Does Wind-in-the-hair Kill?

A few years ago I was preparing to write a letter to an editor about the right to choose not to wear a motorcycle helmet.  My point was to be that even though it is more dangerous, the choice should be left to the rider who is taking the risk, not a poll of the mostly non-riding public.  Since I would be referring to an "informed choice" about the risks, I decided I should be informed, too.  I wanted to know what percentage of bikers who crashed without helmets on died versus the death rate among those wearing them.

A decade ago the federal government announced that wearing a helmet would save the lives of about 37% of the bareheaded riders who died.  Checking that out, I learned that this number was derived from a database that only had information about fatal crashes.  If a lone rider hit a tree and survived, they didn't know about it.

Fortunately, the Florida Division of Transportation publishes has an annual publication, Crash Facts, that summarizes data for all reported accidents in the state.  It includes a table grouping motorcycle crashes by helmeted, non-helmeted, and unknown.  This gave me a tool to see how federal predictions have played out in Florida.  Since more than 1 out 8 cycle wrecks happen here, that seems to be a pretty good sample.

Totaling the Crash Facts data through from 1997 today - I'm not sure what year I first asked the question - gives you this:

• For Florida Riders Wearing Helmets
• Number in crashes - 63,632
• Number of fatalities - 2,850
• Fatality Rate - 4.5%
• For Florida Rider w/o Helmets
• Number in crashes - 44,528 
• Number of fatalities - 2,009 
• Fatality Rate - 4.5%

While I had been willing to accept that riders without hats were more likely to die, that doesn't seem to be the case at all.