Since Michigan repealed its motorcycle helmet law in 2012, roughly one in four riders now choose to let their hair blow free, Ted Roelefs reports in Bridge Magazine.
The annual cost of that freedom: roughly two dozen more deaths, scores of additional serious injuries and a huge spike in average medical expenses, according to studies of motorcycle crashes in Michigan.
The numbers underscore what law-enforcement and medical data have shown for years ‒ that riders without helmets are more likely to die or suffer serious injuries in a crash than riders who wear helmets.
According to updated Michigan State Police data, roughly one-fourth of motorcyclists in Michigan now ride without a helmet. But helmetless riders accounted for nearly one-half of motorcycle fatalities in 2013, 59 of 128 deaths.
A longer-term study of crash and injury data by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute found that reduced helmet use accounts for approximately 24 more deaths and 71 more serious injuries a year in Michigan. The study looked at 15,000 crashes from 2009 through 2013, and calculated that the risk of fatality is 2.8 times higher for riders not wearing a helmet, while the risk of serious injury is 1.4 times higher, largely echoing studies in other states.
