THE OBJECTIVES OF THIS RESEARCH ARE TO DETERMINE THE EFFECT OF HELMET LAWS ON FATALITIES ASSOCIATED WITH MOTOR CYCLE ACCIDENTS IN PENINSULAR MALAYSIA. THE PREVALENCE OF ACCIDENTS AND DEATHS OCCURRING IN THE 10 GROUPS OF STATES OF THE PENINSULA BETWEEN 1973 AND 1979 IS ANALYZED. DIFFERENCES IN RATES, ESPECIALLY THE DEATHS/ACCIDENTS, FROM BEFORE TO AFTER THE INTRODUCTION OF THE HELMET LAW ARE EMPHASIZED. THE RATES ACCIDENTS/1000 REGISTRATIONS AND DEATHS/10000 REGISTRATIONS DECREASED IN ALMOST ALL OF THE STATES AFTER THE LAW WAS INTRODUCED. THERE WAS NOT A UNIFORM REDUCTION IN THE RATE OF DEATHS/100 ACCIDENTS AFTER INTRODUCTION OF THE LAW IN INDIVIDUAL STATES. HOWEVER, A WEIGHTED LINEAR REGRESSION SHOWS THAT THE EFFECT OF THE INTRODUCTION OF THE HELMET LAW ON DEATHS/ACCIDENTS WAS SIGNIFICANT. AN ODDS RATIO OF 0.70 IS THE ESTIMATED RISK OF DEATHS ASSOCIATED WITH MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENT AFTER INTRODUCTION OF THE HELMET LAW COMPARED WITH NO HELMET LAW. THE 30 PER CENT ESTIMATED REDUCTION IN FATALITIES IN MALAYSIA IS SIMILAR IN MAGNITUDE TO THAT REPORTED IN THE USA. IT IS ESTIMATED THAT IN 1979 THE NUMBER OF FATALITIES IN PENINSULAR MALAYSIA WAS ABOUT 140 LOWER THAN COULD BE EXPECTED WITHOUT THE HELMET LAW.(Author/publisher).
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