fatally-injured motorcyclists
in 2006 were 59 percent for
operators and 45 percent for
passengers.
When Florida repealed its universal
rider motorcycle helmet law in
2002, there were 40 percent
more motorcyclists admitted to
hospitals for treatment in the 30
months immediately following the
helmet law change compared
to the 30 months just before the
law change (4,986 versus 3,567).
Deaths increased by 24 percent
above what was expected from
the increased registrations after
repeal of the all-rider motorcycle
helmet law, beginning before the
law was in effect in July. Fatalities
in Florida per 10,000 registered
motorcycles increased 21 percent
compared to 13 percent nationally
for the two years before and after
the law change—75 percent higher
than the national rate. Unhelmeted
deaths of riders under the age of
21 increased 188 percent, even
though the law still applied to
them. Costs to treat motorcycle
injures with head injury as the
primary diagnosis more than
doubled to $44 million (adjusted
for inflation). Only one in four of
injured motorcyclists who were
hospitalized had costs less than
$10,000, the required level of
medical insurance to ride without
a helmet. The hospital discharge
data indicate that in the post-law
change period, approximately 63
percent of admitted motorcyclists
were covered by commercial
insurance ($31 million), 16 percent
self-paid because they were under-
insured or uninsured ($8 million),
while the remaining 21 percent
had costs ($10.5 million) billed to
charitable and public sources (e.g.,
Medicaid).
