Helmet laws, what do you think ?

royfisk

I am deaf in one ear and cannot hear well in the other, but know my perifrial vision is much better without a helmet. I feel more secure without the brain bucket, as for protection I am un decided, most small crashes I think could end up with whip lash with the extra weight. Theyre hot , and sweaty, THEY SUCK

Cafe_Shop

I'm totally against helmet laws. It's all part of natural selection.

dustin.kerber

I am just glad that ND doesn't have mandatory helmet laws... but yea, I am against them.

Coose · Full Member Joined: Jul 20, 2006 Posts: 12

Count yourselves lucky - it's been enforced in Blighty since I think '81!

To be honest, it's a good thing. I've had a few hairy crashes on the road and so have a lot of friends and some of us wouldn't be here today had it not been for the amazing fibreglassing skills of Mr Arai!

I know it all comes down to freedom of choice, but let's look at another angle. I don't know how it works ower there, but if you work on a building site here you MUST wear a hard hat or you don't have a job. It's fair enough really!

I don't want to cause a row, but maybe this gives a view from the other side?

Cafe_Shop

I would never ride without a helmet. But like most laws, they're there to protect the lessor of the species.

royfisk

I decide when and when not to wear a helmet, If I plan on riding extremely hard then I wear a shell, but if im out cruiseing, no way. I have seen some pretty hairy stuff happen both with and without the helmet. As have any of you who have more then 5 years experiance and a few rallys. I have held a mans head together whom was wearing a helmet only to find out that that part of the helmet had fractured into a v shaped sliver and was embeddded into his skull, He lived but the doctor had said that if he had not been wearing the helmet chances are he would have exscaped with minor scrapes and bruises. So did the county accident invetigator, what ever he is. But I also have watched alot of road racing and see helmets protect against roadrash and such. Ive seen them work in downhill mountain bike racing also. But I still perfer no lid for just plain old cruiseing.

Wulf

"accidents happen, otherwise they would call it an "on purpose". "
Lol, now that's funny!
Wulf

KYLEPRESTON

Sure is a lot of opinions, like asking what type of dog is your favorite at westminster. I wear a helmet, I have always I probably always will. The things that I don't get, is if they are going to go through the trouble to make a law for safety. What is the point of wearing a helmet with flip flops and shorts? I live close to metroplitan area, we have a lot of young urban children, on bikes to big for there ego and at least. once a summer some one gets the idea to do endo intraffic and three weeks ago a young kid got his arm ripped off. I happen to work in the pathology dept of a hospital. I can tell you from first hand experience if politicians gave a crap about anything but them selves they would enact a safety gear law. I am of the belief that helmet laws prove how useless goverment can be.
It is definately a personal choice I don't think politicians should be trying to justifty there exsitence with the safety of my skull. Why don't they stick with something a little less complicated, like the referendum french fries or freedom fries for lunch. Oh wait, someone will get mad and say they have to wear a bib to avoid spills.

madskills · 650Rider Supporter Joined: Mar 28, 2006 Posts: 59

I think it should be a choice, here in Michigan our soon to be ex Gov just shot a bill down that would've repealed out helmet law, state wide groups have spoken out and a re leading a big campaigne to help elect her opponent.

xsjohn

I was always against helmet laws but then I would be dead if they hadn't forced me to wear one. I don't like to be told what to do but you don't get old by being a fool. Old Yamaha Mechanic John Underwood

royfisk

This debate is as good as a arguement as wether or not we should pull out of Iraq. everyone has a opinion and each wants to convert someone else to there way of thinking. I dont think foolishness is a concept here, What I do think however is a matter of more freedoms being revoked, Regardless of what the helmet manufacturers have driven into our governments heads, and into our own, I beleive as a tax paying american citizen I should be able to choose myself. You know when % of fitalities #s are shown STOP and really think about what the #s are telling you. motorcycle technollogy is changeing very rapidly. yes #s are going down but bikes themselves are getting better and better. brakes, suspension, tires etc. This also adds to the equation. I read a week or two ago a artical that said a rider is 88% less likely to slide on a street corner today then was in 1969. This is due to tire quality alone. Do you know that any tire you put on your xs-650 new today is better then what came on it in 1983. Yes even the cheapest ones. Brakes again huge safty gaines. Heck if Helmets are this big of a safty gain then we should always wear one even when not riding who knows when a bus might hit us. Anyhow government is making money on helmets and they want them , think about it more taxes, court fines, etc.

Jack · Full Member Joined: Mar 15, 2005 Posts: 411

When your injected through the air,just REMEMBER to tuck and roll up like a ball to bounce off those incoming obstacles to avoid serious internal injuries,which are statistically the causes of most motorcylce deaths not that one wasn't wearing the proper protective clothing. Have you ever heard of a helmet preventing ones head from being driven out one's A$$ from impacting a oak tree,ect or where protective pants prevented a riders legs,arms and head from being mangled by impacting a guard rail. But for me, I'll wear the silly protective gear just to prevent the evil pains of road rash, if i were to survive such an accident Wink

.............Jack

royfisk

Jack glad to see you back. That sounds like A wild ride guy. I fulley beleive in leather and a good boot, just not tottally sold on the brain bucket. I have held ones helmet and head together before. didnt help him none though the whip lash broke his neck.

Jack · Full Member Joined: Mar 15, 2005 Posts: 411

Correct you are Roy Wink

being slung like a bullet doesn't help matters,might as well say a prayer if ya got time Laughing

and kiss ya butt good-bye .............Jack

midnrider

won't bore you with the story...but yea, a helment saved my life once...and here in AR its not required so those of us wearing them are sneered at, if it were law then we could all bitch together

georelle

I personally know more people who are alive thanks to a helmet, then I do people who have whiplash because of them. Personally I wear one "most" of the time, it is nice to have a choice. For me once I started wearing a helmet it was kind of like playing the same numbers in the lotto, the one time you don't wear it that's when you wish you had. Mine does not effect my peripheral at all.
Georelle

Barbara

Hi Guys,

This is one of my hot-button things. In 1980, I went through a barbed wire fence at 80 mph. I broke the lowest strand with my riding boots, the next one with my knee, the third with my jacket, and the top strand with my forehead. I wear bangs today, because I have a beauty of a scar on my head.

My helmet was securely strapped to the back of the bike, where it was safe. It was a two-party accident: me and the party I'd left. So when my brother-in-law rode up to me, and I asked if I was hurt, he said, in his best bed-side manner, "Well, I can see your skull!"

So a guy came by in a pick-up and drove me to a local hospital. The doctors stitched me back together--79 stitches--and kept me overnight in case I went into shock again.

The helmet issue? Well, the surgeon who stitched me up told me that if I had been wearing a helmet, the wire would probably have slid down and taken both my eyes.

The People's Republic of Washington requires a helmet, so I wear it, but I don't fool myself that it will in any way protect me or give me an edge. It's simply a matter of the luck of the draw. You ride carefully, don't get on a bike after drinking at a party, be aware of your surroundings, and hope for the best.

In philosophical terms, the encroaching denial of basic rights is cause for concern. We'll never wake up one morning and be told we can no longer own guns, or ride motorcycles, or whatever. It will be a creeping, little bit here and there kind of a process, which we will never notice until it is too late. And, of course, it will always be for some good reason: our safety, or "for the children" or whatever.

I don't know that the trend can be reversed, but at least we should be aware that we are already on the path to the slaughterhouse, and the Constitution is coming along for the ride.....

I need a ride! Even with the stupid helmet......

Retiredgentleman

Helmets for bikes are just like seat belts for cars............yes they are a nuisance but they can save your life!!

xsjohn

I would probably be dead if not for them........but it may have prevented me from getting enough since knocked into me to stop me from riding.....so in that since maybe they don't work........

xsjohn

Cooltouch

I'm with you on this one, Barbara. Incrementalism is what it's called, and it's looked upon with favor by those who desire change, but who realize that large, sudden changes will not be acceptable. The old frog in the pot routine. And it's deliberate, which really is what jerks my chain.

There have been two occasions in my life when a helmet most likely saved me from either serious head injury or death. As with seat belts, I use a helmet regularly. Not because the law requires the use, but because I *choose* to. I prefer a world where people's personal choices are respected.

Here in Texas, helmet use is not required, but the un-equipped rider is required to have health insurance, the theory being that the public won't be left holding the bag in the event of a head injury. So, even though I do not have to wear a helmet, just about the only time you'll catch me without one on is when I hop on the bike to try it out after working on it, and then it's only up and down the neighborhood street.

As with seatbelts, I prefer to have a helmet on. One grows used to it after a while and not wearing it leaves me feeling exposed and uncomfortable.

Best,

Michael

mlcarter815 · Full Member Joined: Jul 03, 2007 Posts: 64

I weat a half-helmet all the time, but it will only really protect me in in-town accidents, 30 mph or below. A few years back, there was a rider that took a corner near here too fast and crashed. He went through a barbed wire fence and slid 50 yards. He left marks in the ground every time he skipped. They found him dead. His full-faced helmet didn't prevent almost every bone in his body from shattering. I believe that helmet laws should not be made. It should be the right of the people to choose. What needs to be focused on more is increasing the "regular" drivers' awareness of motorcycle riders. Too often do people fail to notice us.

xsleo

been down twice at over 125 mph, a helmet saved me both times.i only ride with a helmet because the law says i have to. i do wear a leather jacket and chaps, boots, and googles , keeps the road grit off.

jimmythetrucker · Full Member Joined: Mar 12, 2008 Posts: 1283

Sidewalks are concrete. If you fall down on the sidewalk and you're not wearing a helmet, you can get seriously injured -- even kill yourself -- pretty easily. Even if you ARE wearing a helmet, if you fall on the sidewalk you can break a leg or an arm, your neck or your back. Don't believe me? You just don't drink right!

So why doesn't everybody who uses the sidewalks have to wear a helmet? Why do all the stupid cagers and pedestrians think motorcyclists should have to wear helmets when pedestrians and cagers run the same risks as motorcyclists?

In Easy Riders once, years ago, there was a cartoon: Two cops stand, staring at a greasy mess on the side of a brick wall. There's wire spokes sticking out of the mess and a pair of handlebars laying on the ground. Atop the wall a man's head sits, completely unharmed, inside a motorcycle helmet. One cop says to the other: "Gee! It's a good thing he was wearing a helmet."

Nuff said, I say.

gs1327 · 650Rider Supporter Joined: Feb 20, 2007 Posts: 170

I never ride without a helmet but we don't have to here in Ohio.
I don't agree with helmet laws but I can't understand how we can mandate seat belt usage and not helmets? My feeling is you should be able to make your own choices in these matters (but big brother knows better) .

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