How Do We Get More Motorcycle Riders To Wear Helmets?

Image: Bell Helmets

Your brain is a pretty important part of your body. Everything that makes you who you are is held in that little three pound sack of fat and neurons, so you should probably do what you can to protect it. Wear a frickin’ helmet, you dorks! Only nineteen of these fifty United States have a law on the books requiring motorcycle riders to wear a brain bucket, while most others only require one for riders under 18 years of age. About 41 percent of American motorcycle fatalities are riders without a wrapper on their coconut. So how do we get more riders to wear them? Bangladesh might have a good answer.

The Helmet That Saved A Writer’s Life

Admittedly a much higher percentage of the population are motorcycle riders in Bangladesh than in the U.S. Because of this, and the scourge of citizens riding without protection, the country faces a huge motorcycle fatality rate. Motorcycle crashes were responsible for 32 percent of all road crashes in the country last year, killing 2,152 people and injuring a further 1,339. The country has had a helmet mandate since 1983, but has struggled to enforce the law effectively. Starting this month the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority has started testing a new incentive to wear a helmet; without a lid, you can’t buy gas.

Many helmetless two-wheelers in the U.S. claim that it is an infringement on their freedom to require a helmet. In the event of a crash unhelmeted riders are significantly more likely to die or receive a traumatic brain injury, much more likely to require admission to an intensive care unit, their hospital stays are much longer, and they require much longer rehabilitation procedures. Much like seatbelts, helmets are (and should be considered) a public issue. These dickheads riding around without helmets aren’t just affecting themselves, they’re boosting the insurance rates of us sensible helmet wearers.

Let’s kick off a conversation about all this nonsense. How would you, a smart person, make a small change to get non-helmet motorcyclists to wear their damn helmets? Do you think a no-helmet-no-gas law would be effective?