BonnevilleAmerica.com: New Helmet Law In NC

First of all, You are entitled to your opinion, but I disagree.

I keep hearing members say that they are taking a hit to their insurance premiums because other riders don't wear helmets. I don't think that is the case, and I'll explain below.

You do realize, don't you, that you are talking health insurance here. Helmet use really has no bearing on motorcycle insurance premiums, unless you get ticketed for non-complience. (That's a moving violation and it might be one case where mandatory laws would actually raise your rates.) If you fall down and smack your head, it's your health insurance that covers your costs, not your vehicle insurance.

The director of the American Motorcycle Association wrote an op-ed piece in Rider Magazine a year or so ago. He made the following points which I'll try to recite from memory the best I can.

He said there have been no definitive studies done in the U.S. on motorcycle accidents in the last 30 years. The data is very out of date. Therefore the insurance companies have no current helmet usage data to base claims on that would cause them to raise rates. The author of the Rider article said a new study was being commissioned by the government, but is not yet complete. Many things have changed. For one thing, average horsepower has nearly doubled in that time. Much of the technology has changed. There are many factors that may be affecting accident and injury rates which we don't know about. The point is the insurance companies can make assumptions and claims, but the basis of those claims is guesswork.

Police accident reports, which insurance companies use, do not record whether a death or injury is attributed to helmet non-use. The report may state whether a helmet was worn or not, but the investigating officer can't conclude that helmet usage or non-usage caused an injury or death. Conclusions like that would be very subjective and possibly libelous. Those conclusions can only be made later by doctors. There is no good public statistical record of the causes of motorcycle injuries and deaths. And nobody knows to what extent helmets actually contribute to accidents and injuries. That has never been studied.

The author made the point that when helmet use is factored in with all the other variables that contribute to the cost of health care, the impact on premiums really is insignificant, probably a small fraction of one percent. We are talking a difference of pennies here, or a few dollars at the most, if you could even quantify the amount. Consider non-helmeted motorcycle injuries and deaths (if you could even count them) against the incidents of death and illness from cancer, stroke, high-blood pressure, diabetes, athesma, car and other vehicle wrecks, industrial accidents, etc, etc. Statistically, motorcycle fatalities are almost insignificant - a blip against the background noise. (Has anyone ever seen a health insurance application that asks if you wear a helmet, or even if you ride a motorcycle?)

The author of the Rider article claimed that health insurance companies have already factored in all the risks that motorcyclists (and others) take. Even if laws were passed requiring helmet usage in all 50 states, insurance companies would not lower rates and pass the savings on to the customer. Anyone who believes that is naive. The savings, if any, would fall to the insurance company's bottom line.

Those were the points made by the AMA Director as I remember them. According to him, helmet non-use is not hitting you in the pocket book like some would have you think. That argument is false. Factors like cigarette smoking and obesity have a much greater impact on health insurance costs than helmet usage.

I have heard it said many times by members on this board that helmetless riders are costing them money. Well, I don' think that is a valid argument. We probably all agree that helmets can save your head, but to say helmetless riders are causing insurance premiums to rise is unprovable and probably wrong.

Regards,
Cody

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I was born a long ways from where I was supposed to be. - Bob Dylan