Friday, December 2, 2011

MASSACHUSETTS - Motorcycle helmet choice for adults, 18 years and older..

OFF THE WIRE
Date:  December 1, 2011
 
From:  Paul W. Cote / Amesbury, MA
TO:     Chairs and Members of the Joint Committee on Transportation

RE:  Motorcycle helmet choice for adults, 18 years and older
        Public Hearing, Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2011 at 10:00 a.m.

Honorable Chairmen and Members:

As I testified today, attached is the recently released MA Brain Injury Commission report (28 pages). 
We have requested Appendix F, which was not included in the report, that will likely show how these 51,000 brain injuries are occurring annually in Massachusetts, including how many are motorcycle accident related.
 
However, MA DOT reports show less than 400 motorcycle accidents each season, not all with "incapacitating" injuries.

From Page 7

Traumatic: An extrinsically-caused and most common type of ABI. The leading cause is falls,
and other mechanisms for injury include motor -vehicle-related events, sports-related injury,
military combat (e.g. blast -induced concussion), interpersonal and child abuse/violence (e.g.
shaken baby syndrome). Currently, more than 51,000 Massachusetts residents sustain a TBI
annually, and the majority of these injuries represent concussions or mild TBI (mTBI), evaluated
in ER encounters (see Appendix F, Reference 1). 
 
If you do not support adult choice, or are undecided, please let me know your reasoning so I can provide additional information and/or documentation to address those specific concerns.

Thank you for your attention to these matters.

Paul W. Cote
1 Birchwood Pointe, #102
Amesbury, MA 01913
978-535-8222 (office)
978-504-9715 (cell)
ClaimsCote@aol.com