Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T05:06:28.822Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

An Instance of Effective Legal Regulation: Motorcyclist Helmet and Daytime Headlamp Laws

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2024

Leon S. Robertson
Leon S. Robertson*
Affiliation:
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Motorcycles are involved in fatal crashes far in excess of their share of motor vehicle mileage or registrations. Although their annual mileage per vehicle is less than half that of cars (Federal Highway Administration, 1974), and they were only 3.7 percent of registered motor vehicles in the U.S. in 1974, their riders accounted for 6.8 percent of motor vehicle fatalities (National Safety Council, 1975). A study of vehicle sizes in fatal crashes found that motorcycles killed pedestrians at about the same rate per registered motorcycle as small cars per registered small car (Robertson and Baker, in press). (The pedestrian rates were higher per registered vehicle among larger cars and trucks.) A survey of traumatic spinal cord injuries in 18 Northern California counties found that 9 percent of motor vehicle related spinal cord trauma occurred to motorcyclists (Kraus, et al., 1975). In one California county where an attempt was made to find all medically treated motorcyclist injuries, one of every 24 registered motorcycles per year was involved in a crash that resulted in such injuries (Kraus et al., 1975).

Type
Research Article
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 10 , Issue 3 , Spring 1976 , pp. 467 - 477
Copyright
Copyright © 1976 The Law and Society Association.

References

ARMITAGE, P. (1971) Statistical Methods in Medical Research. New York: John Wiley.Google Scholar
CAMPBELL, Donald T. and Julian C., STANLEY (1963) Experimental and Quasi-experimental Designs for Research. Chicago: Rand-McNally.Google Scholar
DRYSDALE, Walter R., Jess R, KRAUS, Charles E., FRANTI and Richard S., RIGGINS (1974) “Injury Patterns in Motorcycle Collisions,” 15 The Journal of Trauma 105.Google Scholar
ENVIRONMENTAL DATA SERVICE (1974) Annual Summary of Local Climatological Data. Washington: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce.Google Scholar
FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION (1974) Highway Statistics. Washington: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
KRAUS, Jess R., Charles E., FRANTI, Richard S., RIGGINS, Dana, RICHARDS and Nemat O., BORHANI (1975) “Incidence of Traumatic Spinal Cord Lesions,” 28 Journal of Chronic Disease 471.Google Scholar
NATIONAL HIGHWAY SAFETY BUREAU (1970) 1969 Report on Activities Under the Highway Safety Act. Washington: Department of Transportation.Google Scholar
NATIONAL SAFETY COUNCIL (1975) Accident Facts. Chicago.Google Scholar
NEPHEW, William A. (1974) “Twisting Statistics,” Road Rider Magazine 28 (November).Google Scholar
NEW YORK DEPARTMENT OF MOTOR VEHICLES (1969) An Evaluation of Motor Vehicle Accidents Involving Motorcycles. Albany.Google Scholar
ROBERTSON, Leon S. and Susan P., BAKER (1976) “Motor Vehicle Sizes in 1440 Fatal Crashes,” Accident Analysis and Prevention, forthcoming.10.1016/0001-4575(76)90018-XCrossRefGoogle Scholar
ROSS, H. Laurence (1973) “Law, Science, and Accidents: The British Road Safety Act of 1967,” 2 The Journal of Legal Studies 1.Google Scholar
SCALONE, Albert A. (1973) “Developments in Motorcycle Helmet Testing and Their Effects on Future Designs,” in Proceedings of the Second International Congress on Automotive Safety. Washington: Department of Transportation.Google Scholar
SANFORD, Russ (1973) “Your Government is Trying to Kill You!” Road Rider Magazine 1 (August).Google Scholar
WILLIAMS, Allen R., Robert F., RICH, Paul L., ZADOR and Leon S., ROBERTSON (1975) “The Legal Minimum Drinking Age and Fatal Motor Vehicle Crashes,” 4 The Journal of Legal Studies 219.Google Scholar
ZADOR, Paul (1976) “Statistical Evaluation of the Effectiveness of ‘Alcohol Safety Action Programs’,” 8 Accident Analysis and Prevention 51.Google Scholar