The Impact of Michigan’s Partial Repeal of the Universal Motorcycle Helmet Law on Helmet Use, Fatalities, and Head Injuries

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Am J Public Health
• Personal Author:
  Carter, Patrick M. ; Buckley, Lisa ; Flannagan, Carol A. C. ; Cicchino, Jessica B. ; Hemmila, Mark ; Bowman, Patrick J. ; Almani, Farideh ; Bingham, C. Raymond
• Description:
  Objectives
  
  To evaluate the impact of the partial repeal of Michigan’s universal motorcycle helmet law on helmet use, fatalities, and head injuries.
  
  Methods
  
  We compared helmet use rates and motorcycle crash fatality risk for the 12 months before and after the April 13, 2012, repeal with a statewide police-reported crash data set. We linked police-reported crashes to injured riders in a statewide trauma registry. We compared head injury before and after the repeal. Regression examined the effect of helmet use on fatality and head injury risk.
  
  Results
  
  Helmet use decreased in crash (93.2% vs 70.8%; P < .001) and trauma data (91.1% vs 66.2%; P < .001) after the repeal. Although fatalities did not change overall (3.3% vs 3.2%; P = .87), head injuries (43.4% vs 49.6%; P < .05) and neurosurgical intervention increased (3.7% vs 6.5%; P < .05). Male gender (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 1.65), helmet nonuse (AOR = 1.84), alcohol intoxication (AOR = 11.31), intersection crashes (AOR = 1.62), and crashes at higher speed limits (AOR = 1.04) increased fatality risk. Helmet nonuse (AOR = 2.31) and alcohol intoxication (AOR = 2.81) increased odds of head injury.
  
  Conclusions
  
  Michigan’s helmet law repeal resulted in a 24% to 27% helmet use decline among riders in crashes and a 14% increase in head injury.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Traffic Adolescent Adult Craniocerebral Trauma Female Head Protective Devices Humans Male Michigan Middle Aged Motorcycles Retrospective Studies

  More +
• Source:
  Am J Public Health. 107(1):166-172
• Pubmed ID:
  27854530
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC5308169
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  K23 DA039341/DA/NIDA NIH HHSUnited States/ ; R49 CE002099/CE/NCIPC CDC HHSUnited States/ ; R49CE002099/ACL/ACL HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  107
• Issue:
  1
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:4bfcbaae8d471e0a6c1c21303de8674227a9c56c314f18b93bf9a6f20836fbfc
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/50676/cdc_50676_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 366.71 KB ]