Novelty Helmet Use by Motorcycle Riders in Florida

Author(s):  
Patricia A. Turner ◽  
Christopher A. Hagelin

Although Florida law requires all motorcyclists to wear helmets, 16 percent of all motorcycle drivers and 30 percent of all their passengers killed in motorcycle crashes in 1996 were not wearing protective helmets. In addition, the use of novelty helmets may be on the rise in states with universal helmet laws. The objectives of this research were to determine motorcycle helmet use rates on Florida roadways and to estimate the level of novelty helmet use by motorcycle occupants. A total of 2,498 motorcyclists in 13 Florida counties were observed over a 2-month period. Data were collected on helmet use and type, motorcycle type, gender, and use of other safety equipment. Almost all motorcycle occupants wore some type of helmet; the observed state-level usage rate was 99.5 percent. However, a significant number of these helmets were novelty helmets. The type of helmet motorcyclists choose to wear may be related to the type of motorcycle driven and the gender of the driver and passenger. Overall, novelty helmet use was higher for passengers than for drivers, and the majority of observed novelty helmets were on motorcycle occupants riding cruiser-type motorcycles. Moreover, females exhibited lower rates of compliance than males, especially when associated with cruiser-type motorcycles. Although the survey did not collect information about the reasons for the increase in novelty helmet use, possible explanations may be that novelty helmets are more readily available at lower cost, and that there is an overall perceived lack of enforcement of the motorcycle helmet use law.

Author(s):  
Patricia A. Turner ◽  
Christopher Hagelin

The Center for Urban Transportation Research at the University of South Florida conducted this study for the Florida Department of Transportation to analyze motorcycling trends in Florida before and after the July 2000 change to the motorcycle helmet law. The change permits motorcyclists 21 years of age and older to ride without a helmet if they carry at least $10,000 in insurance to cover medical costs incurred as a result of a crash. This paper discusses study findings on motorcycle trends before and after the Florida change related to observed and reported motorcycle helmet use, number and severity of motorcycle crashes, and number and severity of injuries sustained in motorcycle crashes. Additionally, national and Florida data related to vehicle miles of travel (VMT), registrations, crashes, injuries, fatalities, and helmet use are presented, and recommendations for future motorcycle research are made. Findings show that Florida's observed helmet use rate declined from 99.5% in 1998 to 52.7% in 2002. Sport bike riders were among those most likely to be helmeted, whereas lack of helmet use typically was associated with riders on cruiser-style motorcycles. Declines in observed helmet use rates in Florida are comparable to declines in other states with recently amended universal helmet laws. Helmet use among crash-involved motorcycle operators continues to decline even among younger riders required by law to wear helmets. Crash rates and injury rates per registered motorcycle and per motorcycle VMT declined following the helmet law change, with the exception of fatal crash rates.


2007 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 16-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.A. Hyder ◽  
H. Waters ◽  
T. Phillips ◽  
J. Rehwinkel

This paper reviews economic evaluations of motorcycle helmet interventions in preventing injuries. A comprehensive literature review focusing on the e fectiveness of motorcycle helmet use, and on mandatory helmet laws and their enforcement was done. When helmet laws were lifted between 1976-80, 48 states within the USA experienced a cost of $342,047 per excess fatality of annual net savings. Helmet laws in the USA had a benefit-cost ratio of 1.33 to 5.07. Taiwan witnessed a 14% decline in motorcycle fatalities and a 22% reduction of head injury fatalities with the introduction of a helmet law. In Thailand, where 70-90% of all crashes involve motorcycle, after enforcement of a helmet law, helmet-use increased five-fold, the number of injured motorcyclists decreased by 33.5%, head injuries decreased by 41.4%, and deaths decreased by 20.8%. There is considerable evidence that mandatory helmet laws with enforcement alleviate the burden of tra fic injuries greatly. For low and middle-income countries with high rates of motorcycle injuries, enforced, mandatory motorcycle helmet laws are potentially one of the most cost-e fective interventions available. Asia Pac J Public Health 2007; 19(2): 16—22.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 210-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stacy Dickert-Conlin ◽  
Todd Elder ◽  
Keith Teltser

Vast organ shortages motivated recent efforts to increase the supply of transplantable organs, but we know little about the demand side of the market. We test the implications of a model of organ demand using the universe of US transplant data from 1987 to 2013. Exploiting variation in supply induced by state-level motorcycle helmet laws, we demonstrate that each organ that becomes available from a deceased donor in a particular region induces five transplant candidates to join that region's transplant wait list, while crowding out living-donor transplants. Even with the corresponding demand increase, positive supply shocks increase post-transplant survival rates. (JEL D47, I11, I18)


2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (S1) ◽  
pp. 50-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kurt B. Nolte ◽  
Colleen Healy ◽  
Clifford M. Rees ◽  
David Sklar

Motorcycle helmet laws are perceived to infringe upon individual rights even though they reduce mortality and health care costs. We describe proposed helmet legislation that protects individual rights and provides incentives for helmet use through a differential motorcycle registration fee that requires higher fees for those who wish to ride without a helmet.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefania Barbieri ◽  
Elisa Bertoldi ◽  
Giulia Maria Cillo ◽  
Rosa Maria Gaudio ◽  
Rossella Snenghi ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND Helmet use is now viewed as an essential safety measure in almost all sports involving a high risk of impact and head trauma, from horseback riding to mountain biking, rock climbing and winter sports such as skiing and snowboarding. For young skiers and snowboarders under the age of 14, the use of certified helmets is compulsory in Italian law, although no defined regulations exist for recreational sledding OBJECTIVE To review past and current regulations covering winter sports, to explore potential legal discrepancies in appraising factors related to helmet use in recreational activities by children under the age of 14, and to identify hazards connected with various types of sledding accidents METHODS Descriptive data of the cases of 16-year-old or younger adolescents injured while sledding without helmets were gathered from injury reports collected by ski patrols, pre-hospital emergency services and emergency departments, and compared with 53 cases of adolescents and children who went skiing and snowboarding wearing certified helmets, over two winter seasons (December to April, 2011-12 and 2012-13). Sledges were grouped into three categories:1) traditional wooden toboggans (hereafter called ‘traditional sleds’); 2) plastic sleds; 3) newly designed sleds (with inner tubes, plastic and hard foam sleds, snowskates, boardslides, runslides, snowblades, foam slides, etc.) RESULTS Descriptive data of the cases of 16-year-old or younger adolescents injured while sledding without helmets were gathered from injury reports collected by ski patrols, pre-hospital emergency services and emergency departments, and compared with 53 cases of adolescents and children who went skiing and snowboarding wearing certified helmets, over two winter seasons (December to April, 2011-12 and 2012-13). Sledges were grouped into three categories:1) traditional wooden toboggans (hereafter called ‘traditional sleds’); 2) plastic sleds; 3) newly designed sleds (with inner tubes, plastic and hard foam sleds, snowskates, boardslides, runslides, snowblades, foam slides, etc.) CONCLUSIONS Additional investigation of the actual dynamics of the accident, together with information on the sitting position and sled speed are required. Regulations should compel ski slope operators to improve the current level of control on sledding slopes.


Author(s):  
R.V. Vaidyanatha Ayyar

This chapter offers a vignette of the policy and administrative environment in which a State Education Department has to function. It describes the challenge of administering a mammoth regulatory system, of managing relationship with Chief Minister, politicians, and Vice-Chancellors, and managing teacher unions the crippling burden of litigation, and the establishment of the country’s first State Council of Higher Education. It also explores questions such as: What is a university? Should an institution encompass almost all significant branches of knowledge, combine teaching and research, and be engaged in the creation of knowledge if it were to be called a university? Can a university promote arts and culture? How is a woman’s university different? What could be the State-level mechanism for regulation of and coordination among universities? Should private participation in the expansion of access be encouraged, and if so how? What should be the policy towards minority education institutions?


1993 ◽  
Vol 83 (5) ◽  
pp. 667-674 ◽  
Author(s):  
A L Dannenberg ◽  
A C Gielen ◽  
P L Beilenson ◽  
M H Wilson ◽  
A Joffe

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