Motorcycle Helmet Law in Kentucky

Motorcycle Helmet Law in Kentucky In the United States of America, by the early years of the 1970's, almost all the various states had passed laws stating that all motorcyclists must wear helmets. However, the state of Illinois repealed this law during the same year, and by the year 1980, it is a fact that most states had either abandoned the helmet law, or limited their laws in a significant and substantial manner.

What this means is that these states limited the extent of the coverage of the helmet law to those who were under the age of eighteen. However, legislators in a few states have indeed reinstated these helmet laws, and today, all but three states in the United States of America require either some, or all of the motorcycle riders to wear helmets when they ride their bikes.

While Colorado, Illinois and Iowa have absolutely no helmet laws, the states of Arkansas, Florida, Texas, Louisiana, and Kentucky have all changed their helmet laws so that they apply only to those younger riders who are aged below eighteen.

The usage rates of helmets in twenty states is nearly a 100%, and this is true in the district of Columbia as well, where the helmet rule applies both to older as well as to younger riders, but it must be stated that the laws that apply to only some riders are not at all effective in about twenty seven other states in America. (U.S.

Helmet Laws as of July, 2003) Kentucky, in the year 1998, repealed the helmet law so that all riders would not be included under the law, but only those below a certain age. (Introduction) As stated earlier, no state had a motorcycle helmet use law until the year 1966, till the Highway Safety Act of 1966 was passed, and all the states were expected to comply with the rules as stated, or else lose out a significant portion of their federal-aid highway construction funding.

Although most states began the process of complying with the helmet law, there was large scale controversy involved. Some states declared that the law was unconstitutional, and would not follow it, while some did make attempts to implement the law satisfactorily.

In the year 1990, the Congress happened to take note of the state of affairs regarding helmet laws once again, an the result was that a report was submitted to the government which stated that helmet use did in fact reduce fatality rates and often save the life of the rider. (Background) This led to the passing of the 1991 Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991, also known as the 'ISTEA'.

This did not have any significant impact, however, and by 1995, twenty three states did have safety belt laws, but none had helmet laws. In 1995, efforts were made to either amend or repeal existing helmet laws, and the result was that several states did implement the helmet law, but as being applicable to only certain age groups of the population.

This was despite evidence gathered after extensive studies were carried out about the relationship between helmet usage and fatalities, wherein it was found that in accidents, a helmet would almost always prevent a fatality, and if a law was present to enforce the use of the helmet, then it would bode well for the riders of motorcycles.

(Background) As far as Kentucky is concerned, the state enacted a helmet law, as applicable to all riders, in the year 1968, and it was this very law that was amended in the year 1998, so that it would include the following points only: helmets must be worn by motorcycle operators and their passengers, under the age of twenty one, and helmets must be worn by motorcycle instructors, who are in the possession of a valid instructor permit, and by those motorcycle operators who have had a valid motorcycle operator's license for a period of less than one year.

In addition, helmets must also be worn by those persons who did not have at least $10,000 of medical insurance, and the owners of registered motorcycle users were required to provide adequate proof of their insurance to county clerks who would then issue a sticker that would proclaim exemption from motorcycle usage. However, this particular provision was repealed in the year 2000.

It must be noted that when the helmet law changed so that only persons below the age of eighteen were required to use a helmet, there were about 38 and 35 fatal crashes involving 40 and 36 motorcycle fatalities, and the increase was about 50% following the law change. (Effects of the law Change in Kentucky) Motorcycle helmets do provide the very best protection to riders from fatal head injuries when they are riding a motorcycle, and meet with a crash.

However, only the law can increase helmet usage among the general population, and therefore, it must be stated that the laws governing motorcycle usage must be more stringent and strict. Accordingly, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or the NHTSA ensures the safety of motorcyclists by requiring that all states follow the rule that states that all motorcycle riders must wear helmets. Statistics reveal that in the year 2002 alone, 3,244 motorcyclists died and a further 65,000 individuals were injured in crashes involving motorcycle riders in the United States of America.

In the same way, it must be noted that an unhelmeted motorcyclist is 40% more likely to suffer from a fatal head injury than a helmeted person. This means that helmet usage can reduce the risk of fatality by about 37%. (Laws, Motorcycle Helmet Laws) Therefore, wearing a helmet was the single most crucial factor in preventing a fatality from a crash.

When Kentucky in the year 1983 weakened the existing helmet law to include only those below eighteen years under the law, helmet usage also weakened considerably, and as a result, there were more fatalities due to non-helmet usage in the state.

In 1998 there were numerous crashes and head injuries and fatalities due to the same reason, and the crash data in the state show that in the two years just before the helmet law repeal, there was, on an average, 573 motorcycle crash related injuries, while in the two subsequent years after the repeal, there were about 785 injury crashes, which showed a significant increase of about 37% from the past years.

In the same way, the number of fatalities increased from an average of about twenty three per year, to about thirty six per year, after the repeal of the helmet law was carried out. The number of motorcyclists who were killed per 10,000 registered motorcycles averaged about 6.4 numbers in the two years before the repeal, and helmet usage dropped down from about 96% in 1997 to about 52% in 2001.

(Laws, Motorcycle Helmet Laws) Some motorcyclists today are renewing their efforts to allow people in general to ride their motorcycles without helmets, and this is a phenomenon present in almost all the states in the United States of America. What they want to pitch for is the personal freedom of a ride on the bike without worrying about helmet laws and other safety rules and regulations.

One individual, named David Hill offers his opinion that in the case of a crash, a helmet would do absolutely nothing to save a person's life. On the other hand, Phyllis Mimms, a long-term care provider from Kentucky, states that she just cannot understand why a person would willingly want to risk his life by not wearing a helmet, when it has been proved that wearing a helmet would protect his life and save him from potentially fatal head injuries.

She has a twenty-seven-year-old son who suffered from a serious brain injury, just because he was not wearing a helmet on the day when he happened to crash his motorcycle, in the state of Kentucky which today allows riders above the age of eighteen to ride without a helmet.

(Helmet Law Change rides towards Key Vote) Not only does the family have to suffer form emotional shock and grief, but it would also be faced with a financial crunch when the victim is hospitalized, and he does not have insurance to cover his bills.

The bill in the legislature allows motorcycle riders to ride helmet less, provided they prove that they are in the possession of a $10,000 in medical insurance, there is no doubt that the cost of treating those people who have been head injured in crashes comes to more than the specified $10,000. Liz Niblett, a spokeswoman for the National Highway Traffic.