Law or Not: Motorcycle Helmets Save Lives

In 1997, Texas repealed its mandatory motorcycle helmet law, leaving Texas bikers 21 and older free to ride their motorcycles without helmets. In fact, Texas was one of the first states to change its mandatory helmet law after the federal government ended a long-standing policy of reducing transportation funding for states without such laws. In January 2010, however, seven years after the law change, researchers at the University of Arkansas looked at motorcycle accident data from the Texas Department of Transportation (“TxDOT”) between 1994 and 2004 and found that fatality rates have risen by roughly 25 percent. This corresponds to the decrease in helmet use following the change in law.   

Unfortunately, the repeal of the motorcycle helmet law in Texas appears to have significantly increased the number of motorcyclist fatalities in Texas. However, the debate still continues. TxDOT officials doubt that the findings will have a strong enough impact to bring back the helmet law. According to the Houston Chronicle, Interim director of TxDOT’s traffic operations division, Carol Rawson, stated that, “Every session there are stirrings about reinstating the mandatory helmet law but they never go anywhere. The anti-helmet folks are just a strong lobby.”

“It’s a difficult issue,” said motorcycle injury attorney John Neese. “When I owned and rode motorcycles, there were times I did not wear a helmet, and I enjoyed that," said Neese.  "But over the years, as a personal injury attorney, I’ve just seen too much tragedy as a result of motorcycle accidents not to believe in my heart of hearts that a renewed helmet law would be a good thing."

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