Posted On: June 13, 2006, 9:32 am CDT

Posted By: Live Free or Die

Can anyone prove that not wearing a helmet results in higher medical bills? I think not wearing does not negatively impact society's medical costs. Not wearing may result in higher fatalities but does it lead to higher medical bills? NH has both a relatively large number of riders for a state this size along with no helmet law and it seems that many of the accidents involving no helmets (and many where helmets are used) have little to no medical costs as they sadley often are fatalities.

If we are going to prevent adults from doing stupid things then maybe we should be talking about banning motorcycles instead of half- hearted measures such as helmets.Not that I am in favor of a ban but it is the logical result of a paternalistic government making sure you don't hurt yourself and not trusting you to run your own life.

The government has in fact compared medical costs when wearing helmets and not wearing and found there is a slightly higher cost when wearing a helmet:

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/new-fact-sheet03/MotorcycleHelmet.pdf

Of course, the data comes to this conclusion because many without helmets never make it to the ER and go directly to the funeral home. There may be good reasons to wear helmets but it should be voluntary and the government should butt out.