Motorcycle Crashes Cause Traumatic Brain Injuries | Utah Bike Law Your Motorcycle Accident Lawyer George Tait in Salt Lake City Utah

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Motorcycle Crashes Cause Traumatic Brain Injuries

Written by George Tait

Wednesday, 08 April 2009 12:43

There will be about 1.5 million brain injuries this year in the United States. Brain injuries are injuries that often have long term profound effects on the surviving victim and their family. Oftentimes the victim looks fine but their capacity to interact and make decisions is dramatically impaired. KSL quoted Ron Roskos, executive director of the Brain Injury Association of Utah saying those injuries can be long-lasting. "Just in the state of Utah there's over 44,000 individuals that are living with a long-term disability from brain injury," he said. I have written on how motorcycle crashes can cause brain injury and its effects in this blog.

Not only are the effects often not apparent but they are often very costly. Roskos says it's an average cost of $4 million to rehabilitate from a traumatic brain injury. And eventually, health insurance stops paying. What happens when the insurance is exhausted is that these victims are forced onto the Medicare and Medicaid rolls and the taxpayer often picks up the excess costs of rehabilitation.

The use of motorcycle helmets has been discussed on this website extensively and in my opinion comes down to a personal choice but if you choose not to wear a helmet you should have enough insurance coverage to care for your rehabilitation and to care for your family if you have one that relies on you. Whether the requirement and proof of insured should be requirement to ride without a helmet remains controversial. Various associations often call for stricter motorcycle helmet laws that require all motorcycle riders to wear helmets but these proposals are often challenged by other associations representing motorcycle riders.

According to the Brain Injury Association of Utah:

Every 23 seconds, one person in the U.S. sustains a brain injury
Over the past 12 years, mortality from brain injury has exceeded the cumulative number of American battle deaths inclusive of all wars since the founding of the Republic.
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is a silent yet serious epidemic currently leaving 5.3 million Americans with disabilities. This represents over- 2% of the US population; 40,000 victims in Utah alone!
50% of brain injuries are caused by vehicle crashes, 26% by falls.
In September 2000 alone, 8600 children under the age of 15 suffered a brain injury from scooter accidents... almost 300 children per day!
Every 7 minutes, someone dies of a brain injury
One death every day and one brain injury every four minutes can be prevented by the use of helmets in recreational activities, including skiing and biking.
80 % of brain injury victims end up in a divorce
75% of persons with TBI who return to work will lose their job within 90 days if they do not have supports.
The estimated lifetime cost for each survivor of a severe brain injury exceeds $4 million.
According to a study conducted by The National Foundation for the Brain, the cost of brain injury in the United States was $48.3 billion in 1992. Hospitalization accounts for $31.7 billion, and fatal brain injuries cost the nation $16.6 billion each year. We estimate that this figure may be substantially higher today.

Brain Injury Association of Utah Claims poor Funding

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is a silent yet serious epidemic currently leaving 5.3 million Americas with Disabilities. This represents over 2% of the US population; estimated 40,000 individuals in Utah alone suffer from a long-term disability from brain injury!
Each year, approximately 567,000 people go to the hospital emergency departments with bicycle related injuries; about 350,000 of those are children under 15 years of age. Of those children, about 130,000 sustain brain injuries.
1 million children sustain brain injuries every year ranging from mild to severe, with approximately one-third of all pediatric injury cases are related to brain injury. This public health concern ranks as the leading cause of death and disability in children and adolescents in the United States.
In Utah, during the school year 1997-98, there were 900 injuries that affected those from kindergarten through sixth grade. Of these injuries, 276 were possible concussions or loss of consciousness. This is disconcerting because these types of head injuries can cause long term problems.
It is estimated that one million people are treated for TBI and released from hospital emergency rooms every year.
Each year, 80,000 Americans experience the onset of long-term disability following TBI.
More than 50,000 people die every year as a result of TBI.
Vehicle crashes are the leading cause of brain injury. They account for 50% of all TBIs.
Falls are the second leading cause, and the leading cause of brain injury in the elderly.
The risk of TBI is highest among adolescents, young adults and those older than 75.
After one brain injury, the risk for a second injury is three times greater; after the second injury, the risk for a third injury is eight times greater.