, but the number of motorcyclists has outpaced it
- Only 17 U.S. states require riders wear a helmet; all Canadian provinces do, with some exceptions
It’s a bold statement. “More than 20,000 motorcyclists who died in crashes in the U.S. since the mid-1970s would have survived if stronger helmet laws had been in place,” says the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). More directly, the institute notes “if every state had required all riders to wear helmets from 1976 to 2022,” some 22,058 motorcyclists’ lives would have saved. And, for the record, that represents a whopping 11% of all rider fatalities during that time-frame.
“Wearing a helmet is one of the biggest things riders can do to protect themselves from death and traumatic brain injury,” said Eric Teoh, IIHS director of statistical services and the author of the paper. “We understand that requiring helmets for all riders everywhere would be unpopular with some motorcyclists, but this could save hundreds of lives each year. Those aren’t just numbers. They’re friends, parents, and children.”
What even I, a dedicated motorcyclist who’s written about bikes for 41 years, didn’t know, is that, as a result of lobbying from various pressure groups, only 17 states in the U.S. — and the District of Columbia — have all-riders helmet laws in place. That’s down from 47 states — and, again, the District of Columbia — in July of 1975. With the numbers of motorcycle-related fatalities now standing at approximately 6,000 per year, the difference would be some 600 more souls per year walking around and taking nourishment if all 50 states mandated the use of protective headgear.
Since 1975, the laws have been dramatically watered down. Some states — Iowa, Illinois, and New Hampshire — have no helmet mandate at all. Others — Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Indiana, New Mexico, Utah, and Maine — have limited the mandate to those under 18 or 21 years of age.
Of the states where such a law would have made a difference, the most lives saved would have been in California, at 2,536 motorcyclists theoretically spared. What’s interesting, therefore, is how much worse these statistics could have been had California not enacted a state-wide all-rider helmet mandate in 1991.
It is worth noting that, per the IIHS’s research, helmet use is widespread and more common than even in the early days of helmet laws. But, with more motorcyclists on the road, more of them are aged. Add in the fact that states without regulations see two or three times less helmet use, and it’s no wonder the research says the year the largest number of lives that would have been saved — 673 — was in 2021.
As for Canada, all our provinces have mandatory helmet laws. That said, a few provide exceptions. For instance, Alberta and Ontario allow Sikh motorcyclists over 18 years of age to wear a turban while riding. In Manitoba, sikhs of any age and those in a legally-authorized parade can ride helmet-less. The rest of the provinces, and our territories, offer no exceptions: all riders must wear a helmet while riding a motorcycle.
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