The National Transportation Safety Board has its own list of most wanted criminals. The criminals are not people, but safety improvements or laws that they think should be implemented to prevent serious injury or death.
Mandatory helmet use has been added to the most wanted list as researchers are finding more and more serious brain injuries caused by motorcycle accidents or bicycle accidents where the driver was not wearing a helmet.
The interesting part of mandatory helmet use is its history. Around the 1970s, mandatory helmet use became heavily focused on, and by 1975, 47 states had laws mandating helmet use by cyclists. However, as the awareness lost focus, the laws were repealed and now only 20 states have mandatory helmet laws and serious brain injuries are on the rise again. While many states have once again implemented mandatory helmet laws for children, those most likely to be injured, men between the ages of 15 and 24, remain outside of most state laws.
Helmet use is considered so important in reducing the severity of injuries caused by motorcycle and bicycle accidents. According to a study published in the Journal of Trauma, the chance of incurring a severe brain injury was 38 percent higher for those who did not wear a helmet than for those who did.
Even those who choose not to ride motorcycles or bicycles are affected by the increased severity of brain injury as much of the funding for the treatment of those who incur the injury is shouldered by the public. In fact, 44 percent of the medical care used for those injured without a helmet was paid out of public funds, according to the Journal of Trauma study.
Source: Huffington Post “Head Injuries: Why Motorcycle and Bicycle Helmets Should Be Mandatory” Richard C. Senelick, M.D. 11/27/84
