While I realize that not wearing a helmet while on a motorcycle increases a persons chance of death if in an accident, I think the use of cell phones while driving a car results in far more deaths. PUT THE DAMN PHONE/CEREAL/NEWSPAPER/MAP/MASCARA/LIPSTICKDOWN AND PAY ATTENTION!!!
Anybody who would ride a motorcycle without a helmet is just plain dumb. Why should the states even have to have laws about it? You would hope people would have enough common sense and personal responsibility to wear a helmet / other safety aids. But oh yeah, that barely exists nowadays!
If they are not smart enough to wear a helmet, they get what they deserve.
I wonder what percentage of riders were wearing a helmet with those fatalities?
It’s a 50/50 chance wearing a helmet or not. Wearing a helmet, you simply break your neck. Risk Management Tip, ride where the cars aren’t.
Agreed! Motorcycles are so dangerous to drive on roads with other vehicles. I live in a very populated area, and every person that rides a motorcycle scares me. I’ve seen accidents, and they are not pretty. Now, if a person wants to ride where there is little traffic, that is ok. I just wish people wouldn’t ride them in heavy traffic.
Simple answer: Don’t ride a motorcycle in 115 degree heat. Or do, but don’t dare complain if you get in an accident and get jacked up since no helmet was being worn.
Over the last whatever years, it appears to me that in my own densely populated areas, bikes have become much more powerful and riders are acting as if they are being taped for the Fast and the Furious. They dodge in and around cars, still driving on lane dividers, going on shoulders, etc.
At max speed, no helmet will protect the rider. Riders with helmets will just become longer snail marks, with a big chunk of high-impact plastic at the end.
States Urge Feds to STOP SPENDING US INTO OBLIVION, you morons! At the same time, aren’t fatalities caused by people not wearing helment simply life’s way of thinning the fools from the herd? I say we let them keep removing themselves from the overall gene pool.
Driving a cycle w/o a helmet is the same dilemma as DUI or driving while texting or on a cell phone. Everyone knows it’s dangerous, but nobody has the balls to address the issue because it will cost votes. Want to get serious about changing behavior? Put an exclusion on medical coverage for cyclists who don’t wear helmets. It their injuries could have been prevented or mitigated, they should get reduced levels of coverage. If an accident isn’t their fault, any damage award should be reduced by the level of injury that could have prevented the result. “Donorcycle” riders have every right to operate them. However, they’re on roads that were designed and intended for 4 wheel vehicles. They do so at their own risk. Quite a price to pay to have the wind blowing through your hair.
I agree completely that the idiots should be allowed to take themselves out of circulation; the problem is they tie up our first responders, ORs, doctors and hospital beds with their stupid smashed skulls. If we could just shove their carcasses into a ditch, that’d be a different matter.
I wholeheartedly agree that it should be a law that all parties riding a motorcycle should wear protective gear when riding on a public roadway. You can make every freedom argument that you want but it really boils down to more people die without than with. The ones that don’t die are permanently crippled either by brain damage or paralysis. There are arguments that you’re going to get smeared regardless, but your chances are diminished if you’re careful.
I’m so sick of our freedoms being taken away one by one. I do wear a helmet when I ride my bike but the first time I get my bike out each year, I enjoy riding without my helmet to feel the wind on my face and the freedom that comes with riding.
What’s next – helmets required for drivers/passengers in convertibles????
Tina, do you feel like your freedons were eroded by seatbelt laws, or speed limits? These are enacted for the common good. A whole lot more of your freedoms are being eroded in the name of national security, actions which to not benefit the many, but rather the few.
To all those people who think the gov should have the power to run their life then they should move to some other country! Our constitution doesn’t give our gov that right. Read it!!
Solution 1: Do away with cagers (people in cars) and make everyone ride a motorcycle, like in China.
Solution 2: Cars with no metal parts-all foam
Solution 3: Speed limits for every vehicle type must be limited to 15 MPH
Solution 4: All road must have the curves straightened
Helmet effectiveness declines sharply after 20 MPH. The stats do not contain info that places accidents in severity or speed and what injury caused the death. I worked a claims case last week where a bicylist fell under the wheels of a tractor trailer AND he had no helmet. Unfortunately, the trailer ran over his pelvis causing severe internal organ damage. I say until we get real data, this is an emotional argument and not a rational argument. “Lies, damned lies, and statistics” comes to mind.
P.S.
Full racing harnesses for occupants of cars, roll cages and yes, helmets, also for car drivers.
Solution 1: Do away with cagers (people in cars) and make everyone ride a motorcycle, like in China.
Solution 2: Cars with no metal parts-all foam
Solution 3: Speed limits for every vehicle type must be limited to 15 MPH
Solution 4: All road must have the curves straightened
Helmet effectiveness declines sharply after 20 MPH. The stats do not contain info that places accidents in severity or speed and what injury caused the death. I worked a claims case last week where a bicylist fell under the wheels of a tractor trailer AND he had no helmet. Unfortunately, the trailer ran over his pelvis causing severe internal organ damage. I say until we get real data, this is an emotional argument and not a rational argument. “Lies, damned lies, and statistics” comes to mind.
P.S.
Full racing harnesses for occupants of cars, roll cages and yes, helmets, also for car drivers.
Solution 1: Do away with cagers (people in cars) and make everyone ride a motorcycle, like in China.
Solution 2: Cars with no metal parts-all foam
Solution 3: Speed limits for every vehicle type must be limited to 15 MPH
Solution 4: All road must have the curves straightened
Helmet effectiveness declines sharply after 20 MPH. The stats do not contain info that places accidents in severity or speed and what injury caused the death. I worked a claims case last week where a bicylist fell under the wheels of a tractor trailer AND he had no helmet. Unfortunately, the trailer ran over his pelvis causing severe internal organ damage. I say until we get real data, this is an emotional argument and not a rational argument. “Lies, damned lies, and statistics” comes to mind.
P.S.
Full racing harnesses for occupants of cars, roll cages and yes, helmets, also for car drivers.
Solution 1: Do away with cagers (people in cars) and make everyone ride a motorcycle, like in China.
Solution 2: Cars with no metal parts-all foam
Solution 3: Speed limits for every vehicle type must be limited to 15 MPH
Solution 4: All road must have the curves straightened
Helmet effectiveness declines sharply after 20 MPH. The stats do not contain info that places accidents in severity or speed and what injury caused the death. I worked a claims case last week where a bicylist fell under the wheels of a tractor trailer AND he had no helmet. Unfortunately, the trailer ran over his pelvis causing severe internal organ damage. I say until we get real data, this is an emotional argument and not a rational argument. “Lies, damned lies, and statistics” comes to mind.
P.S.
Full racing harnesses for occupants of cars, roll cages and yes, helmets, also for car drivers.
Cell phones should be a top concern for the NTSB, given motorcyclists barely even account for 10% of annual highway fatalities.
PEOPLE NEED TO PAY ATTENTION no matter what form of transportation they use!
I agree, my life my choice. If I choose to ride without a helmet, knowing what it could cost, my RIGHT. What are they going to regulate next. What about people who walk, talking on the phone or listening to IPOD, not watching where they are going, should we make a law against that also. People in parking lots who walk behind a car backing out of a parking space because they are too stupid to look, should there be a law against that too. Convertible drivers, have to wear helmets because if they roll their car, it could kill them when they land on their heads!!!! YOur tax dollars at work
You would think that on a site populated by risk and insurance professionals there would be more people that would look at actual numbers and determine facts instead of listening to a bloated government enity with an adgenda. The statement that helmets save lives is just as true as the statement that they kill and the numbers show they kill more then they save. Since Fl gave choice back to their people 7,267 more people have suffered injury with a helmet then without, 446 more people have died with a helmet then without. CURTU surveys show more are riding without so the numbers are even more skewed. What they fail to tell you is fatalities and injuries are up but registrations have doubled. Fatalities per 10,000 registrations before choice were 8.8 after they are running 8.5. It doesn’t make any difference, you trade a neck injury for a head injury. And for those that want me to sign away my rights, I will happily do that when you start wearing a helment in the shower and your car as both account for fdar more injuries in the US then motorcyle accidents. And even if all of that was not true how come my wife can do anything she wants with her body and you all support that as some kind of right but when she throws her leg over a bike you want to tell her how to dress.
I know someone who was wearing a helmet, a car hit him broadside as the driver was not paying attention, he was thrown from the bike and the shield on the helmet cracked in half and slit his throat. If the driver had not put pressure on the cut on this throat from the helmet sheild he would have died, and my three children would not have been born
It is all about choice and not letting the government make choices for you. There is no end to the list of choices that the gov will make and it is all done under the guise of “people” who want to “save” all of us money, that is until, there is an activity they enjoy. Government that governs least, governs best.
How do you get your hair washed when the helmet is on?
How can you tell if a Frenchman suffers brain damage after a motorcycle accident?
Doesn’t forcing someone to wear a helmet interfer with the highly benficial Darwin effect?
How many laws will it take until we’re completely protected from ourselves?
If I choose to not wear a helmet or a seatbelt, thats my choice and freedom right. I shouldnt be forced to “protect” myself. By not wearing a helmet I am not hurting anyone unlike when someone is texting or smoking or doing there makeup, they are NOT paying attention to the road and could injure someone else. If I want to take the chance and hurt myself by not wearing a helmet then let it be.
Since the government is taking over all bad decision-making, may I suggest we outlaw all chubby people, all smokers, consumers of alcohol, and children who watch Barney?
Prepare for the counter-argument,made even worse by Ocare’s government payment model.
If you sky dive and get hurt, you cost me money
If you ride a motorcyle and get hurt, you cost me money.
If you fall off you riding lawnmover and get hurt, you cost me money
If you drink soda and get fat, you cost me money
If you eat too many Happy Meals, you cost me money.
If you have a swimmmng pool and get hurt you cost me money.
If you use a table saw and cut off your finger, you cost me money.
And so the control of nearly every human activity, high risk to low risk, comes under scrutiny and control of our fellow citizen empowered Fed government.
Did some of the people on this board forget that it is a PRIVLEDGE and not a RIGHT to possess a Driver’s License? In order to have the PRIVLEDGE to drive on our streets & highways, you must obey the rules of the road…..so tired of those who feel they are above-all and their feelings of entitlement. Puleeze!!
Also….for those of you on this board who think a helmet is unnecessary – when you do get hit and have a head injury, who loses? No, not just you, but the person who hits you…..ever think of what it would feel like if you hit someone on a bike and actually hurt or kill someone? Stop and think….life is too precious!
I do, but by my choice, not because I must (I am in a state that allows the choice). I don’t need the gov telling me why, when, and how to protect myself.
Tom, if everybody in the country were left to make their own decisions about every aspect of life, the country probably wouldn’t last too long. Thankfully, you choose to wear a helmet. A lot of people probably don’t. Sadly, you’re in the minority when it comes to making smart decisions on your own.
Motorcycle licenses should come in two flavors: Class M Helmet Mandatory (default option), and a Class M w/ No-Helmet Endorsement.
The catch is that the No-Helmet Endorsement would be inextricably linked to being an organ donor.
Ride without a helmet all you want, but we’re taking your organs to save lives if the pavement ends up treating your head like Gallagher’s mallet would treat a watermelon.
This has never been about helmets, it’s always been about another government mandate and another lost freedom of choice. Accident rates/stats always fail to list whether or not a helmet would have prevented or lessend a fatality/injury in the accident. Also, they fail to list the percentage of accidents caused by drivers who fail to yield, stop in time, or are distracted as the primary cause. Do helmets work? Yes. Would they also work in cars? Yes. So don’t be surprised if the government starts down that path someday!
Those that see this as a personal responsibility (freedom) issue have it right. Those who want the gov to control personal conduct feel comfortable ceding their decisions to the gov. That is the essence of the debate. The pro gov want to cloud the debate with a “it costs me money” distraction. That canard can be used for every human actiity and leads to neighbor v. neighbor debates over which activities need to be controlled and eventually boils down to the smallest “pet peeve” activities. It’s just that simple.
Lest anyone think I don’t care about being safe and making positive personal safety decisions, let me end by stating that the gov does have a role of using its considerable power to persuade people to do the right thing rather than “legislate” compliance by fiat.
If it becomes a law in every state, it doesn’t mean you have to obey it. Drive without the helmet. Drunks do it all the time. Let the fines and fees you incur be kept in a savings account to keep you on life support later in life – this way it doesn’t “cost me money”. I am one of those people that asks the government to step in and protect stupid people from themselves. I don’t agree with Darwinism? If we weed out the stupid, I would have no one to point to and laugh at.
I’ve got a metal rod in my arm that says anyone who doesn’t ride a motorcycle doesn’t have a dog in this hunt.
Before you start worrying about if I have a helmet on or not, how about you start worrying about actual problems, like aggressive drivers. You know the type. Driving 20 miles an hour faster than anyone else on the road while texting on a phone two inches from your back bumper?
Until things like this are seriously addressed, it’s all just hot air.
Had 2 motorcycle incidents years ago. VW cut me off, and I broadsided him as he failed to yield right away, flew over his car, and rolled out of it. (No Helmet) (No Injury). The one month later, different location, broadsided another VW, he also failed to yield right away, flew over his car and rolled out of it. (No Helmet) (No Injury).
All we have to do is learn how to fall.
Get up and rub some dirt on it.
Thanks Dad for those Judo lessons.
Oh, like the people on bikes? They may not be texting, but they are the ones going 20 mph over the speed limit and riding people’s bumpers in my area. I actually can’t stand most of the cyclists in my area BECAUSE of those reasons.
Anybody can be an “aggressive driver”, no matter what type of vehicle they are on.
Bad drivers are bad drivers regardless of what they ride. That’s the problem that should be addressed. Make people on the highway observe a safe following distance. Make that the agenda before worrying about what’s on my head, see how many lives are saved.
Don’t come to me acting like bikers are, as a group, driving like morons and expect to get any respect from me.
I was not trying to blame all road accidents on bikers. Your post seemed to defend bikers and blame people in 4+ wheeled vehicles, and I came back doing the same thing, but reversed. I think I summed it all up though when I said “Anybody can be an ‘aggressive driver’, no matter what type of vehicle they are on.”
I agree with you that all people should obey all laws. But in the real world, that just isn’t going to happen.
Interesting. these figures, if you think about it, (deaths) doesn’t tell us how many had helmets on.
Also in the past decade or so we have seen a huge increase in people riding motorcycles. Of course your going to have more accidents. doubtful these people that are pushing for a helmet law even ride a motorcycle.
My guess is a high percentage are “zoom-spat” young kids with 165+ bikes and solo intoxicated “hog” bike riders. In either case, speed and alcohol account for the vast majority and helmets would not have played a major role in survivability.
It is wise to wear a helmet but that is a choice the individual should make, not the government. There is no end to the government’s willingness to accept power ceded to it by people that wish to control other citizens personal choices. There are a large group of people who have no problem giving most of their individual freedoms over to the government in exchange for protecting them from “paying” for the consequences of those choices or exchanging personal freedom for safety. We only need to look at the new airport “pat downs” as an example of blindly giving up a freedom for security. As Benjamin Franklin stated, when you give up freedom for safety, you get neither. Words we should all take to heart.
I feel this is an invasion of my rights just like the seat belt law im not hurting anyone .why do they insist on sticking a nose in my affairs im 43 yrs. old and do not need you to hold my hand
How many more riders are there now, than prior to 1990? More riders, more accidents. How many accidents were related to drinking alcohol and then driving? (More education not helmets.)How many accidents were not the biker’s fault? (Again more education not helmets.)If the feds want to force everyone to wear a helmet then lets get the complete stats. Helmet’s may save some lives but it won’t save all, no more than seatbelts do.
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While I realize that not wearing a helmet while on a motorcycle increases a persons chance of death if in an accident, I think the use of cell phones while driving a car results in far more deaths. PUT THE DAMN PHONE/CEREAL/NEWSPAPER/MAP/MASCARA/LIPSTICKDOWN AND PAY ATTENTION!!!
maybe PA’s new guv will reinstate the helmet law, the repeal of which was one of the stupidest, most unecessary legislative acts in PA…
Anybody who would ride a motorcycle without a helmet is just plain dumb. Why should the states even have to have laws about it? You would hope people would have enough common sense and personal responsibility to wear a helmet / other safety aids. But oh yeah, that barely exists nowadays!
If they are not smart enough to wear a helmet, they get what they deserve.
I wonder what percentage of riders were wearing a helmet with those fatalities?
It’s a 50/50 chance wearing a helmet or not. Wearing a helmet, you simply break your neck. Risk Management Tip, ride where the cars aren’t.
Agreed! Motorcycles are so dangerous to drive on roads with other vehicles. I live in a very populated area, and every person that rides a motorcycle scares me. I’ve seen accidents, and they are not pretty. Now, if a person wants to ride where there is little traffic, that is ok. I just wish people wouldn’t ride them in heavy traffic.
Dear Nanny State,
I’m not goin to wear no stinkin’ helmet in the summer time!! Put one on “Scary Barry” instead – or the TSA bunch along with Nappie!!
Simple answer: Don’t ride a motorcycle in 115 degree heat. Or do, but don’t dare complain if you get in an accident and get jacked up since no helmet was being worn.
That’s right!!!!What good is a helmet going to due for you if a vechicle slams you or you loose control going 60?
Over the last whatever years, it appears to me that in my own densely populated areas, bikes have become much more powerful and riders are acting as if they are being taped for the Fast and the Furious. They dodge in and around cars, still driving on lane dividers, going on shoulders, etc.
At max speed, no helmet will protect the rider. Riders with helmets will just become longer snail marks, with a big chunk of high-impact plastic at the end.
States Urge Feds to STOP SPENDING US INTO OBLIVION, you morons! At the same time, aren’t fatalities caused by people not wearing helment simply life’s way of thinning the fools from the herd? I say we let them keep removing themselves from the overall gene pool.
Driving a cycle w/o a helmet is the same dilemma as DUI or driving while texting or on a cell phone. Everyone knows it’s dangerous, but nobody has the balls to address the issue because it will cost votes. Want to get serious about changing behavior? Put an exclusion on medical coverage for cyclists who don’t wear helmets. It their injuries could have been prevented or mitigated, they should get reduced levels of coverage. If an accident isn’t their fault, any damage award should be reduced by the level of injury that could have prevented the result. “Donorcycle” riders have every right to operate them. However, they’re on roads that were designed and intended for 4 wheel vehicles. They do so at their own risk. Quite a price to pay to have the wind blowing through your hair.
You said it right, P.K.!
I agree completely that the idiots should be allowed to take themselves out of circulation; the problem is they tie up our first responders, ORs, doctors and hospital beds with their stupid smashed skulls. If we could just shove their carcasses into a ditch, that’d be a different matter.
I wholeheartedly agree that it should be a law that all parties riding a motorcycle should wear protective gear when riding on a public roadway. You can make every freedom argument that you want but it really boils down to more people die without than with. The ones that don’t die are permanently crippled either by brain damage or paralysis. There are arguments that you’re going to get smeared regardless, but your chances are diminished if you’re careful.
I’m so sick of our freedoms being taken away one by one. I do wear a helmet when I ride my bike but the first time I get my bike out each year, I enjoy riding without my helmet to feel the wind on my face and the freedom that comes with riding.
What’s next – helmets required for drivers/passengers in convertibles????
Tina, do you feel like your freedons were eroded by seatbelt laws, or speed limits? These are enacted for the common good. A whole lot more of your freedoms are being eroded in the name of national security, actions which to not benefit the many, but rather the few.
Really?
Nah, we have seatbelts for that… ‘course if you’re too good for a helmet then I’m guessing you’re too good for seatbelts too.
To all those people who think the gov should have the power to run their life then they should move to some other country! Our constitution doesn’t give our gov that right. Read it!!
Solution 1: Do away with cagers (people in cars) and make everyone ride a motorcycle, like in China.
Solution 2: Cars with no metal parts-all foam
Solution 3: Speed limits for every vehicle type must be limited to 15 MPH
Solution 4: All road must have the curves straightened
Helmet effectiveness declines sharply after 20 MPH. The stats do not contain info that places accidents in severity or speed and what injury caused the death. I worked a claims case last week where a bicylist fell under the wheels of a tractor trailer AND he had no helmet. Unfortunately, the trailer ran over his pelvis causing severe internal organ damage. I say until we get real data, this is an emotional argument and not a rational argument. “Lies, damned lies, and statistics” comes to mind.
P.S.
Full racing harnesses for occupants of cars, roll cages and yes, helmets, also for car drivers.
Solution 1: Do away with cagers (people in cars) and make everyone ride a motorcycle, like in China.
Solution 2: Cars with no metal parts-all foam
Solution 3: Speed limits for every vehicle type must be limited to 15 MPH
Solution 4: All road must have the curves straightened
Helmet effectiveness declines sharply after 20 MPH. The stats do not contain info that places accidents in severity or speed and what injury caused the death. I worked a claims case last week where a bicylist fell under the wheels of a tractor trailer AND he had no helmet. Unfortunately, the trailer ran over his pelvis causing severe internal organ damage. I say until we get real data, this is an emotional argument and not a rational argument. “Lies, damned lies, and statistics” comes to mind.
P.S.
Full racing harnesses for occupants of cars, roll cages and yes, helmets, also for car drivers.
Solution 1: Do away with cagers (people in cars) and make everyone ride a motorcycle, like in China.
Solution 2: Cars with no metal parts-all foam
Solution 3: Speed limits for every vehicle type must be limited to 15 MPH
Solution 4: All road must have the curves straightened
Helmet effectiveness declines sharply after 20 MPH. The stats do not contain info that places accidents in severity or speed and what injury caused the death. I worked a claims case last week where a bicylist fell under the wheels of a tractor trailer AND he had no helmet. Unfortunately, the trailer ran over his pelvis causing severe internal organ damage. I say until we get real data, this is an emotional argument and not a rational argument. “Lies, damned lies, and statistics” comes to mind.
P.S.
Full racing harnesses for occupants of cars, roll cages and yes, helmets, also for car drivers.
Solution 1: Do away with cagers (people in cars) and make everyone ride a motorcycle, like in China.
Solution 2: Cars with no metal parts-all foam
Solution 3: Speed limits for every vehicle type must be limited to 15 MPH
Solution 4: All road must have the curves straightened
Helmet effectiveness declines sharply after 20 MPH. The stats do not contain info that places accidents in severity or speed and what injury caused the death. I worked a claims case last week where a bicylist fell under the wheels of a tractor trailer AND he had no helmet. Unfortunately, the trailer ran over his pelvis causing severe internal organ damage. I say until we get real data, this is an emotional argument and not a rational argument. “Lies, damned lies, and statistics” comes to mind.
P.S.
Full racing harnesses for occupants of cars, roll cages and yes, helmets, also for car drivers.
If I wear a helmet, I can’t hear how loud my pipes are!
Cell phones should be a top concern for the NTSB, given motorcyclists barely even account for 10% of annual highway fatalities.
PEOPLE NEED TO PAY ATTENTION no matter what form of transportation they use!
I agree, my life my choice. If I choose to ride without a helmet, knowing what it could cost, my RIGHT. What are they going to regulate next. What about people who walk, talking on the phone or listening to IPOD, not watching where they are going, should we make a law against that also. People in parking lots who walk behind a car backing out of a parking space because they are too stupid to look, should there be a law against that too. Convertible drivers, have to wear helmets because if they roll their car, it could kill them when they land on their heads!!!! YOur tax dollars at work
You would think that on a site populated by risk and insurance professionals there would be more people that would look at actual numbers and determine facts instead of listening to a bloated government enity with an adgenda. The statement that helmets save lives is just as true as the statement that they kill and the numbers show they kill more then they save. Since Fl gave choice back to their people 7,267 more people have suffered injury with a helmet then without, 446 more people have died with a helmet then without. CURTU surveys show more are riding without so the numbers are even more skewed. What they fail to tell you is fatalities and injuries are up but registrations have doubled. Fatalities per 10,000 registrations before choice were 8.8 after they are running 8.5. It doesn’t make any difference, you trade a neck injury for a head injury. And for those that want me to sign away my rights, I will happily do that when you start wearing a helment in the shower and your car as both account for fdar more injuries in the US then motorcyle accidents. And even if all of that was not true how come my wife can do anything she wants with her body and you all support that as some kind of right but when she throws her leg over a bike you want to tell her how to dress.
I know someone who was wearing a helmet, a car hit him broadside as the driver was not paying attention, he was thrown from the bike and the shield on the helmet cracked in half and slit his throat. If the driver had not put pressure on the cut on this throat from the helmet sheild he would have died, and my three children would not have been born
It is all about choice and not letting the government make choices for you. There is no end to the list of choices that the gov will make and it is all done under the guise of “people” who want to “save” all of us money, that is until, there is an activity they enjoy. Government that governs least, governs best.
How do you get your hair washed when the helmet is on?
How can you tell if a Frenchman suffers brain damage after a motorcycle accident?
Doesn’t forcing someone to wear a helmet interfer with the highly benficial Darwin effect?
How many laws will it take until we’re completely protected from ourselves?
If we stand atop the law books containing all of the personal protection laws, rules and regulations, will we be required to wear a helmet?
If I choose to not wear a helmet or a seatbelt, thats my choice and freedom right. I shouldnt be forced to “protect” myself. By not wearing a helmet I am not hurting anyone unlike when someone is texting or smoking or doing there makeup, they are NOT paying attention to the road and could injure someone else. If I want to take the chance and hurt myself by not wearing a helmet then let it be.
Since the government is taking over all bad decision-making, may I suggest we outlaw all chubby people, all smokers, consumers of alcohol, and children who watch Barney?
Prepare for the counter-argument,made even worse by Ocare’s government payment model.
If you sky dive and get hurt, you cost me money
If you ride a motorcyle and get hurt, you cost me money.
If you fall off you riding lawnmover and get hurt, you cost me money
If you drink soda and get fat, you cost me money
If you eat too many Happy Meals, you cost me money.
If you have a swimmmng pool and get hurt you cost me money.
If you use a table saw and cut off your finger, you cost me money.
And so the control of nearly every human activity, high risk to low risk, comes under scrutiny and control of our fellow citizen empowered Fed government.
Did some of the people on this board forget that it is a PRIVLEDGE and not a RIGHT to possess a Driver’s License? In order to have the PRIVLEDGE to drive on our streets & highways, you must obey the rules of the road…..so tired of those who feel they are above-all and their feelings of entitlement. Puleeze!!
SFO, you point escapes me.
Alright Already.
Let’s sell some insurance.
Also….for those of you on this board who think a helmet is unnecessary – when you do get hit and have a head injury, who loses? No, not just you, but the person who hits you…..ever think of what it would feel like if you hit someone on a bike and actually hurt or kill someone? Stop and think….life is too precious!
SFO, glad you aren’t running the military.
It’s a no brainer, Tom…..wear a helmet…(pun intended).
I do, but by my choice, not because I must (I am in a state that allows the choice). I don’t need the gov telling me why, when, and how to protect myself.
Tom, if everybody in the country were left to make their own decisions about every aspect of life, the country probably wouldn’t last too long. Thankfully, you choose to wear a helmet. A lot of people probably don’t. Sadly, you’re in the minority when it comes to making smart decisions on your own.
And that my friend is how the authoritarian state begins its journey, one step at a time.
Motorcycle licenses should come in two flavors: Class M Helmet Mandatory (default option), and a Class M w/ No-Helmet Endorsement.
The catch is that the No-Helmet Endorsement would be inextricably linked to being an organ donor.
Ride without a helmet all you want, but we’re taking your organs to save lives if the pavement ends up treating your head like Gallagher’s mallet would treat a watermelon.
Let em ride free. We need the Body Parts and Darwinism at work.
This has never been about helmets, it’s always been about another government mandate and another lost freedom of choice. Accident rates/stats always fail to list whether or not a helmet would have prevented or lessend a fatality/injury in the accident. Also, they fail to list the percentage of accidents caused by drivers who fail to yield, stop in time, or are distracted as the primary cause. Do helmets work? Yes. Would they also work in cars? Yes. So don’t be surprised if the government starts down that path someday!
Ja. Wer ist da? Das ist Helmut.
Those that see this as a personal responsibility (freedom) issue have it right. Those who want the gov to control personal conduct feel comfortable ceding their decisions to the gov. That is the essence of the debate. The pro gov want to cloud the debate with a “it costs me money” distraction. That canard can be used for every human actiity and leads to neighbor v. neighbor debates over which activities need to be controlled and eventually boils down to the smallest “pet peeve” activities. It’s just that simple.
Lest anyone think I don’t care about being safe and making positive personal safety decisions, let me end by stating that the gov does have a role of using its considerable power to persuade people to do the right thing rather than “legislate” compliance by fiat.
If it becomes a law in every state, it doesn’t mean you have to obey it. Drive without the helmet. Drunks do it all the time. Let the fines and fees you incur be kept in a savings account to keep you on life support later in life – this way it doesn’t “cost me money”. I am one of those people that asks the government to step in and protect stupid people from themselves. I don’t agree with Darwinism? If we weed out the stupid, I would have no one to point to and laugh at.
You are awesome, NotOpinionated,JustRight!!! :)
I’ve got a metal rod in my arm that says anyone who doesn’t ride a motorcycle doesn’t have a dog in this hunt.
Before you start worrying about if I have a helmet on or not, how about you start worrying about actual problems, like aggressive drivers. You know the type. Driving 20 miles an hour faster than anyone else on the road while texting on a phone two inches from your back bumper?
Until things like this are seriously addressed, it’s all just hot air.
Had 2 motorcycle incidents years ago. VW cut me off, and I broadsided him as he failed to yield right away, flew over his car, and rolled out of it. (No Helmet) (No Injury). The one month later, different location, broadsided another VW, he also failed to yield right away, flew over his car and rolled out of it. (No Helmet) (No Injury).
All we have to do is learn how to fall.
Get up and rub some dirt on it.
Thanks Dad for those Judo lessons.
Oh, like the people on bikes? They may not be texting, but they are the ones going 20 mph over the speed limit and riding people’s bumpers in my area. I actually can’t stand most of the cyclists in my area BECAUSE of those reasons.
Anybody can be an “aggressive driver”, no matter what type of vehicle they are on.
Sounds to me like you need to avoid VWs!!! Glad you didn’t get hurt.
Thats right Lou.
BMW motorcycle vs. VW accident #1
BMW motorcycle vs. VW sccident #2
Now I ride an Indian, they avoid everything.
Lou,
Bad drivers are bad drivers regardless of what they ride. That’s the problem that should be addressed. Make people on the highway observe a safe following distance. Make that the agenda before worrying about what’s on my head, see how many lives are saved.
Don’t come to me acting like bikers are, as a group, driving like morons and expect to get any respect from me.
Lunatic,
I was not trying to blame all road accidents on bikers. Your post seemed to defend bikers and blame people in 4+ wheeled vehicles, and I came back doing the same thing, but reversed. I think I summed it all up though when I said “Anybody can be an ‘aggressive driver’, no matter what type of vehicle they are on.”
I agree with you that all people should obey all laws. But in the real world, that just isn’t going to happen.
Have any of you ever heard of Hitler????
Interesting. these figures, if you think about it, (deaths) doesn’t tell us how many had helmets on.
Also in the past decade or so we have seen a huge increase in people riding motorcycles. Of course your going to have more accidents. doubtful these people that are pushing for a helmet law even ride a motorcycle.
My guess is a high percentage are “zoom-spat” young kids with 165+ bikes and solo intoxicated “hog” bike riders. In either case, speed and alcohol account for the vast majority and helmets would not have played a major role in survivability.
It is wise to wear a helmet but that is a choice the individual should make, not the government. There is no end to the government’s willingness to accept power ceded to it by people that wish to control other citizens personal choices. There are a large group of people who have no problem giving most of their individual freedoms over to the government in exchange for protecting them from “paying” for the consequences of those choices or exchanging personal freedom for safety. We only need to look at the new airport “pat downs” as an example of blindly giving up a freedom for security. As Benjamin Franklin stated, when you give up freedom for safety, you get neither. Words we should all take to heart.
I feel this is an invasion of my rights just like the seat belt law im not hurting anyone .why do they insist on sticking a nose in my affairs im 43 yrs. old and do not need you to hold my hand
people in crosswalks get by cars .maybe they should have to wear helmets.
How many more riders are there now, than prior to 1990? More riders, more accidents. How many accidents were related to drinking alcohol and then driving? (More education not helmets.)How many accidents were not the biker’s fault? (Again more education not helmets.)If the feds want to force everyone to wear a helmet then lets get the complete stats. Helmet’s may save some lives but it won’t save all, no more than seatbelts do.
Yup, Roger – Pedestrians wearing helmets. Now That would be funny!! :-)