A new study seems to suggest that African American motorcyclists around the country could be at a higher risk of death in an accident, even when they are helmeted. The study was conducted by researchers at John Hopkins, who compared more than 60,000 motorcycle accidents recorded by the National Trauma Data Bank.

The researchers found that black motorcyclists have a 50% higher chance of being killed in an accident than white motorcyclists. They also found that these results remained the same even though black motorcyclists had higher rates of helmet usage compared to white riders. Even when you account for individual accident factors like the severity of the accident or individual insurance status, black motorcyclists were found to have a higher risk of fatalities.

More surprisingly to Las Vegas motorcycle accident lawyers, these higher fatality rates remained consistent even among blacks who wore helmets. The conclusion of the research seems to be that even when motorcyclists are not wearing helmets, black non-helmeted motorcyclists are more likely to be killed in an accident, compared to white non-helmeted motorcyclists.

The reasons for this disparity in fatality rates could lie in socio-economic and other factors, and not so much in traffic safety issues. For instance, African Americans who live in low-income neighborhoods or meet with accidents in such areas, may not have access to emergency and trauma care facilities. Immediate and emergency trauma care can mean the difference between life and death for a motorcyclist involved in an accident. Besides, a person with inadequate health insurance may not have access to brain injury care, or other life-saving care needed after a serious motorcycle accident.

There may be genetic factors at work too. A motorcyclist who suffers from pre-existing health conditions could be at a higher risk of suffering complications after an accident. This would lower the chances of surviving a serious accident.