Where, When and Why Did Motorcycle Helmet Laws Originate In The US ?
It all began in 1967 when the US government decided that if states wanted to quality for certain federal safety programs they would have to institute motorcycle helmet laws. In less than ten years, all but three states had created and passed motorcycle helmet laws. However things changed dramatically in the mid 70’s when the Department of Transportation started to financially penalize the three states who hadn’t yet mandated their own motorcycle helmet laws. In response to this action, Congress removed all federal power to financially penalize the states for their refusal to comply, and in turn 27 states changed or removed their motorcycle helmet laws. In the early 90’s Congress created the 1991 Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act, spurring each individual state to mandate new motorcycle and seat belt usage laws. The states that decided to enact both laws received dedicated safety grants, but those who didn’t within two years had up to 3% of their federal highway allocatio
