Brain Injuries Increase After Helmet Law Repeal

Thirty states have repealed mandatory motorcycle helmet laws, and it hasn't been a good thing. In 1975 the federal government stopped withholding highway funds from states without such laws.

That paved the way for the repeals. Pennsylvania repealed its law in 2003. The University of Pittsburg recently completed a study of the effect of that repeal by comparing statistics from 2001 - 2002 with 2004 - 2005.

Their study found a 32% increase in head injury deaths and a 42% increase in head injury-related hospitalizations. Non-head injury deaths showed no increase.

The study also found that helmet use by riders involved in crashes decreased from 82% to 58%.

Kristen Mertz, M.D., M.P.H., assistant professor, Department of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health was the lead author of the study. She said, "Our study shows that since the repeal of Pennsylvania's motorcycle helmet law, helmet use has gone down, while head injuries from motorcycle crashes have gone up, even after increased motorcycle registration."

Equally important to the study is the finding that acute care hospital costs due to head injury increased 132% while the non head injury-related hospital costs increased by only 69%.

This data points to the fact that repeal of the helmet law is directly responsible for increased health care costs.

The University of Pittsburg study will be published in the August 2008 issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

Sources: University of Pittsburg
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