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Originally Posted by flstf
My insurance agent tells me that motorcycle insurance is reasonably priced because 9 out of 10 times an accident is the car driver's fault and they collect from them. However since they also insure the cars they probably wish that motorcycles would just go away.
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When you buy car or motorcycle insurance it's not to protect you from any harm other than financial. If you're in a single car or bike wreck, your insurance company isn't going to pay for anything other than you damaged vehicle. So if you drive your bike into a concrete wall at 100 mph (with or without a helmet), your insurance company is just going to send your estate a check for the cost of the bike minus depreciation.
Unfortunately, the insurance industry can't solve this problem, no matter how much they may want to (and trust me, anything that will lower claims costs they are all for). Since insurance policies are written to protect the people you hurt (liability section), your physical property (physical damage section) and you if you're hit by someone with no or not enough insurance (uninsured/underinsured motorist section), there's no way to craft any language anywhere except the UM/UIM portion (which is an optional coverage only purchased by about 35% of drivers) to remove coverage if you don't wear your helmet. Most auto claims end up going to the health insurance carrier and since most Americans buy their health insurance through work to get better rates, it's unlikely that a blanket helmet requirement would be legal since it's a coverage provided by the employer who pays for at least a portion of it. If I'm driving and hit someone, my insurance can't have an exclusion of coverage for a third party that I injure because of my actions/negligence because that third party wasn't wearing a helmet. I'm still liable for my actions, and that denial of coverage could theoretically bankrupt me.
That all said, I'm fine with the state telling you to wear your damn helmet just as I'm ok with them telling you that have to have the proper departments have to sign off on the plans for your new house - it's too dangerous to have a lack of oversight.