The evidence is overwhelming. Consider the following:
More than 80 percent of all motorcycle crashes result in injury or death to the motorcyclist.
Per mile driven, a motorcyclist is 16 times more likely to die in a crash than an automobile driver. Wearing a motorcycle helmet reduces that risk by almost one-third (29 percent).
Head injury is a leading cause of death in motor cycle crashes. Riders who don�t wear helmets and who experience a crash are 40 percent more likely to sustain a fatal head injury.
A study of 900 motorcycle crashes (conducted by the University of Southern California) showed that wearing a helmet was the single most critical factor in preventing or reducing head and neck injuries among motorcycle drivers and passengers.
From 1984 through 1995, helmets saved the lives of more than 7,400 motorcyclists. But more than 6,300 additional deaths could have been prevented if all riders had been wearing helmets.
Studies show that laws requiring helmet use are very effective in reducing motorcycle fatalities because such laws influence more people to wear helmets. In Louisiana, the first state to repeal and then re-adopt a helmet law for all riders, there were 30 percent fewer motorcycle deaths during 1982, the first year that the helmet law was reinstated.