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SPONSOR: |
House Floor |
DATE TYPED: |
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HB |
664/HFlS |
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SHORT TITLE: |
Child Helmet Safety Act |
SB |
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ANALYST: |
Geisler |
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APPROPRIATION
Appropriation
Contained |
Estimated
Additional Impact |
Recurring Or
Non-Rec |
Fund Affected |
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FY03 |
FY04 |
FY03 |
FY04 |
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Indeterminate |
Indeterminate |
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(Parenthesis
( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
Department
of Health
SUMMARY
Synopsis
of Bill
The
House Floor Substitute for House Bill 664 would require a person 17 years of
age or younger, who is a user, operator or passenger of a bicycle, in-line or
roller skates, non-motorized scooter or skateboard on a public roadway, public
bicycle paths, public skateboard parks or other public rights of way to wear a
protective helmet at all times that is fastened securely upon his head with the
straps of the helmet. The Act is
intended to reduce the incidence of traumatic brain injury death and
disability. Penalties for violation of
the Act are included.
Significant
Issues
Brain injuries
are the leading cause of death and disability among children, teenagers and
young adults (NM Brain Injury Advisory Council). Given the steady increase in the popularity
of scooters, skateboards, and in-line skates, in addition to the consistent
volume of bicycle use among children and adolescents, injury and death rates
for minors continue to be significant.
The steady increase in automobile congestion on public roadways, in
addition to the even more dramatic increase in the number of public skateboard
parks, are contributing factors.
For
skateboard users, injuries increased more than 100% between 1994 and 1999, and
the large majority of hospitalizations were for head injuries. Twenty nine percent (29%) of serious scooter
injuries in 2000 were head injuries (Consumer Product Safety Commission); 25%
of those head injuries resulted from a collision with an automobile (Consumer
Product Safety Commission). Helmets
reduce the risk of head injury by 85% and brain injury by 88% (Insurance
/institute for Highway Safety and CDC).
An estimated 76,000 minors were injured seriously enough while in-line
skating in 1996 to require emergency medical care (American Academy of
Pediatrics, 1998). It was estimated that
if all bicyclists in the United States had worn helmets between 1984 and 1988,
approximately 2500 deaths and 750,000 head injuries would have been prevented
(CDC, 1993).
In
the case of permanent disability, the cost is continuous for a lifetime. Hospital treatment for the first year may
cost $125,000 to $150,000, and much of this expense is often passed on to the
taxpayers (NM Brain Injury Advisory Council).
It also currently costs New Mexico taxpayers $56,000 per year to provide
even a mildly disabled person employment, and this does not begin to calculate
the related costs to the immediate family (Brain Injury Advisory Council).
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
On the second offense
and all subsequent offenses, a minor fine of $25 is imposed.
OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES
The
average traumatic brain injury incidence rate is 95 per 100,000 population
(Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2002). Twenty-two percent of people who have a traumatic
brain injury die from their injuries.
The risk of having a traumatic brain injury is especially high among
adolescents, young adults, and people older than 75 years of age.
There
are 508,574 people living in New Mexico under the age of 18 years (2000
Census). Between 1996 and 2000,
traumatic brain injury was the cause of 3.74 hospitalizations per 1,000
population in New Mexico. Across these
same years, the rate of traumatic brain injury hospitalizations was 2.84 per
1,000 children under 15 years of age.
According
to a 1998 report by the National Institutes of Health, there are 5 million new
head injuries in the United States each year.
Of that number, 2 million sustain brain injuries that result in lifelong
difficulties in areas of work, school and family. About 100,000 of the most severely injured
never return to meaningful, productive lifestyles (Brain Injury Resource
Center).
Dr.
C. Everett Koop, Sc.D, former Surgeon General and Chairman of the National SAFE
KIDS Campaign states that brain injury is the leading killer and disabler of
children. New research unveiled by the
National SAFE KIDS Campaign (NSKC) this year reveals that 47% of children
hospitalized for bike-related injuries suffer from a traumatic brain injury.
However, less than half of those surveyed wore a helmet every time they rode a
bicycle, and less than a third wore a helmet while riding scooters, skateboards
or inline skates (National SAFE KIDS Campaign, 2003). SAFE KIDS urges parents and kids to wear a
helmet on any wheel-related activity. It
can reduce the risk of brain injury by 88%.
Eleven states currently
have state helmet laws. Most are for
bicycle helmets:
Alabama (under 16), Arizona (Tucson, Yuma, under 18),
California (Rider under 18, scooters, skateboards, in-line skates), Connecticut
(under 16), Delaware (under 16), District of Columbia (under 16, Florida (under
16), Georgia (under 16), Hawaii (under 16), Illinois (Barrington, Inverness--under
17 and 16, Chicago--all ages), Kentucky (Louisville--under 12), Louisiana
(under 12), Maine (under 16), Maryland (under 16), Massachusetts (Passenger
under 5, Riders under 13), Michigan (4 communities--ages 16 to all ages),
Missouri (2 communities--all ages and under 17), Montana (Billings--under 16),
Nevada (2 communities--under 17), New Jersey (under 14), New York ( State
law--passengers under 5 and riders under 14, some other areas all ages), North
Caroline (under 16), Ohio (varies by community--ages 6 to under 18),
Oregon(under 16), Pennsylvania (passengers under 5, riders under 12), Rode
Island (under 16), Texas (varies by community--under 18 to all), Tennessee
(under 16), Virginia (mandated by community--under 15 for all that mandate),
Washington state (mandated by community--all ages to under 16), West Virginia (mandated by
community--15 to all ages), Wisconsin (Port Washington--under 17),
Canada,
Finland, Iceland, New Zealand and Australia have helmet laws. A helmet law for bicyclists in Victoria,
Australia increased helmet use from 31% to 75% in only one year (1991), resulting
in a decrease in the death or head injury rate by 51%.
It
is estimated that every $10 bike helmet saves the United States taxpayers $30
in direct health costs, $95 in other tangible costs, and $270 in quality of
life, a total of $395 in potential savings for taxpayers for every helmet worn
(National SAFE KIDS Campaign).
Skating
helmet standards have merged with bicycle helmet standards (BHSI and New
England Journal of Medicine).