Critics Falsely Claim That Bikers Are A Burden On Society

PICKERINGTON, Ohio -- At the height of the riding season is when motorcyclists
hear it most -- misinformed critics charging that people who ride motorcycles
are a burden on society because of their medical costs.

The most recent version of this erroneous theory came in a report that aired
Friday night, August 16, on ABC News' "World News Tonight."

But the charge that motorcyclists are a social burden is simply untrue, the
American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) reports.

"Some lawmakers, members of the news media and others still subscribe to the
'social burden' fallacy that motorcyclists use more taxpayer dollars than other
members of society to pay their medical bills," said Edward Moreland, AMA vice
president for government relations. "Studies have shown that is false. Yet it is
brought up time and again by those who want to place restrictions on
motorcyclists."

Moreland pointed to a study done at the Harborview Medical Center in Seattle
during the 1980s that found 63.4 percent of the injured motorcyclists taken to
the trauma center relied on public funds to pay their hospital bills. Critics
charged that amounted to taxpayer subsidies for motorcycle injuries, but the
director of the trauma center noted that 67 percent of the general patient
population relied on public money to pay their hospital bills in the same time
period.

Also, a study by the University of North Carolina's Highway Safety Research
Center showed that 49.5 percent of injured motorcyclists had their medical costs
covered by insurance, almost identical to the 50.4 percent of other road trauma
victims were similarly insured.

In addition, the North Carolina study found that the average costs of
motorcyclists' injuries are actually slightly lower than the costs for other
accident victims. The presence or absence of a helmet was not shown to affect
injury costs.

Moreland also pointed out that the cost of treating injured motorcyclists is
minuscule compared to the nation's medical costs as a whole. The costs
associated with treating all motorcycling injuries account for less than 0.001
percent of total U.S. health-care costs. And a significant percentage of those
costs are paid through private insurance.

All told, about 1.16 percent of U.S. health-care costs are related to motor
vehicle accidents, and motorcycles represented only 0.53 percent of the
accident-involved vehicles nationwide in 1999.

Motorcycling critics often use the social-burden argument in efforts to get
state lawmakers to pass, or retain, mandatory helmet-use laws. And in recent
years, some motorcycling organizations have bolstered that argument by striking
bargains with lawmakers in which motorcyclists agree to accept medical-insurance
requirements in exchange for the right to ride without a helmet. These
requirements lend support to the flawed social-burden argument, since the same
insurance requirements are not imposed on car drivers.

"Some motorcyclists appear willing to agree to these expensive and dangerous
economic tradeoffs," Moreland said. "Lawmakers subscribing to the social-burden
theory, coupled with the willingness of some motorcyclists to accept special
insurance requirements, could open the door for lawmakers to impose even more
unwarranted requirements on motorcyclists."

The AMA supports voluntary helmet use for adults as part of a comprehensive
approach to motorcycling safety, including wearing proper safety gear, getting
rider training and educating motorists to watch for motorcycles on the road.

Motorcyclists who wish to respond to the ABC News report on this issue that
appeared Friday night, August 16, can post their comments online on the "World
News Tonight Forum" at
http://boards.abcnews.go.com/cgi/abcnews/request.dll?LIST&room=WorldNewsTonight