To Wear or Not to Wear a Helmet - Motorcyclists Should Have the Right to Choose

Most motorcyclists would agree that if they were involved in an accident, a helmet might protect their head from injury. But are they willing to give up the feeling of riding through a beautiful countryside with their vision and hearing hampered by a helmet? Undoubtedly, most will say no.

Common sense aside, there is proof. The Hurt Report (a/k/a "Motorcycle Accident Cause Factors and Identification Countermeasures) published findings that approximately 50% of motorcycle riders wear safety helmets, but only 40% were wearing helmets at the time of an accident. The NHTSA published a report in 2001 stating that head injury is the leading cause of death in motorcycle crashes and that wearing a helmet could reduce fatalities by 29%.

Motorcyclists will counter with the argument that wearing a helmet can cause serious injury to the neck or spinal cord and that some motorcyclists have been paralyzed. This argument has some merit. The Bicycle Helmet Research Organization stated that more serious head injuries were a result of angular or rotational acceleration leading to serious brain injuries, which resulted in death or chronic intellectual disablement, and that research has shown that helmets were not designed to mitigate rotational injuries. Some doctors have expressed concern that head injuries incurred when wearing a helmet may convert direct (linear) forces to rotational ones, resulting in injuries with serious long-term consequences.

On the flip side of the argument, the NHTSA said in its 2001 report, "There is no liability for neck injury by wearing a safety helmet; helmeted riders had less neck injuries than unhelmeted riders," and went on to say that there were only four minors cases of injury from wearing a helmet.