Does life, or at least economics, imitate art?
Wearing a helmet while motorcycling in Texas is not mandatory. Indeed, Texas is one of six states that have repealed mandatory helmet laws since 1994. The consequences remind me of an old Faye Kellerman novel, Prayers for the Dead, about a transplant surgeon who is active in a motorcycle club because he wants to discourage helmet use in order to increase the supply of transplantable organs (motor vehicle deaths being a major source of organs).
A recent unpublished study links changes in state laws on mandatory helmet laws to the supply of transplantable organs, showing that where and when helmet wearing was no longer required, the supply of organs for transplants in the state increased.
I’m all in favor of increasing the supply of organs for transplant, as there is currently a substantial shortage of transplantable organs. Some economists have argued for a free market in organs that lets the market establish a price.
I find that repugnant; I don’t want people selling their kidneys, just as I find the Kellerman doctor’s behavior repugnant. Perhaps the best hope, or at least the most moral, may be the incentive that today’s shortages provide for innovation of trans-species or, better still, artificial organs for transplants.
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This study is weakened a bit by using “number of fatalities per million persons” instead of “number of fatalities per million motorcyclists,” or “number of fatalities per million miles traveled.” During the time covered by the study, the number of motorcyclists in the United States increased by a large amount – there was about a 60% increase between 1998 and 2003, for example.
From 1994 to 2002, the number of fatalities per 10,000 motorcycle registrations went from 5.8 to 6.3 across all states, with a disproportionate increase in fatalities in the states without mandatory helmet laws – but the study doesn’t mention that bit either. Since the typical motorcyclist also rode more per year, the number of fatalities per mile traveled on motorcycles seems to be fairly flat.
There’s also some evidence that there was a greater overall increase in motorcycle registrations in the states that didn’t require helmet use, which would further skew their use of “total deaths” and “total donations.”
The point still seems to stand, but the effect is apparently much smaller than the authors suggest.
Why not make helmet use optional, but with the condition that if you are in an accident without a helmet then you will be denied any sort of medical treatment unless you have proof of private insurance on your body or bike and, whether you have insurance or not, if you die all available organs will be harvested from you.
It seems to me this would eliminate all the externalities associated with this brand of foolish behavior, would encourage helmet use and yield a societal good of more transplantable organs.
#8
Maybe governments truly are concerned for the well being of their citizenry and economics do not factor into their decision.
Why do you find the doctor’s behavior repugnant? I think it’s rather clever. Motorcyclists who don’t wear helmets, as dumb a decision as that might be, still make an informed choice not to do so. I would be shocked to hear of a motorcyclist who says he/she has NEVER heard that wearing a helmet is safer than not wearing one. So they are informed. If they decide to make the dumber choice, why shouldn’t my loved ones or myself benefit from their organs?
Lets make a bet.
I win we do away with helmet laws…but you are still an idiot if you ride without. You win we keep helmet laws except EVERYONE WEARS HELMETS, EVEN IN CARS!!. Deal?
Here is the bet…
I’ll bet every argument that works to put helmets on M/C heads: Cost to society, concern for the rider, threatening to withhold care since the unhelmeted MC rider “costs” more.. will ALL work on car drivers as well.
So it is a slippery slope. You want me to wear a helmet on my bike? I want you to wear a helmet in your car…for all the exact same reasonss.
Still want to shove helmet laws down my throught? I can shove them right back. If ABATE was smart they would use the same tools pro helmet people use to try to pass pre helmet in CARS laws as there is no difference.
MESSAGE TO AMERICA….LEAVE US ALONE!!!!! Go build roads and get off our backs!!!
caleb @6: You don’t generally lose a kidney or liver in a motorcycle accident. Legs, yes; brains (which could be protected by the bucket), yes. I haven’t heard of any brain transplants recently.
I play this game two ways–
1) I Always wear a helmet on a motorcycle, and always wear a seatbelt. And I drive carefully in a Grand Cherokee.
2) I refuse to donate my organs. Doctors are not Gods and I do not want some doctor harvesting my organs for his friend, wife, relative, collegue, countryman, or golfing buddy. Don’t think they are completely objective on this.
Instead, I want every possible means taken to preserve all of me alive and intact. When that is no longer possible, I’ll gladly donate my whole body to science.
Hey TSG,
Why not make sterilization or use of condoms optional, but with the condition that if you pollute the world with your breeding, you will be denied any sort of medical treatment? All the breeding in Amerika costs the taxpayer much more than motorcycle accidents!