By the Staff of Clutch and Chrome

It was the survey we didn't know was coming, never knew it was being taken and although it will create some heated conversations, certainly not the controversy that usually comes with other motorcycle related studies.

On November 29th, 2006 the National Center for Statistics and Analysis of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released the results of it's National Occupant Protection Use Survey. If we used the acronyms enjoyed by official-type people everywhere, that would also read that the NHTSA released it's NOPUS .

What is this article about? Confused yet?

Basically the NHTSA conducted a particular type of study, a NOPUS (National Occupant Protection Use Survey) on how many riders are wearing helmets on the roadways of the great U.S. of A.

Looking through not only the numbers, but also the way the study was conducted this survey is in some ways more accurate than others commissioned by the NHTSA. However at the same time it could be considered severely flawed in one of it's most basic premise of conducting the survey.
 

How the dirty deed was done
The survey was conducted by sending observers to roadways between the hours of 8 am and 6 pm. Evidently the roadways in themselves were chosen using statistics and probability equations.

Traffic was defined by not only speeds but also density of the vehicles using the road.

Speed was categorized into three groups: Fast - average vehicle speeds exceeding 50 mph, Medium - average vehicle speeds between 31 - 50 mph and Slow - average vehicle speeds less than 30 mph.

Density was categorized into three groups: Heavy - average number of vehicles per lane mile exceeded 45, Moderately dense - average number of vehicles per lane mile was between 26 - 45 and Light - average number of vehicles per lane mile were at most 25.

Observations were made either by simply standing at the roadside or, in the case of expressways, while riding in a vehicle in traffic. At no point did the observers conducting the survey stop or interview the motorcyclists hoping to capture the riders acting and behaving as they would normally.

This same survey was completed in 2005 as well, both taking place in the month of June. This is a great time of year to conduct such a survey with great riding weather across the entire country.

The number of locations and the sampling of riders, basically the number of bikers 'observed', are large enough to give a good representation of how many are truly wearing helmets. In 2006 1,878 locations were used with a total of 1,200 motorcycles observed. These numbers are only fractionally less than those used in the previous year's survey.

Although it's all incredibly boring and dry to read, everything appears like the results should be an accurate representation of the number of bikers who wear helmets.

The steel-toed shoe drops
The survey is all about counting riders who wore helmets, so a standard and definition was set. Since this was commissioned by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, it's no surprise helmets had to be DOT-compliant for the biker to be considered as wearing one. This in itself isn't bad since most experts, as well as bikers concede the vanity helmets, or shells give no real protection in the unfortunate case of an accident.

How would the observers be able to tell the difference? Aside from the large number of counterfeit stickers on the roads, the observers were conducting the survey from either a roadside or within a moving vehicle making it impossible to accurately recognize any kind of helmet markings. To ensure 'untainted behavior' the observers didn't stop or speak to any bikers preventing any close inspection of the type or certification standard of any helmets.

To get around this quandary and have consistent numbers in the study, the data collectors categorized DOT-compliant helmets as those that cover the motorcyclists ears and are at least one inch thick.
 

This is where the survey could potentially undercount the number of helmet-wearing riders. It appears half-helmets wouldn't be included and although they are one and the same, nor would carbon-fiber helmets, both of which are DOT-compliant. With the popularity of half-helmets among owners of cruiser motorcycles the numbers are most likely skewed. Another major factor in looking at any motorcycle survey and especially one as specific as this, are the changing laws across the United States with several states amending their mandatory helmet laws to giving riders over 21 years of age a choice over the last two years.

This carbon-fiber helmet is considered non DOT-compliant

But show us a perfect, bullet-proof motorcycle survey and we'll wake you up from the dream you're obviously having.

On to the results.

Its a small matter of the law
Not surprisingly the number of riders wearing helmets were much higher in states where its mandated by law than in those which give the biker a choice. In the states that require helmets, 68 percent of riders wore them compared to 37 percent in states that did not.

Remember the standard given for non DOT-compliant helmets? In the states with mandatory laws 15 percent wore 'non-compliant helmets' and an additional 13 percent wore them in all other states. With the standard set as it is in this survey it could be safe to combine the total number of compliant and non-compliant wearers and consider this as a truer number of bikers that don a helmet. This would put the number at 83 percent for states with helmet laws and 50 percent in the states that don't.

What's most interesting about this particular set of statistics is the realization that according to survey, 13 percent of riders are getting away without wearing a helmet in the states with mandatory laws! Before everyone assumes law enforcement is lax around the country on this matter, bear in mind for the most part the survey considers passengers and bikers in the same category of motorcyclists.

This assumption is strengthened when the numbers are broken out between the operator (the surveys name for the biker) and the passenger wearing DOT-compliant helmets. Both categories saw an increase from 2005 to 2006 with bikers going from 56 to 57 percent and passengers increasing slightly more from 29 to 33 percent. Add in the 'non-compliant helmets' and the numbers become much better with a total of 71 percent of bikers and 46 percent of passengers wearing helmets in 2006.

The only time a further distinction is made between riders and passengers is when the survey focuses on who wears what and how it coincides with the other person on the bike.

For example, 53 percent of passengers feel more comfortable wearing a helmet (compliant or otherwise) when they rode behind a biker with a lid. If the operator didn't have a helmet on then the number of passengers who would wear one drops to 24 percent. But the latter statistic is a huge increase over 2005 when only 4 percent of passengers wore a helmet when the operator didn't.

One of the highest statistics for wearing a lid, 93 percent in fact, comes from motorcycle operators who have DOT-compliant helmet wearing passengers. Well, at least that was the case for 2005. In the same category in 2006 the number dropped to 79 percent.

Once again, changing helmet laws could contribute to this decrease.

Out on the road
Knowing the survey has three categories of speed and vehicle density, there would be an expectation of a page full of statistics. That would be a correct assumption. Plus more!

Road types are divided into surface roads which are all other types of roads except the expressways, defined to be roadways with limited access. Also, rush hour is broken out as it's own group and includes the time periods of 8 -10 am and 3:30 - 6 pm.

The reason these categories are mentioned is because some of the more interesting and sometimes perplexing statistics crop up in them.

A total of 56 and 80 percent of riders who found themselves in slow and medium speed traffic respectively wore helmets (non and DOT-compliant) yet the number drops to 59 percent when in fast traffic. Only 77 percent wear a helmet while traveling on the expressway.

The same discrepancy relates to weekday rush hours with only 55 percent wearing helmets (non and DOT-compliant) while 67 percent would during non-rush hours on the same weekdays.

Many things have been said about the weekend warrior or checkbook biker, not usually in the form of compliments. Well, more of the riders who bring their bikes out on the weekends are wearing helmets and have the statistics jumping 59 to 68 percent from 2005 to 2006. Once again, the numbers are combined non and DOT-compliant helmets.

And not that we encourage geographical rivalry, but the bikers in the west lead the pack with a massive 80 percent of them wearing helmets. The Midwest and south part of the country tie in second with 64 percent.

There are a few more categories that we haven't touched on here such as urban versus suburban areas and weather conditions, but what fun would it be if we told you everything? The full survey can be found here, where there's not only more data but a few paragraphs about statistical confidence. Nothing but riveting reading!

Summarizing the statistical summary
As mentioned at the start of the article, as with all surveys it can be read and interpreted a few different ways. If readers choose to follow the numbers given strictly for DOT-compliant helmets the statistics may not only be less than impressive, they'll also be off the mark, and by considerable margins depending on the category.

In this article we've included the numbers for both compliant and non-compliant helmet based purely on the sheer numbers of DOT approved half-helmets in use throughout the riding world.

This just goes to prove that with some opinions allowances can be made just as data can be discounted, leaving enough room to run a juggernaut of conclusions through, which oddly enough are usually suited to a personal points of view of wearing helmets.

However, many experts feel the numbers are an improvement over the previous year and in some ways the statistics are surprising. Between motorcycle action groups fighting to amend mandatory state laws and high profile accidents by famous bikers sans helmet it would be easy to believe the average biker hates the most basic motorcycle safety item.

But the final chart from the NHTSA's survey shows that after years of decline the helmet seems to have come back in favor with the average rider.

For this year at least.