Wisconsin Doesn't Need Stronger Helmet Law

Comment I posted at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel this morning -

The federal government has claimed for years that wearing a helmet saves 37-41% more lives. Here in Florida it hasn't worked out that way, despite what has been parroted...er...reported. Each year our DOT publishes crash statistics that separate accidents by helmet use (federal stats just look at fatal accidents, ours include more info about survivors). Since 1997 we've had 44,528 riders crash without helmets and 2,009 of them died for a death rate of a whopping 4.5%. For riders wearing helmets the numbers are 2,850 dead out of 63,635, a death rate of a mere...are you ready?... 4.5%. While there are always anecdotes about lives saved, over all there is no discernible difference.

As for cost, we do have studies that show about a 30% saving from wearing a helmet. That means for every $1 million spent on a bareheaded victim, we spend $700,000 on someone wearing a helmet. Simply getting on a cycle increases risk dramatically and ALL riders should be responsible for the costs of their decision, whether they wear headgear or not.