Hi Everyone,

I've edited a letter that you could send (below) to your Federal Senators and Representative. It would be best if you send it by snail mail. You can get a fresh copy of the letter that will wrap the words properly in your word procesor http://www.anaheim.quik.com/ljordan/lawinfo.htm

 

November 30, 1999

 

Dear Congressman,

Please do not simply forward this letter to the NHTSA. They are concealing information and refuse to acknowledge facts. I need you to take action to undo some of the things they have done and while you are involved, make sure that Dr. Baker at the NHTSA is punished for defying an act of Congress. I fully expect the NHTSA to reward her for defying an act of Congress, since her actions were in line with the private agenda of the NHTSA. I strongly suspect the Insurance companies are giving benefits to the employees of the NHTSA in exchange for their push for certain laws. Can you make a law to stop this type of influence of any and all government agencies? Also, I've presented my concern below with a Federal test specification that should be eliminated because it requires motorcyclists to wear unsafe equipment. I would appreciate your personal involvement in resolving this issue. In the event that you don't believe the information below is true and relevant, please let me know what it is specifically that you don't believe is true and relevant and I will provide any proof that you need. If you believe the facts that are presented are true and relevant, but plan to do nothing, please let me know why.

The purpose for this letter is to prove that the Federal test specification FMVSS No. 218 related to motorcycle helmets is directly responsible for injury and death of motorcyclists and to ask you to rectify this problem.

There are two basic problems with FMVSS No. 218. One relates to the dangerously strong chin strap requirement and the other relates to the additional force applied to a person's neck by the weight of a helmet during an accident.

FMVSS No. 218 requires that the strap that goes around a person's neck be able to support a force of 300 pounds. This is more than enough force required to break a person's neck, but the people at the NHTSA insist that it is safe; in fact the NHTSA claims that a person's neck can withstand a tension of 742 pounds without suffering serious neck injuries. This may explain why the people at the NHTSA were surprised to find that air bags were killing people. It should be apparent to you that the forces they think a person's neck can withstand are dangerously incorrect.

I have included a reference here to show that the NHTSA makes the above claim.

The specific statement was, "Biomechanics research indicates that an average human neck can safely withstand about 3,300 newtons (742 pounds) in tension, (4,000 newtons (899 pounds) in compression, or 3,100 newtons (697 pounds) in shearing load without suffering serious neck injuries. These guidelines are much higher than the 50-pound load estimated by Mr. Jordan. Based on these guidelines, a human neck can safely withstand the FMVSS No. 218 retention system test load." This statement was made by Donald C. Bischoff, Executive Director of NHTSA, in a letter received by Dianne Feinstein on December 12, 1997.

Part of the proof that helmets are causing injuries is in the information in the California Assembly Transportation Committee Analysis in 1998 for Assembly Bill 1412.

Here are the facts.

1. There was a significant decrease in the number of motorcycle related accidents after the helmet law was implemented in California(1).

2. The overall number of cervical spine injuries of motorcyclists per year did not change(1).

Note (1) The following information was taken from the California Assembly Transportation Committee Analysis in 1998 for Assembly Bill 1412. "The California Motorcycle Safety Program (CMSP) annual report cites a continuing decline in the number of motorcycle accidents and fatalities declining from a peak of 40 to 12 accidents per 1,000 riders. Accidents among younger drivers under 25 years of age have declined from 146 to 72 accidents per 1,000 riders." 5) The overall number of cervical spine injuries did not change.

With simple math you can see that if we look at the cervical spine injury per accident rate, since there is a significant decrease in the number of accidents and the number of spine injuries remained the same, there is a SIGNIFICANT INCREASE in the spine injury per accident rate. This is proof that helmets cause injury.

More evidence is in a letter from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to the NHTSA. The letter from the NTSB referenced the Raeder/Negri study of the effects of the helmet law for motorcyclists in New York State. The letter said that there was "a increase from just under 6% to close to 38% of all fatalities resulting from broken neck injuries..."

John Womack, Acting Chief Counsel, at the NHTSA disregards this information and maintains that there is no connection with straps around people's necks and neck injuries, even though the straps will support over 300 pounds. He is wrong and should be asked by you to explain why he won't acknowledge this fact.

Another reason for neck injuries is that the weight of a helmet adds a significant amount of stress to a person's neck. During an accident, this additional stress is enough to cause serious injury or death in some cases. The statement below explains the details.

 

 

Problems associated with motorcycle helmets by Lee Jordan 10/03/1999

A motorcyclist who weighs 160 pounds, for example, can survive being hit on the body with a certain amount of energy, which causes a certain acceleration of the body, without breaking his neck while not wearing a helmet. The force of this impact is transferred from the body, through the neck, to cause the head to accelerate and follow the body's movement. When he is wearing a typical helmet that weighs around 4 pounds, his head, which weighs around 9 pounds(1), will have the weight of around 13 pounds. Since the weight has increased by 44%, only 69% of the acceleration from the aforementioned impact can be applied to obtain the same stress on the neck(2).

A second problem associated with helmets is the strap that goes around the user's neck. This strap will support over 1,000 pounds; more than enough to break a person's neck if the helmet is caught on something during an accident.

In conclusion, a helmeted motorcyclist can only survive around 69% of an impact of the body that can be survived by a non helmeted motorcyclist. Also, this means that a helmeted rider has around 44% more stress on his neck during an accident. So, wearing a helmet increases the danger of a broken neck in an accident of an impact of the body, and there is an additional danger of the strap breaking a person's neck during an accident. This effect is around twice as hazardous for small children.

Note: (1) The average adult's head weighs approximately 9 pounds.

(2) Force = Mass times acceleration. Weight is relative to Mass in this statement. When the Mass is multiplied by 1.44, the acceleration must be multiplied by 0.69 to result in the same force.

Lee Jordan, BSCS 1995 California State University, Fullerton

 

 

Also, don't forget the arrogance of Dr. Baker of the NHTSA. She used the word "urge" to urge members of the Maryland State legislature to vote against a bill. It was just last year that Congress passed a law prohibiting the NHTSA from "urging" members of State legislatures to vote. We need to amend that act of Congress to apply job termination, a fine, and jail time for this "arrogant" contempt of Congress. These penalties should also be applied to the managers who consent to the actions of these criminals.

 

It appears to me that the people at the NHTSA know they can tell Congress anything and you will accept it. How about accepting only reasonable answers from them?

Please take a moment now to ask yourself if you believe that, in addition to preventing injuries, helmets also cause injuries?

If so, don't you believe that a Federal specification that is responsible for causing injuries should be eliminated.

I am requesting that you eliminate FMVSS No. 218, because it requires the helmet strap to be strong enough to cause injury to a person wearing a helmet, and because the weight of a helmet can injure a person during an accident.

 

Regards,

 

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