An Instance of Effective Legal Regulation: Motorcyclist Helmet and Daytime Headlamp Laws

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Abstract
Motorcycles are involved in fatal crashes far in excess of their share of motor vehicle mileage or registrations. Although their annual mileage per vehicle is less than half that of cars (Federal Highway Administration, 1974), and they were only 3.7 percent of registered motor vehicles in the U.S. in 1974, their riders accounted for 6.8 percent of motor vehicle fatalities (National Safety Council, 1975). A study of vehicle sizes in fatal crashes found that motorcycles killed pedestrians at about the same rate per registered motorcycle as small cars per registered small car (Robertson and Baker, in press). (The pedestrian rates were higher per registered vehicle among larger cars and trucks.) A survey of traumatic spinal cord injuries in 18 Northern California counties found that 9 percent of motor vehicle related spinal cord trauma occurred to motorcyclists (Kraus, et al., 1975). In one California county where an attempt was made to find all medically treated motorcyclist injuries, one of every 24 registered motorcycles per year was involved in a crash that resulted in such injuries (Kraus et al., 1975).

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