One of the first pieces of advice people will give you if you decide to ride a motorcycle is this: Always wear your helmet. No matter how far you're going, no matter what state you're in, and no matter how safe you feel. Always wear it.
However, you may feel like it doesn't really matter. Can't you focus on safety in other ways, like defensive driving? Does the helmet really make that big of a difference, or are people just paranoid?
To sort it out, let's look at some of the key statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
- The odds of a head injury in a motorcycle crash drop by 69 percent with a helmet on.
- The odds of death in that accident fall by about 37 percent for a rider who has a helmet.
- In 2016, experts think that about 1,859 people lived through accidents because they had helmets on when they otherwise would have died.
- However, they also say that 802 people died in crashes that same year because they did not have helmets on, when they would have survived if they would have worn them.
- The cost of people not wearing helmets and getting injured or killed in these accidents is over $1 billion every single year in the United States.
As you can see, the statistics paint a very clear picture and make it apparent that you should wear a helmet. However, even that does not guarantee you will not get hurt. If you do, and if another driver caused that crash, make sure you know how to seek compensation for medical bills and related costs.