Use of DOT-compliant helmets in 2008 stood at 63 per-cent, a gain from 58 percent in 2007. This result is from the National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS), which provides the only nationwide probability-based observed data on helmet use1 in the United States. The NOPUS is conducted by the National Center for Statis-tics and Analysis of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The 2008 survey also found the following: non-DOT-compliant helmet use decreased by 5 percent-age points to 11 percent in 2008. However, the percent-age of unhelmeted motorcyclists remained unchanged at 26 percent; motorcycle helmet use (both DOT-compliant and non-DOT-compliant) continued to be higher in States that re-quire all motorcyclists to wear helmets than in States that do not; helmet use on expressways increased by 12 percentage points to 75 percent in 2008; in the Midwest helmet use increased by 18 percentage points to 67 percent, but helmet use was down 13 percent-age points to 45 percent in the Northeast; urban areas saw a 12-percentage-point increase in helmet use to 72 percent in 2008. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting