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"Basically all of the "rise" in deaths, which they are trying to pin on helmet law changes, is due to a large drop in car deaths, not actually anything to do wi
by moioci 13y ago
"Basically all of the "rise" in deaths, which they are trying to pin on helmet law changes, is due to a large drop in car deaths, not actually anything to do with motorcycles or helmets..." This is simply not true. The last three graphs all show a large rise in absolute numbers of motorcycle fatalities, independent of any automobile numbers. I agree that the authors have a ways to go before they've proved causation, especially given a significant bump in helmeted motorcycle fatalities seen in the Florida data.
- ZeroGravitas 13y agoI admit I misread a couple of graphs. I was caught out by the fact that the graphs were overall so similar to relative ones that came before them and that they "melt" into each other as you scroll, even though they're showing different things. But they do show that in at least two states, the death toll rose notably in absolute terms, though in one in was rising steadily anyway before the change and in the other it goes up and down dramatically after. I also note that they're actually selling their own argument short, since they've smoothed the points between years rather than showing them as a bar chart, it looks like the death toll started rising before the law change, but (I think) that's actually an artifact of the presentation, probably depends on when in the year the law change took effect.