A new study compiling decades of fatal motorcycle crashes is being released by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which is pushing for stricter state road safety laws. The study suggests that 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, according to the nonprofit group that seeks to reduce the harm from motor vehicle crashes. Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s captain Chris Randall says it’s clear helmets save lives. “I don’t know if this new study is potentially going to put more pressure on Madison to change things,” Randall told WFDL news. The organization said that 22,058 motorcyclists’ lives could have been saved if every state had required all riders to wear helmets from 1976 to 2022. The figure represents 11% of all rider fatalities over those years.
