While I can appreciate the feeling of freedom biking without a helmet, the statistics suggest that fatal bike crashes can be reduced if all bikers wore helmets or universal motorcycle helmet laws were in place. A national law that if you are riding a motorcycle you must wear a helmet could potentially save hundreds of lives every year from catastrophic head and brain injuries. A first-of-its kind econometric study published by University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida and Florida International University researchers in the Journal of Health Economics showed evidence that 489 lives could have been saved during 2005 alone had universal helmet laws (covering all motorcycle riders) been in place in each of the 48 states studied. Professor Michael French, director of Health Economic Research Group in the UM Department of Sociology, co-authored the comprehensive study, which investigated data spanning 1990 to 2005.