OK, first off, there have been a lot of studies run by the MMA, ABATE, and other groups that have little or no political ambitions that show that the use or unuse of helmets make very little difference in the overall body count. Sure, in individual cases, a helmet will save someones head. BUT, they just as often cause death or permanent disability. What good does it do to try and save a broken head if it means a broken neck? Or bleeding to death due to a severed leg that wouldn't have happened except for the distraction, heat induced fatigue or reduced visibility caused by a helmet? The money involved in passing laws requiring helmet use would be better and more effectively spent on education programs teaching people to ride and drive safely, and trying to get existing laws enforced that make it safer to drive. It is really stupid that the governments of the civilised world have given up trying to make it safer to drive and have started concentrating on making it safer to crash.
Moving right along, seatbelt use does make a positive difference. They not only keep people from crashing into bits of their cars in a wreck, they make it inconvenient to reach over and pick up items that fall on the passenger side floor, so a few more people don't stop driving whilst their car is still moving. BUT, there are a tremenduous number of *head* injuries in car crashes. A lot more than in motorcycle accidents. Yet, no politician would ever think of requiring drivers and passengers to wear helmets in cars.
Though I've never heard of anyone running a study on it, I suspect a lot of uninsured drivers would have insurance if they could afford it. When you are just getting by, another several hundred out of the pocket for what is, most of the time, nothing is unthinkable. Now, the insurance companies cry and moan about being so poor, but they seem to have plenty of money to invest in other businesses such as savings and loans and buy politicians, lawyers and judges. I suspect that if mandatory insurance laws were repealed and their major competitor was "No thanks, it pays me well to do without", insurance rates would drop to the point that more couls and would buy it than do now.
