Head, Facial Injuries Double After Michigan Dumps Motorcycle Helmet Law: Study

In the three years after Michigan lawmakers told most motorcycle riders they could take off their helmets, the number of skull fractures and other head and facial injuries doubled, according to a new study examining the effect weakened helmet laws have on trauma rates. The researchers said the findings should be a wakeup call to lawmakers in states that have left the choice of protective headgear to riders.

Regardless of whether they’re wearing helmets, motorcyclists involved in accidents already are more than 30 times more likely to die and five times more likely to be injured than their counterparts in closed vehicles, according to study published in the June issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the official medical journal of the American Association of Plastic Surgeons.

But when they ride without helmets, higher numbers of craniomaxillofacial (CMF) injuries can be added to the other consequences of motorcycle riding — higher health-care and insurance costs, as well as increased deaths and other injuries, according to the study’s lead author, Dr. Nicholas S. Adams of the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine and Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids.

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Earlier studies have shown that helmets prevent 40 percent of fatal injuries and 13 percent of non-fatal injuries, yet a third of motorcyclists don’t wear them, even in states where the protective headgear is required, the researchers said. They estimate that wearing helmets can decrease the risk of facial trauma by half and facial injuries by more than 30 percent.

In 2012, Michigan lawmakers repealed a universal helmet law that required all motorcyclists to wear helmets. Now, it’s optional for experienced, trained riders over 21 if they have insurance coverage.

For the study, the researchers analyzed statistics from the state trauma quality improvement database for three years before and three years after the change in the helmet law. The study included a total of 4,643 motorcycle trauma patients seen at 29 Michigan trauma centers.

The number of trauma patients who rode without helmets more than doubled, to 44 percent from 20 percent, according to their findings. Patients who didn’t wear helmets were twice as likely to sustain CMF injuries.
Most significant were fractures and soft tissue injuries, the researchers said. Patients without helmets had higher injury severity scores. The study also concluded that both before and after the change in helmet laws, unhelmeted patients had higher blood-alcohol content.

Among the other findings of the study finding increased negative effects of helmet law changes

• The absolute rate of CMF injuries increased from 25.5 percent under the universal helmet law to 37.2 percent under the partial helmet law.
• Since the change, all CMF injuries increased 46 percent since the change, including a 28 percent in fractures to cheekbones and a 56 percent increase in soft-tissue injuries.

Adams said lawmakers in Michigan and other states that have loosened helmet laws should reconsider.

“We urge state and national legislators to re-establish universal motorcycle helmet laws,” he said.

Currently, 19 states and the District of Columbia have universal helmet laws that require all motorcyclists to wear helmets. Three states — Illinois, Iowa and New Hampshire —don’t have helmet laws, and 28 others have partial helmet laws, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety Highway Loss Data Institute.

Photo by DeusXFlorida via Flickr Commons