WHAT'S WRONG WITH

CALIFORNIA'S MOTORCYCLE

HELMET LAW?

A CASE FOR REPEAL IN 2003

Prepared by ABATEPAC

158 S. Fir Street

Ventura, CA 93001

The Fatality Rate Per 100 Motorcycle Accidents In the Last Four Years Exceeds the Fatality Rate Before the Helmet Law

After an initial drop in the Fatality Rate per 100 Motorcycle Accidents after the helmet law went into   effect in 1992 (because the number of registrations and riders dropped significantly and due to the success of the California Motorcyclist Safety Program, or “CMSP”), by 1997, the fatality rate rose back up to 3.27, exceeding the pre-helmet law rate of 3.22 fatalities per 100 motorcycle accidents in 1991. In 2000, the rate jumped to 3.69.

The Fatality Rate is the only true indicator of what happens to accident victims after an accident has begun to occur, so the helmet law has ultimately not resulted in reducing motorcycle fatalities.

Number of California Motorcycle Fatalities and Injury Increases Despite the Helmet Law

The next two charts show the decline in California motorcycle fatalities and injuries since the CMSP began. Note that the reductions in the total number of both deaths and injuries are higher between the 1987 inception of the CMSP, and no helmet law (reduction of 340 deaths and 11,348 injuries), and the beginning of the helmet law (1992) than since then through 2000 (decline of 50 deaths and 4,592 injuries).

There were no other causal factors that could account for this before the helmet law, except the continuing historical drop in fatalities and injuries due to the results of the CMSP, and sharply declining registrations since the helmet law began. These two factors are mostly responsible for the drop in deaths and injuries, not the helmet law.  And conversely, as the 2000 figures show, despite the helmet law, motorcycle fatalities and injuries are increasing.

The two graphs demonstrate that something influenced the welcome decline in motorcycle fatalities and injuries. Was it the helmet law as supporters of that unpopular mandate contend?

Maybe, and maybe not. Was it the unprecedented decline in motorcycle registrations that accelerated markedly with the inception of the helmet law? How about the CMSP? Most probably they played a much larger role than the helmet law did, and by 2000 since both fatalities and injuries increased, the helmet law has not proved to be panacea its supporters claimed it to be.

The real reason that motorcycle  deaths and injuries have dropped dramatically, is not because of the helmet law, but because motorcycle accidents were reduced due to motorcycle registrations that declined by 30% by 2000.

So how do we know the decline in registrations coupled with the CMSP’s results are the real reasons California’s motorcycle deaths and injuries have declined so dramatically in the last few years? It’s deceivingly simple. Just look at the next chart, below, that demonstrates that the total number of accidents declined more before the helmet law, than in the 9 years since its beginning in 1992 —

In 2000, even despite the CMSP’s success, accidents began to increase slightly.  Compare the last four years’ accident totals to the fatality rates in the first section — in 1997, there were 7,188 accidents and the fatality rate was 3.27, higher that the fatality rate in 1991, the year before the helmet law was instituted. In 1998, there were 6,166 accidents, and a 3.24 fatality rate, again higher than before the helmet law. In 1999, there were 6,753 accidents and the fatality rate soared to 3.41, well above pre-helmet law totals. In 2000, there were 7,456 accidents, and again, the fatality rate increased for the fourth year to 3.69, fourteen percent higher than before the helmet law!

This trend, in two declining accident years, and in two increasing accident years, demonstrates that the supporters of a helmet law repeal were right all along — California’s helmet law has no effect on saving motorcyclist’s lives or avoiding injury once an accident begins to occur! Otherwise, why has the fatality rate for motorcycle accidents increased over the last 4 years with a helmet law that is universally enforced and complied with?

What Has the Helmet Law Cost California Taxpayers?

Supporters of the helmet law have claimed, without any hard evidence of any sort, except anecdotal testimony from non-objective health care professionals and self-serving studies paid for by the medical and insurance industries that the helmet law has saved California taxpayers millions of dollars. In fact, the figures produced to justify the helmet law claimed that California would save $65 million if a helmet law was passed. That figure was later proved to be baseless and indeed, a fabrication of the bill’s author. Nonetheless, the helmet law became a reality, but now the following chart demonstrates the direct cost to California taxpayers in money that the helmet law has cost California because of the 189,358 motorcycle riders who have stopped riding and who have not reregistered their motorcycle because they refuse to comply with wearing a helmet as a condition of legally operating their motorcycle. Remember, these are not vehicles that individuals sold to someone else; otherwise they would be reregistered.

            These 189,358  motorcycles (or 30% of the 1991 total) simply vanished from the pool of California registrations, and the following chart demonstrates the shortfall to the DMV from lost registrations. These are not projections — these are actual dollars lost to California, which becomes very important, today, in this time of  shrinking budget surpluses due to the energy crisis.

The above loss of income to California because of lost motorcycle registrations reflects lost registration fees only. It does not take into consideration the lost income stream from fewer motorcycle gasoline use tax collections and the shortfall from business and corporation tax collections from business losses due to the decline in registrations. That total would probably equal the amount of registration income losses.

MORE THAN 1,000,000 CALIFORNIA MOTORCYCLE RIDERS AND

PASSENGERS SAY "NO MORE MOTORCYCLE HELMET LAW!"

It's time to repeal California's mandatory motorcycle helmet law and here's why —

·    The helmet law has not delivered the safety benefits which were promised to justify its passage. The rate of fatalities per accident in the ninth year of the helmet law is higher than it was in 1991, the last year before the helmet law went into effect. Motorcycle fatalities and injuries are rising in spite of the helmet law.

·        There is no verifiable evidence that unhelmeted motorcycle accident victims cost California taxpayers anything!

·        The cost to the state Treasury in lost motorcycle re-registration fees is almost $138 million alone, since 1991.

·        Freedom of Choice!    The main, and most important, reason to repeal California’s existing motorcycle helmet law, is that it is simply wrong for the government to dictate to individuals about an issue of purely personal choice. Californians and Americans want less, not more governmental control of their lives. The helmet law for adults represents a dramatic and largely unprecedented intrusion into the arena of individual rights.

References

ABATE of California Press Release, November 29, 1994

Analysis of a $71 Million Shortfall to the California State Treasury Because of the Motorcycle Helmet Law, from January, 1992
  through December, 1996: Methodology and Conclusion.  Santa Monica: California Motorcyclist Association, 1996

Annual Report of Fatal and Injury Motor Vehicle Traffic Accidents.  Sacramento: CHP. 1991 through 2000

California Helmet Law Battle, Eagle's Eye,  April/May 1991

Helmet Law Statistics; Revealing — and Concealing,  Easyriders,  May 1994

Impact of helmet law disputed,  Thunder Press. January 1995

Los Angeles Times Article entitled “Wilson Signs Tax Cuts, Lauds Them as ‘Fair’ - August 21, 1998

Motorcycle Riders Foundation Press Release entitled “Full Repeal - A Done Deal”, November 28, 1995

Motorcycle Safety...What Works and What Doesn't. & Yes on AB-373.  Ventura: ABATE of California. 1991 & 1995

The Wild One, the good life — Forbes fyi, Summer 1999