New Mexico’s motorcycle helmet laws are some of the most lenient in the country. While some states require all motorcycle riders to wear safety helmets, and others require them only for riders under the age of 21, New Mexico only requires helmets for riders under the age of 18. In other words, if your Dad takes you for a ride on the back of his motorcycle during his court-ordered parenting time, you must wear a helmet, but he does not have to.
Once you are old enough that your parents no longer have a reason to bicker about paying child support for you, which also means being old enough to refuse to listen to them bicker about paying child support for your younger siblings, you are free to celebrate this fact by getting on your motorcycle without putting on a helmet and riding away into the sunset, although doing so is inadvisable if you want your adulthood to last longer than your childhood.
Everyone knows that motorcyclists who wear helmets have a better chance of surviving a collision than motorcyclists who do not, but a recent study sheds light on the role that motorcycle helmet laws play in this scenario. If you have been injured in a motorcycle accident in New Mexico, contact a Santa Fe motorcycle accident lawyer.
A Cautionary Tale of Two Carolinas
Unless you are a connoisseur of barbecue, North Carolina and South Carolina may seem like they are more alike than different, but trauma center physicians noticed a difference between the two states when it comes to motorcycle accidents. A hospital near the border of the two Carolinas has the most advanced trauma center in the region, so the most severely injured patients from both Carolinas get airlifted there. The surgeons noticed that the patients transported to the hospital after motorcycle accidents in South Carolina had worse outcomes than their North Carolina counterparts. This was true whether they measured survival rate, number of days spent in the intensive care unit, or even the proportion of motorcycle accident patients who required trauma center care at all.
Why are North Carolina motorcyclists so much less likely to suffer catastrophic injury than South Carolina motorcyclists? The authors of the study believe that motorcycle helmet laws are part of the reason. North Carolina requires all motorcyclists to wear helmets, but South Carolina’s helmet requirement is only for motorcyclists under the age of 21. As a result, almost all motorcyclists in North Carolina wear helmets, but only about half of South Carolina motorcyclists do. Motorcycle helmet laws have become more lenient in many states in recent decades, but the states that require helmets for all motorcycle riders tend to fare best in motorcycle collision outcomes.
Contact Slate Stern About Personal Injury Lawsuits
Slate Stern is a personal injury lawyer who represents plaintiffs injured in motorcycle accidents. Contact Slate Stern in Santa Fe, New Mexico, or call (505)814-1517 to discuss your case.
Sources
https://www.mvd.newmexico.gov/helmet-law/
Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash