Posted On: March 22, 2005, 11:13 pm CST

Posted By: Leigh-Ann

Beleive it or not, and I see a lot of nots, a helmet makes about as much difference in safety as tying yourself in your car with shoe strings. At 55 or 60 MPH (and faster) highway speeds, neither one is going to make a difference. There hasn't been one EMT that scraped a biker off the highway after the guy in the SUV, going 70 and talking on his cell phone, hit him that said "If he'd only been wearing a helmet, this wouldn't have happened". The problem isn't the bikers, with or without helmets. 8 out of 10 times it's drivers of other vehicles NOT paying attention to the road. Pulling out in front of bikes or into bikes or the one that injured my uncle, a friend and killed another of my friends last year alone (separate incidents, same cause), talking on a cell phone while looking for something in the car. They look up just in time to NOT be able to react and hit the bike from behind, injuring or killing the rider. BTW, all were wearing helmets. It did them no good. Helmets impair the visual field of the rider. They also impair the hearing of the rider. Both of these things are imperitive if one is to react and avoid injury. I think someone mentioned a false sense of security, I agree, especially for the younger riders, They think with a helmet they can go 90. With nothing but the air between you and the road, you tend to be a little more careful.