A motorcycle crash is a tragedy. In a best-case scenario, a rider is left with expensive and time-consuming repairs. However, some rare instances of motorcycle wrecks have a positive impact after the fact, like Gary Busey and his unfortunate 1988 crash. Busey says his wreck and his actions after the fact helped enact California’s motorcycle helmet laws.
Actor Gary Busey had a serious injury crashing his Harley-Davidson and used it to highlight the fragility of the brain
If you have a penchant for action films from the late 1980s and early 1990s, you know Gary Busey. His characters were a bit, well, unhinged. However, Busey also liked to push the envelope off-screen. Unfortunately, his wild side resulted in a life-altering motorcycle crash that led to mandatory helmets for California riders.
“I had a Softail Harley,” Busey told comedian and actor Howie Mandel in an interview. It’s a popular mount for American riders, offering big-twin engines in a smaller package than a traditional bagger. Unfortunately, Gary Busey wasn’t too keen on helmets when riding the Harley-Davidson. “I hit my head on a curb going 40 mph per hour without a helmet.”
Therein lies the biggest issue. Sure, 40 mph doesn’t sound like much. However, without the protection of a sufficient crash helmet, even a low-speed impact is more than enough to kill or seriously injure a rider. “It split my skull,” Busey said about the wreck. “After I recovered, I decided to go to Washington and meet with Bill Clinton.”
“I talked about the brain,” he said of his meeting with Capitol Hill leadership. He explained how the skull remains stationary while the human brain bounces around in its bony vessel. When Gary Busey made contact with the ground, his skull protected part of his brain, but the movement within his head damaged another portion of it.
To “make the silent epidemic knowable,” his efforts contributed to the “Traumatic Brain Injury Act.” What’s more, Busey crashed his Softail in December 1988. Less than four years later, California enacted its 1992 Motorcycle Helmet Use Law, per the American Journal of Public Health. Prior to 1992, the helmet law covered riders under 15 and a half years old, not adult, road-going motorcyclists.
