Citing a study showing an increase in head injuries among riders a Pennsylvania politician wants to mandate motorcycle helmet use.

State Representative Dan Frankel has introduced H.B. 945, a bipartisan bill that would restore the helmet requirement for riders 21 or older, restoring the parts of Pennsylvania’s motorcycle-helmet law that were repealed in 2003.

Recently, two University of Pittsburgh faculty members compared four years of data concerning motorcycle related fatalities; the two years before and two after the helmet law was repealed. According to their analysis, head injury deaths increased 66 percent and motorcycle-related head injury hospitalization increased 78 percent. The complete findings of the study will be published in the August issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

The 2006 Legislative Budget and Finance Committee also conducted a study which had similar findings and effect on the number of motorcycle riders’ injuries in Pennsylvania following the helmet-law repeal.

Frankel points to the increases and the possibility the data could get worse with higher fuel prices encouraging more people to ride motorcycles.