Carriage House Plans: Motorcycle Helmets

Motorcycle Helmets

Once the problem was diagnosed, anti-helmet advocates then had to turn towards policy development. They did not have to look too far for innovative thinking. In some cases, policy reformers must seek out new ideas internationally, or outside of the public health sphere, or even examine theoretical sources for their paradigm shift. For anti-helmet advocates, there were already a number of states that were setting precedents by easing restrictions on motorcycle helmet use. Arkansas, Texas, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Florida weakened laws governing universal helmet use and limited coverage to those less than 21 years old. (NHTSA, April 2004). Objective utilitarians argued that MCC fatalities increased 21% and 31% in Arkansas and Texas respectively in the first full year following repeal of these laws. In Florida, there was an 81% increase in motorcycle fatalities in the three years after the state's helmet law was repealed in 2003. At the time, the media made comparisons to a 2003 federal review demonstrating that fatalities increased over 50 percent in Kentucky and 100 percent in Louisiana after helmet laws were repealed in those states