In article CjcNd.10299$2p.5965@lakeread08, gglines says...

Motorcycle riders carry insurance, I bet whatever cost you think is coming
your way from riders hurt without helmets is 1/1000 of that same societal
cost to you of drivers without insurance. Motorcycle industry studies show
that there isn't a greater cost to society from riders rather then
non-riders. Insurance companies are the ones providing the anti-helmet data
and the "societal cost", so the insurance company ends up paying - not
society.

Although, motorcycle insurance is a funny thing. The companies don't
care if you wear a helmet or not. True. There are no companies (in
the states where helmet use is not mandatory) that give discounts
for their use, or penalize the non-wearers.

The insurance company version of this is:

Motorcycle insurance is pure gravy.

1) there is almost zero change we'll ever have to pay out
for any liability on the part of our insured. The laws of
physics dictate that they simply cannot impart enough energy
to a four-wheeled vehicle to do much more than scratch the
paint.

2) motorcycle riders are amazingly careful about not bumping
into other vehicles [1], because when they do, the frequently die.

3) helmets or not doesn't really matter to us, because as
a rule we offer about $10K of medical benefits for our
insured. Which basically would pay for either a) a nice
funeral or b) about one overnight stay in the ER. After that
we're off the hook.

Now if you want to talk about comprehensive insurance, that's
a different ball of wax. Here you find new sport bikes which
can rack up about $8K worth of damage if they fall over in the
*parking*lot*. These are often the kind of bike that 18 year
old males fall in love with - until they talk to their insurance
agent!

But the pure, direct cost of insurance for motorbike riders
is not, to my knowledge, directly affected by helmet use or
non-use.

Jim

[1] which leads me to jim's second law, which is that if you
really want to make money as a car insurance agent, simply
elect to insure only drivers who are also motorcycle riders.


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