Out of every 8 deaths on the roads of the United States, one of them is a motorcyclist – or at least was riding one involved in a crash which led to the fatality. This is a known fact based on years of data acquisition and study. What has only recently been discovered within this knowledge is that for every two white motorcyclists who die on the roads, three African-American bikers also perish. And that is just the beginning of the frightening news…
Johns Hopkins researchers uncovered this data by looking into 68,840 motorcycle accidents which were recorded during 2002 to 2006 by the National Trauma Data Bank. The simple fact is that black motorcycle riders are 50% more likely to die in a crash than white riders. Even the fact that black riders are more likely to wear protective headgear did not make any difference. Further study also revealed that white riders not wearing helmets have a better survival rate than their black counterparts who actually have DOT-approved helmets on at the time of the accident. That certainly demonstrates that mandatory helmet laws do not benefit everyone in the same way.
The study accounted for and set controls in place to eliminate such factors as severity of the accident, gender and the insurance status of the riders involved. Researchers theorize that the reasoning for this disproportion may be related to different levels of health care both before and after the accident. Conditions such as health insurance, or lack thereof, reduced access to quality critical care, and even pre-existing conditions could all be factors. More research needs to be done to determine which causation factors lead to this statistical nightmare.
For now, all any rider can do is make sure they wear the proper protective gear, do the best job possible at managing risk, and pay close attention to your health. Your life is on the line!
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