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Senate Bill 291 Research Paper

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The governor of Michigan just signed a law that overturned the state’s long-standing helmet requirement for motorcyclists. Senate Bill 291 overturned the 35 year old safety requirement that was created to protect motorcycle riders from traumatic brain injuries and fatalities in the event of a crash. This decision has sparked national controversy and debates about the costly affects that the repeal will have on the lives of motorists in the state.

According to the Office of Highway Safety Planning, riders without helmets are 40% more likely to suffer fatal head injuries than those with helmets, and are 15% more likely to incur nonfatal head injuries. When you consider that approximately 3,250 motorcycle accidents occur every year in Michigan, the passage of this new law would lead to hundreds of deaths and head injuries every year that could have been prevented. Michigan is the latest state to …show more content…

Below are the top 7 reasons why every state should pass an all-rider motorcycle helmet law. This week, I found this list on the SMARTER website after talking to Dan Peterson, SMARTER president. It’s a great resource for motorcyclist safety information and strategies to reduce the risk of being injured in a crash riding motorcycles. The statistics on the list are from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Fatal Analysis Reporting System, 2005; Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

1. Motorcycle helmet laws save lives: Death rates from head injuries, such as traumatic, are twice as high among motorcyclists in states without all-rider helmet laws. And motorcycle helmets are 37 percent effective in preventing motorcyclist deaths and 67 percent effective in preventing brain

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