Motorcyclists -Public Burden Theory

Karen Leonard

New York Freedom Riders

For many years, it has been said that unhelmeted motorcycle riders who have suffered a head injury from an accident have cost tax payers millions of dollars because the majority of the riders are uninsured.  This theory has been used when the freedom of choice is up for debate and it has being used to mandate insurance for motorcyclists if they want to ride without a helmet. “Unhelmeted riders have long term health care due to traumatic head injuries.  If you want to ride without a helmet, you have to pay for it.”

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, NHTSA, sponsored a study done by Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation titled Rehabilitation Costs and Long-Term Consequences of Motor Vehicle Injuries in March of 2006. [1] In this study they compared the costs of motor vehicle and motorcycle accidents and the type of payment used for long term care. This study has found:

In 2000, it was estimated:

• $127.5 million was spent for inpatient rehabilitation of injuries in motor vehicle crashes
• $16.3 million was spent for inpatient rehabilitation of injuries in motorcycle crashes.

Public Funds paid for:

• 26.1 percent of the motor vehicle crash injury costs
• 19.5 percent of the motorcycle crash injury costs.

Estimate the acute care hospitalization costs:

·        $3.665 billion for motor vehicle injuries

·        $422 million for motorcycle injuries.

Primary Payer by Cause of Injury, 1998–2002

• motor vehicle crash
  • 40.2% private insurance
  • 26.1% public funding –(Medicaid or Medicare)
  • 19.9% no-fault insurance
  • 2.0% self pay
  • 5.6% other/unknown
  • 2.5% unreimbursed
  • 3.7% workers compensation
• motorcycle crash
  • 63% private insurance
  • 19.5% public funding –(Medicaid or Medicare)
  • 6.9% no-fault automobile insurance
  • 2.4% self pay
  • 5.5% other/unknown
  • 1.7% unreimbursed
  • 1.0% workers compensation

More motorcyclists are insured and the overall costs are much lower than motorists. We all pay for the insurance and our tax dollars pay into Medicaid and Medicare. It’s hard to understand why unhelmeted motorcyclists are a social burden when the study shows motorists are.  Shouldn’t the statement be in reverse? Motorcyclists are paying for motorists’ long term care with their insurance premiums and tax dollars, not the other way around.

If a helmet was the solution to saving everyone from traumatic head injuries and long term care cost, which would save tax payers money, wouldn’t this miracle safety device be mandatory in all motor vehicles? It’s not mandatory because the helmet isn’t the solution.  Educating all motorcyclists and motorists with proper driving skills will lower the number of accidents which in turn would lower the number of traumatic head injury cases.  One single piece of safety equipment is not going to take away the burden on society.

1: DOT HS 810 581: Rehabilitation Costs and Long-Term Consequences of Motor Vehicle Injuries

March 2006. Ted Miller, Elizabeth Langston, Bruce Lawrence, Les Becker, Cecelia Snowden, Carl Granger, Carol Russell, Jeffrey Kreutzer, and Jennifer Marwitz www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/research/RehabCosts/index.htm