Raising Cane
By Rob Perez
Helmetless bikers
ought to be illegalEvery year, Hawaii typically has one of the highest rates in the country for motorcycle traffic fatalities.
Every year, Hawaii taxpayers foot the bill for thousands of dollars in hospitalization expenses for accident victims who don't wear helmets and don't have adequate insurance.
Every year, riders needlessly die or suffer severe head trauma because they opt not to take the simple precaution of protecting what's between their ears.
Every year, we allow this insanity on two wheels to continue.
Hawaii is one of 27 states that do not require helmets for motorcycle riders over a certain age, usually 18. Three states have no requirements at all. The rest of the country makes helmet use mandatory. It's a no-brainer to understand why.
Motorcycle helmets save lives.
Not wearing them costs lives.
It's that simple.
And that's even before considering the money spent to care for helmetless riders who survive accidents but suffer serious brain damage. Or the hardship such conditions create on the victim's family and others, especially if the victim becomes unemployable after the accident.
"There are many immeasurable costs to society," said Dr. Bradley Wong, a proponent for a mandatory-helmet law. As a former trauma chief at Queen's Medical Center, Wong saw firsthand the need for a law.Opponents argue that the government has no business mandating what should be a personal decision. They say adult riders should be free to make informed decisions about whether to wear a helmet.
The American Motorcyclist Association, a lobbying and education group, says the most effective way to reduce motorcyclist injuries and fatalities is to prevent crashes in the first place, something mandatory-helmet laws can't do.
While encouraging helmet use, the AMA advocates a more comprehensive approach to motorcycle safety, including rider education, a better licensing/testing system and increased public awareness.
It also dismisses as insignificant the cost that taxpayers bear for accident-related medical care for riders with no head protection.
Expenses associated with the treatment of all motorcyclist injuries account for less than 0.001 percent of total U.S. health care costs, according to the AMA. And only part of those expenses are attributable to helmetless riders. Moreover, the majority of that tab is covered by private insurance, leaving just a tiny portion to be picked up by taxpayers, the motorcyclist group said.
But such arguments don't address the lifesaving benefits of helmet use.
Such arguments don't acknowledge that requiring helmet use is no different from requiring car occupants to wear seat belts, another government-mandated behavior that saves lives.
"Why should (motorcyclists) get special treatment?" asked Robin Brandt, a researcher at Pacific Basin Rehabilitation Research & Training Center. "Where's the responsibility as a citizen to do what's right?"
In a 1993 study by the Pacific Basin center, researchers Kim Kanoa and Deborah Goebert determined that unhelmeted riders in Hawaii were five times more likely to die from injuries than helmeted motorcyclists.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that helmets saved the lives of 631 motorcyclists nationwide in 2000, and another 382 who died in accidents would have survived if they had been wearing helmets.
How do you measure the worth of a life? Or many lives?
For accident victims who survive, the medical costs are measurable -- and tend to provide compelling data to support a mandatory-helmet law.
Kanoa and Goebert in their 1993 study determined that the average hospitalization cost for an unhelmeted, head-injured motorcyclist in Hawaii was $59,262, five times that for a helmeted, head-injured rider.
They also found that 40 percent of the annual hospitalization costs for the former group was paid by public funds, while no tax dollars were spent for treating the helmeted, head-injured motorcyclists.
Yet state legislators weren't persuaded by such data. Bills to establish a mandatory-helmet law died in the Legislature in the mid-90s despite intense lobbying efforts.
"We really made a big push and tried to take all the emotion out of the arguments and just show the facts," said Goebert, who was part of a coalition pushing for a helmet law back then. "Unfortunately, it didn't go anywhere in the Legislature."
Helmets, of course, won't ensure survival in a motorcycle accident. They won't ensure riders will escape serious head injury.
But they can make a huge difference.
The federal government estimates that helmets are effective at a rate of nearly one-third in preventing fatal injuries.
Of the 85 motorcyclists who died on Hawaii roads from 1997 through 2001, about 80 percent weren't wearing helmets.
Since at least the early '90s, Hawaii consistently has ranked among the states with the highest fatality rates in the country. In four of the past seven years for which statistics were available, Hawaii led the nation when motorcycle fatalities were compared with overall traffic deaths, according to federal data. In the other three years, Hawaii was in the top four.
When comparing deaths with the number of registered motorcycles in the state, Hawaii ranked among the top 10 states in all but two years.
Some people attribute Hawaii's fatality rate to its year-round riding conditions, which present more opportunities for riders to get into accidents.
But in states such as Florida, Arizona and California, where riders also can ride year-round, the fatality rates aren't consistently high like in Hawaii.
If the government can require adults to wear seat belts and small children to ride in car seats, why shouldn't motorcycle riders be required to wear helmets?
If even one life would be saved each year by such a requirement, that would counter any argument opposing a helmet law.
I ride a motorcycle nearly every day. And I wouldn't be caught dead without my helmet.
Star-Bulletin columnist Rob Perez writes on issues
and events affecting Hawaii. Fax 529-4750, or write to
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu 96813. He can also be reached
by e-mail at: rperez@starbulletin.com.
