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It depends on you view of statistics really.  There are lies, damn lies, and statistics.  I never trust them without peeling back the layers that surround the data.  This is a perfect example of being able to make an article title to fit the need of the author, given the same data.

Check it out.  As I was perusing the internet looking at motorcycle industry news, I stumbled upon an article stating that helmet usage was on the increase. 

NOTE:  I am purposely leaving out the link because they are correct in their conclusion, I just have a different point.

It cited NHTSA’s National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS) as the source for their conclusion.  I like the survey method that NOPUS uses - actual survey data at random selections of roadways sites (2006 had 1878 sites observed) - because the only bias is in the site selection.  With 1878 sites selected, bias that would favor one segment of riders over another is likely minimized.  The link to the pdf file of the 2006 results is here.  I have clipped this image from the document as its the most significant data and summarizes it well:

Being one who looks at data every day, the scale of the top chart underplays the year to year difference of helmet usage.  It looks pretty flat and not so big of difference.  Looking at the numbers though has the maximum in 2000 at 71% and the minimum in 2005 at 48% - a 23% difference in only 5 years!  I think that is noteworthy by itself. 

It is true that from 2005 (48%) to 2006 (51%) there was a 3% increase, but the overall average for the twelve years of data is 60%.  2006 is still 9% below the average of the entire data set - again, maybe a more significant conclusion.  Given a larger scale in the area that matters…say between 40% & 80%…drawing a trend line would show an overall decline in helmet usage versus an increase.

The other part of the data that I find amazing is in the small graph in the bottom right hand corner.  The forst bar shows the amount of helmet usage in states that mandate helmet usage - ONLY 83%!!!  I lived in Michigan for the first thirty years of my life and I have seen maybe three people in all my time riding, driving, walking, or however I have observed other riders.  I would like to see a state by state breakdown of that data.

My interest is in the helmet law itself for this particular chart.  If only 83 out of 100 riders observed are wearing a helmet in states that mandate its usage, than its a useless law.  I would have bet money that the usage would hve been above 95% given the opportunity to guess. 

RANT ON:  My goodness, if the cops are not going to enforce the laws on the books, why have them at all.  What?  They have more important things to do…right?  Maybe, but I don;t think traffic citations for 5-10mph over the limit are very important either.  I have the opinion that if there are convicted felons with outstanding warrants who are not in custody in my county or city, then traffic citations are not the highest priority.  Then again, felons don’t bring in the revenue that traffic citations do.  RANT OFF.

The perspective that people take are often unique.  I saw the title being “Helmet Usage Increasing”, but after reading the report I thought to myself “uhhh no”.  Take a look at the entire report as there are some interesting details.  Hell, if you suffer from insomnia print it out and take it to bed.