Annotated Bibliography

Motorcycle Helmet Research: Annotated Bibliography Hahn, Pat. How to Ride a Motorcycle: A Rider's Guide to Strategy, Safety, and Skill Development. St. Paul, Minn: Motorbooks, 2005.
A basic overview of riding a motorcycle. This book is informative and geared towards the novice, it has a chapter dedicated to riding gear and the importance of proper gear. It is very broad as it ranges from bike size and selection to instructions on how to corner and turn more effectively.
While this book scratches the surface on helmet safety, it doesn’t provide me with the evidence based facts I am searching for. The author is knowledgeable and gives good advice, however some of the statements given as facts are questionable and not cited. This is definitely a popular reader.
Had a few facts that were cited about helmets and helmet safety but nothing I will be using in my paper as I want more evidence from research and case studied of those involved in an accident and in particular those without helmets.

Langstaff, Deborah, and Jane Christie. Trauma Care: A Team Approach. Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann, 2000.
A book geared towards those interested in Trauma care, mainly nursing. Gives a complete an in depth look at what it is like to work in the trauma setting and also how to deal with the stresses of these jobs. Also gives management advice on teamwork in the trauma setting and how to get the most out of your employees along with providing several real-life case studies.
This book has excellent information and documentation on trauma and trauma care. This book was written by an RN with an MBA along with many practicing clinicians. This book was a mix of popular and scholar but mainly scholarly.
The best part for my research was some of the evidence from a case study involving a patient who in a motorcycle accident and the effects of not wearing a helmet. While the trauma case study was somewhat helpful all in all this book wasn’t that helpful for my research paper as it focused mainly on working in the trauma department of a hospital.(which I already do)

Lee, Daniel E. Freedom Vs. Intervention: Six Tough Cases. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2005.

A book that examines as the title states six tough cases. Lee tackles such issues as physician assisted suicide, motorcycle helmet law, marijuana use, abortion in addition to a couple others. This book gives good insight and views both sides of each argument.
This book deals more with the fine line between freedom and government control or intervention on these six issues. This would be considered more a popular reader than a scholarly work, a popular reader that includes some good facts and figures but more relates to peoples emotions and feelings on these controversial issues.
This was not a very helpful source for my paper as I am for a motorcycle helmet law and while I understand freedom and how having options is part of America’s greatness, however when tax paying citizens like myself are paying for the non or underinsured rider who cracks his skulls and is left with a mountain of medical bills, well in that case I am not in favor of freedom of choice.

Max, W, Stark, B., and Root, S. (1998) Putting a lid on injury costs: The economic impact of the California Motorcycle Helmet Law. Journal of Trauma, injury, infection and critical care 45, 550-557.
This is a fact filled article in a trauma journal that gives multiple facts and figures from hospitals in California proving how much money helmet laws can save states. This article shows the cost comparison and average length of stay involved between helmeted and non-helmeted riders.
This source quotes many surgeons and trauma doctors as well as provides many facts from national and state research departments. I feel that the information is reliable and also many other scholarly information sources had parallel findings.
This article, though short, was packed with useful information for my paper. Mainly the facts on the average costs of hospitalization of a helmeted compared to a non-helmeted rider. This was a specific topic that I had to do a lot of looking to find, but the evidence it provided is crucial to my paper.

NHTSA (2000). Further Analysis of Motorcycle Helmet Effectiveness. National Center for Statistics and Analysis Research Note, January 2000. Washington DC: U.S. Department of Transportation.

A report from the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration, this is full of facts that show that helmets alone reduce the risk of rider fatalities by 37%. The whole report is based on many in depth studies.
This is the most reliable info I came across in all my research. The research was completed in the field at random selection sites and provides the best tracking of helmet use in the country. There were over 1,996 roadway test cites that collected data as motorists passed by.
This provided some data on the effectiveness of helmet use, but mostly focused on the # of riders that were helmeted vs. those not helmeted. Again this was another useful article in the battle for a helmet law.

Streano, Vince. Touching America with Two Wheels. New York: Random House, 1974.

This book is more of an overview of motorcycle riding and the overall experience. It touches on everything from rider safety to maintenance and riding tips. While the author is obviously motorcycle savvy and reliable, there is no sound research worthy material. This is mostly full of the authors real life experiences and more of a popular reader. This source was not effective in helping my research efforts. While helpful for beginners and those interested in maybe their first bike, it didn’t have anything useful for helmet law research.(It does include an out-dated list of States that Require Helmets

Merson, Michael H., Robert E. Black, and Anne Mills. International Public Health: Diseases, Programs, Systems, and Policies. Gaithersburg, MD: Aspen Publishers, 2001.


United States. Highway Safety: Motorcycle Helmet Laws Save Lives and Reduce Costs to Society : Report to Congressional Requesters. Washington, D.C.: U.S. General Accounting Office, 1999.

Full of facts and figures including such topics as average cost in hospital stay between helmeted and non-helmeted riders, number of riders who are underinsured, costs to the nation as a whole due to these unpaid medical bills and how everybody, not just motorcycle riders pay for these costs. Also go over facts from insurance companies on motorcycle accidents and costs.
This is a good source of info as it directly shows how the non-helmeted rider can end up costing a lot of people, simply by not wearing a helmet. This article is a direct comparison between the helmet and non-helmeted riders.
Probably the most useful reading I found, while I don’t need all the facts and probably will only pull two or three quotes from this article, however the overall information I gained gave me a good overview and some direction at how to offer up my proposal more effectively.

Yoganandan, Narayan. Frontiers in Head and Neck Trauma: Clinical and Biomechanical. Biomedical and health research, v. 21. Amsterdam: IOS Press, 1998.
This health research journal is full of facts and statistics related to head and neck injuries. Mainly this articles goes over case studies and show how new technological advances can help the patients. Along with techniques and this journal touches on possible ways of preventing some of these injuries.
This is a scholarly publication and written by neuro-surgeons and trauma physicians.
I got a lot of statistical information and this was exactly what I wanted for my research as it provided facts and stats on motorcycle injuries and even injuries of helmeted vs. non helmeted riders.


Evans, Leonard. Traffic Safety and the Driver. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1991.