Currently, only 17 states and the District of Columbia have all-rider helmet laws in place. Meanwhile record numbers of motorcyclists — more than 6,000 each year — were killed in 2021 and 2022, the most recent years for which statistics are available.

More than 20,000 motorcyclists who died in crashes in the U.S. since the mid-1970s would have survived if stronger helmet laws had been in place, a new study from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) shows. “Requiring all riders to wear helmets is a commonsense rule not that different from requiring people in cars to buckle up,” IIHS President David Harkey said. “We have an obligation to protect everyone on our roadways through smart policy.”

The first all-rider helmet laws took effect in 1967, after the National Highway Safety Act made them a prerequisite for certain highway safety and construction funds. By July 1975, 47 states and the District of Columbia had such laws on the books.

In the years since the funding restriction was removed in 1976, however, most states have weakened their helmet laws to be applicable only to riders under 18 or 21 years old or repealed them altogether. This trend has persisted even as seat belt laws have become more stringent.

“Wearing a helmet is one of the biggest things riders can do to protect themselves from death and traumatic brain injury,” said Eric Teoh, IIHS director of statistical services and the author of the paper. “We understand that requiring helmets for all riders everywhere would be unpopular with some motorcyclists, but this could save hundreds of lives each year. Those aren’t just numbers. They’re friends, parents, and children.”

Notably, population-level helmet use has increased over time in jurisdictions with and without all-rider helmet laws. However, helmet use rates in states with all-rider laws were generally 2-3 times as high as in states without them over the study period. Teoh’s estimates take those historical changes and differing helmet use rates into account.

“Requiring every rider to wear a helmet is a simple change that could have a dramatic and immediate effect on fatality rates,” Harkey said. “With 6,000 riders dying every year, it’s unconscionable that we haven’t already made these laws universal.”

Thankfully, New York is one of the states with all-rider laws that require helmets for everyone on a motorcycle, drivers and passengers.