Death rates from motorcycle crashes have risen since states began weakening helmet laws, a Gannett News Service analysis shows.
The analysis also showed dying on a motorcycle may soon become a middle-aged phenomenon. As the number of motorcycle deaths has increased, so has the proportion of older riders killed.
Oklahoma requires motorcycle riders under age 18 to wear protective headgear. In 1998, 47 states required all motorcyclists to wear helmets. Today, only 20 have such a requirement.
Twenty-seven states, including Oklahoma, require younger riders to wear helmets. Cross-country cyclists often have to check at the borders to see what helmet laws are in place.
The fatality count has climbed steadily since a 1995 government ruling. The federal government stopped withholding federal highway money from states that did not have helmet laws.
That move opened the door to state legislatures to begin repealing the restrictions, the news service reported in USA Today. Forty-two percent of all riders killed in crashes were not wearing helmets. Half of those crashes came when drivers lost control.
While motorcycle deaths have gone up, fatalities in all other motor vehicles have been falling, according to the Department of Transportation.
The news service reports half of those killed in 2006 were 50 and older and almost a quarter of them were over 50. The average age of those who died was 38.
Opinion
Without helmet laws, more motorcyclists die
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