United States Department of Transportation
i
Further Analysis of Motorcycle Helmet Effectiveness Using CODES Linked Data
-
1998-01-01
[PDF-43.34 KB]
Details:
-
Corporate Creators:
-
Subject/TRT Terms:
-
DOI:
-
Resource Type:
-
Geographical Coverage:
-
TRIS Online Accession Number:00754961
-
NTL Classification:NTL-SAFETY AND SECURITY-Highway Safety;NTL-SAFETY AND SECURITY-Accidents;NTL-REFERENCES AND DIRECTORIES-Statistics;NTL-LAWS AND REGULATIONS-State Laws and Regulations;
-
Abstract:Linked data from the Crash Outcome Data Evaluation System (CODES) in seven
states was used by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as the
basis of a 1996 Report to Congress on the Benefits of Safety Belts and
Motorcycle Helmets (DOT HS 808 347). This study measured motorcycle helmet
effectiveness using mortality, morbidity, severity and costs. The CODES data
showed that motorcycle helmets are effective in preventing injuries or death in
general, but even more effective in preventing brain injuries in particular.
This was to be expected given that the helmet protects only the head. But, for
the first time, linkages between police crash files and hospital discharge files
were used to substantiate these expectations. This Research Note expands the
CODES analyses to include consideration of the effect of helmet legislation in
the CODES states. Helmet data, obtained from six (Hawaii, Maine, Missouri,
New York, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin) of the seven CODES states and updated with
new data since the Report to Congress to include an additional 137 cases,
consisted of a total of 10,490 motorcycle riders involved in crashes for whom
helmet use was known. As expected, universal helmet use legislation has a
strong effect on actual helmet use.
-
Format:
-
Collection(s):
-
Main Document Checksum:
-
Download URL:
-
File Type:
