Study points to correlation between helmet use on motorcycles and odds of survival

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which is pushing for stricter traffic safety laws, has released a new study compiling decades of fatal motorcycle crashes.

The study suggests that 20,000 motorcyclists killed in accidents in the US since the mid-1970s would have survived if stricter helmet laws had been implemented, according to the nonprofit organization that aims to reduce damage from motor vehicle crashes.

The organization said the lives of 22,058 motorcyclists could have been saved if every state had required all motorcyclists to wear helmets from 1976 to 2022. This figure represents 11% of all motorcyclist deaths in those years.

Only seventeen states and the District of Columbia have passed such laws.

The IIHS said more than 6,000 motorcyclists were killed in both 2021 and 2022, the most recent years for which such data is available. The organization says the death toll could be reduced by as much as 10% if more states passed helmet laws for all riders.

“We understand that requiring helmets for all riders around the world would be unpopular with some motorcyclists, but this could save hundreds of lives every year,” said Eric Teoh, IIHS director of statistical services and the author of the article. “These are not just numbers. They are friends, parents and children.”

According to the institute, helmet use has increased both in places with and without mandatory helmet use. Yet usage rates in states with mandatory helmet laws were generally two to three times higher than in states without helmet laws during the study period.