Helmet law protester crashes, hits head, and dies.

My experience... I hear a LOT better WITH the helmet than I did the couple of times I tried riding without one.
US helmets (DOT approved) are required to have at least 105 degrees of peripheral vision per side...most people only see about 90 degrees per side.
Get one that fits correctly and you wont have either issue.


Jim
 
Whether I think it is smart to ride with a helmet or not, the bottom line is that it is the rider's choice. Just like it is my opinion that the dude who passes me without a helmet on isn't very safe, it is his choice to do so. It is not the government's right to pass a law to make him wear it. Just like seatbelt laws, a mandatory law requiring helmet usage is a joke. Is it a good idea to wear one? Yes. Should it be the law? No. Last time I checked this was a country founded on basic freedom of choice.
 
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I dont think it should be a law...
MANY people said its personal choice, and it is.
People would like to see seat belt laws repealed, helmet laws repealed...
Its all about free choice.
What about speed limits, stop signs, turn signals, 1 way streets, driving on the right side of the road, school zone speed limits, crosswalks?

Opinions?


Jim
 
ChattanoogaPhil said:
Loved the H2. Didn't handle well, but the front end lifted up on command! I'm surprised that I survived the street bikes of the 70's. :D
Click to expand...

Yup...AWESOME machine! 750cc of two-stroke madness!

And you are absolutely correct...they didn't turn worth a damn...but they sure were fun in a straight line!

I had a few of them, at the same time, but the one I crashed on was Candy Root Beer color with chrome Denco pipes. After I fixed the crash damage, I decided I was done with them and sold them off.
 
What about speed limits, stop signs, turn signals, 1 way streets, driving on the right side of the road, school zone speed limits, crosswalks?
Evil one, those laws are justified as they protect "The other guy". Obvisely, seat belts and helmets protect only the indivigual that choose`s to wear them, not some other innocent guy.
 
You wouldn't have to change the helmet law forcing everyone to wear a helmet if the insurance companies said they wouldn't cover anyone riding a motorcycle that wasn't wearing a helmet. I better be quite or State Farm might here me.
 
rchance said:
You wouldn't have to change the helmet law forcing everyone to wear a helmet if the insurance companies said they wouldn't cover anyone riding a motorcycle that wasn't wearing a helmet. I better be quite or State Farm might here me.
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Depending on state insurance regs , motorcycle insurance policies do not cover the riders injuries if it's the riders fault. Only passenger. My major medical insurance covers me.

Insurance companies cannot deny coverage just because you said so.
 
feralmerril said:
What about speed limits, stop signs, turn signals, 1 way streets, driving on the right side of the road, school zone speed limits, crosswalks?
Evil one, those laws are justified as they protect "The other guy". Obvisely, seat belts and helmets protect only the indivigual that choose`s to wear them, not some other innocent guy.
Click to expand...

You are half right. The primary function is driver/rider protection.
Seat belts also keep you behind the wheel. Helmets protect your head from things flying at your head.
Therefore keeping you in control of your vehicle, this protects the other guy.
I have hit heaves in the road that threw me into the belts hard enough to bruise.
Of have had objects hit my helmet hard enough to chip and crack it.
No belt or helmet and I could have hit others.


Jim
 
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I don't ride anymore, but I always wore a helmet when I did.

I think every rider should wear a helmet. However, the state should not mandate it, not because of the "live free" stuff but because I believe in Darwin and natural selection.
 
dougb1946 said:
Somewhere along the way, your rights and freedoms have impinged on my life in a negative way. Freedom and personal rights imply having a sense of responsibility and duty.
Click to expand...
When I hear this kind of rhetoric BS it's only fair to inform you that 99% of ALL motorcycle accidents and death (with or without a helmet) on our roadways is the FAULT of the "brain dead" drivers of the automobile failing in their responsibility and duty "required by their license to drive". If you cagers were responsible drivers paying attention, you could eliminate 99% of what you consider impinging on your life in a negative way.
 
mkk41 said:
Two motorcyclists killed 5 injured by drunk driver.
Perhaps ALL vehicles should be equipped with breathalizer/ignition interlocks?
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Absolutely! A thousand times more people are killed by the consumption of alcohol than all people killed by tobacco use or riding a M/C with or without a helmet.
 
Some politico in PA actually introduced a bill to have EVERY motor vehicle registered in PA , new or old , equipped with a breathalizer interlock , at OWNERS expense.

His reason was to cut down on bing drinking by underage college students. Most of whom have their vehicles registered in OTHER states.
 
I never had a helmet that felt totaly comfortable. The back of my pointy head is flat as a skillet. I usualy wore those half helmets like the old CHPs wore. The full helmets are hard to hear, and restrict vision. I have had three signifcant motorcycle accidents. In all three the helmet flew forward covering my face and breaking my nose. In fact I found the perfect V indentation in the hard liners of my helmets. I hate to wear a seat belt even more than I hate helmets. Invarably they saw the side of my neck. I do wear them as I am cheap and dont want a ticket. I recall driveing about a 1957 GMC truck that I dont think even had a belt or else I wasnt wearing it if it had one. I came into a curve on a narrow blacktop road at high speed. The truck went in a skid and I well recall it starting to roll I was countersteering and both my feet and legs went through the open passenger window! God himself must have took the wheel as I now started to roll towards the opposite side! This went on for about 4 corrections! The point is I could see where normaly I should have lost the wheel by force as I couldnt even keep my legs on the floorboard. That would be the big reason for a seatbelt. Another time I had the same happen to me driveing a 92 lincoln mark 4. I was passing a 18 wheeler on a narrow blacktop on a dark night on the dessert in the middle of nowhere. As I got alongside him here comes a guy on a dirt bike with no lights! To give him room I pulled into the side of the trailer. That knocked me all over the road just like it did with the truck the other time. I had to opposite correct about 4 times. I never did hit the cyclelist but he dumped it. I started to walk up to him, he fired it up and took off in the dark! Had I not been wearing a belt I probley couldnt have hung on the wheel that time too. It did about total my lincoln.
Quad rideing is my thing now. I have been thinking about getting a side by side can am. But I am not sure I want to be strapped in as opposed to just jumping off the one we have if we start to roll down a canyon or something. I know they have a strong cage but I would hate to roll in one like a barrel for a thousand feet! Thats possible on some trails that we ride!
 
Sounds like a sore topic. Their sure are a lot of different opinions. I have had friends that have crashed on bikes that probably wouldn't be here if they didn't have a helmet on and I'm a firm believer in wearing one but if you don't want to that's your prerogative I've always worn one since I started riding when I was a kid so it feels natural to me.
 
I think every sane person belives that helmets are a big plus in wrecks. The rub is we dont like big brother telling us to wear them. It`s a personnal matter. If we are like sheep where would it stop? Ya ya, ve are goot german`s? Trouble is I dont respect many law makers anymore. I feel I know whats best for me better than I trust them. I also suspect they are really far more interested in the revenue from fines than my noggin. Helmet and seat belt laws are great to raise money.
 
DeadAye said:
I way prefer NO HELMET when riding...
You want to wear one - Have at it.

WHY are helmets not required for automobile occupants?
They would save lives and save folks from some injuries.

If I HAVE TO why shouldn't everyone?

Like mkk41 kinda said - We just need more laws and everything will be alright.
Click to expand...

Here, we have a helmet law.

Why don't they require all automobile occupants wear helmets, Cause there is no such thing as a fender bender on a bike.

I say to each his own, but heaven forbid you are a veggie the rest of your life, don't expect the taxpayers to pay for the med bills.

for me, it's all gear, all the time.

I ride an 08 CBR600RR
 
We lost 58,000 americans durring vietnam. We have had several years where we hit 51,000 auto accident deaths a year. It has declined from that to in the 30,000s in the last few years.
Gee! We lose more in auto accidents in two years than all the us deaths all durring vietnam? Sounds to me like helmets would save lives in autos, dont cha think?
There are many more auto drivers than there are motorcyclelists. There wouldnt be a chance of law makers getting a helmet law for auto drivers. They know that. But they know they can do it with the bikers as there are far fewer compared to autos. It`s as simple as that! Plus you couldnt get a senator to wear a helmet in a car!
You cant tell me that if they actualy made it law that there wouldnt be more lives actualy saved in autos than there is now on bikes!
I dont like kool ade!
 
I don't think helmet laws should exist...Riding without a helmet and other protective gear is an example of natural selection. Those who chose to "live free" or look cool and splatter their brains on the pavement in a low speed accident are just helping to clean the gene pool some. I believe everyone should be free to be foolish as long as I don't have to pay for it. Having actually been down a couple of times over the many years of riding, I have found that bloody wounds don't really look that cool. My gear has saved my skin and head more than once. I'll keep mine and others may do as they wish...My wife considers my motorcycling to be entirely foolish...Maybe she's right.
 
Frizzman said:
I don't think helmet laws should exist...Riding without a helmet and other protective gear is an example of natural selection. Those who chose to "live free" or look cool and splatter their brains on the pavement in a low speed accident are just helping to clean the gene pool some. I believe everyone should be free to be foolish as long as I don't have to pay for it. Having actually been down a couple of times over the many years of riding, I have found that bloody wounds don't really look that cool. My gear has saved my skin and head more than once. I'll keep mine and others may do as they wish...My wife considers my motorcycling to be entirely foolish...Maybe she's right.
Click to expand...

Just riding a bike is *an example of natural selection*.
Putting on a bunch of stuff and feeling safe is even more so.
 
Yeah, putting on a bunch of stuff and feeling safe makes as much sense as carrying a gun and feeling safe, right? No piece of equipment gaurantees complete safety but it can help and just like the firearm, its worth the trouble and expense to me. Others are free to do as they wish.

I spent a few years as a counselor working with people who had major, traumatic brain damage. Guess what was the most frequent cause of the brain injury after military service related injury?...Motorcycle accidents. I observed the terrible consequences of a fairly low speed impact to the brains of riders who could have only had minor injuries if they had been wearing a decent helmet. A couple people also had ghastly facial injuries from this type of accident. In all of these cases, a split second of time took them from being functional people to people who would never be the same again.

I tend to think that people who do dangerous things for a living and hope to survive it may serve as examples to us. I haven't seen any professional motorcycle racers or NASCAR drivers skip wearing the safety equipment. Most things in life wind up being a compromise but I like to use my head for more than a bug barrier so I chose to wear a good helmet that provides for some protection for the brain.

My last experience with this was a couple of months ago when a driver backed into me and I managed to avoid a major impact but enough contact was made to cause me and the bike to fall over. I hit the pavement hard enough to cause the side of my head to smack against the curb. It could have been a serious injury but my helmet and riding jacket and gloves made the result some minor damage to the cycle...That's good enought evidence for me!
 
feralmerril said:
We lost 58,000 americans durring vietnam. We have had several years where we hit 51,000 auto accident deaths a year. It has declined from that to in the 30,000s in the last few years.
Gee! We lose more in auto accidents in two years than all the us deaths all durring vietnam? Sounds to me like helmets would save lives in autos, dont cha think?
There are many more auto drivers than there are motorcyclelists. There wouldnt be a chance of law makers getting a helmet law for auto drivers. They know that. But they know they can do it with the bikers as there are far fewer compared to autos. It`s as simple as that! Plus you couldnt get a senator to wear a helmet in a car!
You cant tell me that if they actualy made it law that there wouldnt be more lives actualy saved in autos than there is now on bikes!
I dont like kool ade!
Click to expand...

Feral,

If you start introducing numbers and reason into this discussion, no telling where it might end up. :)

God help us if someone starts talking "Liberty"!

Out
West
 
I got hit in 82 on my MC. I got busted up pretty good and some road rash. 3 weeks in the hospital and 5 months off work, 2 surgeries, skin grafting and 3rd degree burns and some nerve damage. No helmet and I was VERY lucky. A guy in a van tagged me and the large sheet metal side was like a steel trampoline of sorts. I put both arms in front of my head and broke both of them and my right wrist (and all my toes that still hurt).
I wear a helmet if I am riding on the highway at speed. If I am tooling around town no brain bucket.

They need seat belt laws AND helmets for all MC's....
(Rolling eyes)
 
So not wearing a helmet on a motorcycle is an expression of freedom, but not weraing a seat belt in a car is against the law. Makes no sense.

The first day the "no helmet law" went into effect in FL, some guy in Tampa died from head injuries suffered in a motorcycle accident...he died expressing his freedom.
 
I have no problem with people riding without a helmet. Just don't ask the taxpayers to pay for your rehab when your brain turns to mush from a head injury.
 
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