Why???????

[Xnarz]

I'm 47 yrs. old and I still can't understand why anyone would go out and ride the highway without a helmet, lid, bucket whatever you want to call it. makes no sense to me!!! Why do you do it?

[DillDawg]

Because they can...it's called freedom of choice.
I wear a lid but don't have a problem with those that dont.
No skin of my head.

[2FS4LV]

Because they can...it's called freedom of choice.
I wear a lid but don't have a problem with those that dont.
No skin of my head.
+1 on that. Freedom of Choice

[Ranger]

Amen Brothers.

That same freedom of choice is why people join the military. You can't limit the freedom to things only good for people, there are good choices and bad choices. but when it all boils down. it's why this country is so great.

That one little simple phrase " Freedom of Choice".

[Xnarz]

Freedom of Choice is what makes America great, but do you go into battle with a BB gun or M16 if you were given the choice. Do you belive a teenager should talk on their cell phone while driving her cage or let's do away with inspection stickers and people make their own choice on the shape their cage is in. Common sense should tell everybody not to go on the roads without a lid, but common sense dosen't work so we need laws.

[Ranger]

Xnarz wrote:
(Freedom of Choice is what makes America great, but do you go into battle with a BB gun or M16 if you were given the choice. Do you belive a teenager should talk on their cell phone while driving her cage or let's do away with inspection stickers and people make their own choice on the shape their cage is in. Common sense should tell everybody not to go on the roads without a lid, but common sense dosen't work so we need laws. )

So, you would make these choices for everyone just because you would personally choose diffrerently?

My state doesn't have vehicle inspections or a helmet law.

I would suggest that if you feel so strongly about an issue that you organize the resouces and get a bill voted in to change the things you think should be changed. If enough people feel the same way then the majority should rule. You will notice I said SHOULD rule. Thats not always the case.

I think cell phones should be outlawed in vehicles. it impairs a persons ability to re-act to changing situation on the road. That affects others and is dangerous. Wearing a helmet or not doesn't impact or make the road dangerous for others.

Your freedom of choice ends when it impacts the freedom of choice for others. Unless enough people ( a majority) feel that it should be this way.

Too many times the laws we have were never pushed though because of what the puplic wants. Most of the time they are defined by what big business wants. Insurance company's are a big factor in safty laws. They have the resources to put cash in the pocket of you elected officals. That will win evertime over what you want.
Do you think your insurance rate would be lower if life was 99.9% safe and we all lived to be 100 years old? Nope. Simply because the insurance company wants you to pay money in and never file a claim.

I personally think that if you have insurance with a company ( say for 10 years) and you never filed a claim with them. When and if you changed insurance comany's, they should have to pay you back a percentage of the amount you have paid over the years but never used.

The best example of this is drinking and driving. You have a right, if you are of drinking age, to have a drink if you want and can pay for it. But you don't have a right to operate a vehicle( which endagers others) while drinking. Yet there are cases where people have 5 DUI's on there records. And you will get more jail time for shooting someone than killing someone while drinking and driving.
That is our judical system failing us.

Most of the time I wear a helmet. But not always. Thats your choice if the state you live in lets you make it.

[Xnarz]

Ranger i agree with you the judical system sucks! But i will never understand why someone never wears a helmet. Enough said' but the cell phones have got to go!!!!!

[DillDawg]

Common sense should tell everybody not to go on the roads without a lid, but common sense dosen't work so we need laws.
:hmm2:
O.K. - so while you're at it why not just make a bunch of laws to protect people from themselves....
No drinking - bad for you
No Smoking....CANCER!!
No unprotected sex - HERPES!!
No guns...you might shoot youself in the head!
No handling sharp object - you might cut yourself
Hell - bikes themselves are dangers....just outlaw them!

Damn - there goes everything I like to do!!!!
I think I'll go ride without a helmet now and kill myself 'cause I dont have any fun things left to do.

Hey Mod....get a helmet on this icon, he's setting a bad example!
>>>> :choppersm

[Quakindude]

Here's my view on it and it's really simple. I don't really give a crap about people's thoughts about what is safe or not safe, why folks should or should not do certain things or if it makes sense to you or not. If it were up to me, there would be no warning stickers, no warning signs and no seat-belt/helmet laws. If you die when a helmet could have saved you, that's paying your stupid tax. If I die with my helmet on while running 110mph, then I'm paying mine.

It doesn't have to make sense to you. The only thing I care about is the fact that we as Americans can influence our leadership to create or dispose of laws. It may take time and it isn't perfect, but it IS the lesser of the evils out there (other governments). So while I wear a lid no matter what, I don't judge or begrudge those that choose not to. The protection a helmet offers is evident. But we ALL make choices that affect our safety and lives.

Now answer me this. How many folks have you heard say motorcylists are just plain CRAZY for riding those bikes? The majority of folks think riding a motorcycle is hazardous at best. How would you feel having people that want what's best for you trying to MAKE you stop riding? No difference between that and your insistence on wearing a helmet.

Welcome to America. Green cards on the left, choices on the right.

[mark]

WOW!
Great thread, intelligent dialogue with no nastiness.
However let me play "Devil's advocate" for a second.
Everyone seems to be spouting the mantra of freedom of choice and that any decision made by he individual does not have an impact on society as a whole. What makes you so sure that you’re going to die without a helmet if you get into an accident? Maybe you’ll end up taking a whack to the ol' noggin that results in you sitting in a recliner with drool running down your face and getting your diaper changed for the next 30 - 40 years, what about the financial ramifications to society, not to mention your family- who instead of getting that "fat" life insurance check- are selling assets to pay for your long term care.
With freedom comes responsibility and while I don’t believe that wearing a helmet is going to save your ass in a 50 mph crash I am fairly confident that it will minimize your chances of neurological disability in a low to medium speed crash.
Just another perspective

Mark

[DillDawg]

WOW!
Great thread, intelligent dialogue with no nastiness.
However let me play "Devil's advocate" for a second.
Everyone seems to be spouting the mantra of freedom of choice and that any decision made by he individual does not have an impact on society as a whole. What makes you so sure that you’re going to die without a helmet if you get into an accident? Maybe you’ll end up taking a whack to the ol' noggin that results in you sitting in a recliner with drool running down your face and getting your diaper changed for the next 30 - 40 years, what about the financial ramifications to society, not to mention your family- who instead of getting that "fat" life insurance check- are selling assets to pay for your long term care.
With freedom comes responsibility and while I don’t believe that wearing a helmet is going to save your ass in a 50 mph crash I am fairly confident that it will minimize your chances of neurological disability in a low to medium speed crash.
Just another perspective

Mark
Yeah - thats the insurace lobbyist spin on things.....Never seen anything to back it up.
My opinion - you're probably more likely to survive a crash and be disabled - with a helmet. IMO - helmet-less riders do us a favor and take a nice quick death.

[mark]

Yeah - thats the insurace lobbyist spin on things.....Never seen anything to back it up.
My opinion - you're probably more likely to survive a crash and be disabled - with a helmet. IMO - helmet-less riders do us a favor and take a nice quick death.
With all due respect Dawg that is not anyone’s spin, that is reality. I base this on 15 years as a trauma nurse and just common sense. A helmet serves a purpose that is why they require them in the military, contact sports etc.
And you can't guarantee that ridng without a helmet will offer a nice,quick, death.
I agree that you are probably more likely to survive a crash and be disabled with a helmet on, however any disability suffered will likely be of an orthopedic, internal, or soft tissue nature, and although not a pleasant thought, more likely recoverable than a scrambled brain. Let’s face it; any time you ride you roll the dice! Therefore I want to stack the odds as much as possible in my favor. But to each their own!
Mark

[DillDawg]

With all due respect Dawg that is not anyone’s spin, that is reality. I base this on 15 years as a trauma nurse and just common sense. A helmet serves a purpose that is why they require them in the military, contact sports etc.
And you can't guarantee that ridng without a helmet will offer a nice,quick, death.
I agree that you are probably more likely to survive a crash and be disabled with a helmet on, however any disability suffered will likely be of an orthopedic, internal, or soft tissue nature, and although not a pleasant thought, more likely recoverable than a scrambled brain. Let’s face it; any time you ride you roll the dice! Therefore I want to stack the odds as much as possible in my favor. But to each their own!
Mark
Well , then you should know that the helmet just helps keep your head from being split open.
Even with a helmet on, the force from a crash can still make your brain bounce around in your head like a ping-pong ball.
You can still break your neck and be a Christopher Reeve.
These arguments are ongoing and surely aren't going to be answered here....
I've just not seen any proof that helmetless riders are any more of a drain on the health system than helmeted riders.
Some accidents....
no helmet = dead
helmet = alive but disabled
or flip it around
helmet = survived without long term damage
no helmet = survived but a drooler.

For the record...I do ride with a lid.
I guess my point is.....nobody can proove it one way or another, so I think legislators ought to just mind their own business.

[mark]

Fair enough, I too agree that helmet usage should not be legislated. And I am not out on a crusade to change people’s minds. My only intention is to offer another perspective on the subject. This way the new rider or the rider on the fence can make their own informed decision.
The issue is certainly not "black or white".
I would like to clarify one point though: besides keeping your skull from being "spilt open" a helmet also serves to absorb the energy from impact and redistribute it to the foam core and away from the brain so the brain does not bounce around like a "ping pong ball". Obviously speed and angle of impact, and a variety of other factors will determine how effectively a helmet does this.

Mark

[DillDawg]

O.K....points taken.
Cant argue that you're (generally) better off with a helmet than without...after all, I do wear one....just dont feel like it ought to be forced on anyone.

Years ago, I had a buddy...he was in a wreck and was wearing a helmet.....
lived for a few weeks before finally dying.
Left his wife and kids with huge medical bills.

Sometimes dead is better.

[Big-X]

Yeah - thats the insurace lobbyist spin on things.....Never seen anything to back it up.

I have been working in EMS as a paramedic for 19 years now and I favor helmet laws. Sure, some have helmets and die, some don't and live it all depends on how you fall and what hits the ground and how hard. Preventable brain injury from slow speed impacts are the ones where helmets make a difference between between having a productive life and having family and taxpayers care for you for life.

I agree in many cases dying would be better but we don't have a choice at impact. I used to teach Basic Trauma Life Support and Pre-Hospital Trauma Life Support and wish I still had some of my training materials. I guess seeing it in person makes a difference to me, and I feel the same way about skaters wearing helmets.

[DillDawg]

Why stop with motorcycles????
Surely you must have seen a cage driver who may have been helped by a helmet.
How about a pedestrian?
Skier?
Perhaps we should all be forced to wear helmets?

One nation
Under god
indivisible,
with liberty
and helmets for all

[dracul]

:hmm2: It's all essentially going to be moot anyway as America is eventually going to be the next province of Mexico :stirpot: :eek:

[danc49]

I could not see how anyone who rides did not wear a leather jacket, or leather boots, let alone a helmet, was sane. Then I realized something I did not see before.....I could see it was not for me to make those decisions.....and freedom had nothing to do with it.

In a foam rubber world they don't sell helmets....in the real world they do....but baskin roberts also has 38 flavors.

[danc49]

...or Baskin Robbins......for that matter.

[blkxride]

Well actually this doesn't have anything to do with whether you should or shouldn't wear a helmet, but 2 weeks ago I was out in the country riding and stopped at the gas station to fill up and have a water break (both kinds) and while sitting there a number of other riders stopped for gas/food/etc. One guy pulled up in the space beside me, he was wearing a do rag and he had a fairly big bug splattered on the left side of his forehead. I thought surely he's going in to wash it off when he went into the store. Nope! He came back out with a soda and sat there and drank it and was about to ride off. I just couldn't let him go without saying something. So I said "Do you know you've got a bug splattered on your head"? and he said no! Looked in his mirror and said "Sh*%" and went in and washed it off. I laughed my butt off thinking that he didn't even know he'd been hit. How in the hell could that be?? Still haven't figured that out. To each his own but I guess. I'm sure a helmet wouldn't have helped him no matter what.

Me I wash the bugs off my helmet.

[don juan]

I also used to think why would anyone ride without a helmet until i did it. Now I get it .Living in Canada there is no choice. and that is ok. But visiting the U.S. I do ride helmetless occassionally, just cause I can. Safety is a concern as I did go down once and the marks on the side of the helmet showed I would have had a lump at least.

[billfitztree]

I just enjoy the way it feels without the helmet. Like riding the bike itself, I feel more free without it. If I die without it, I'll die with a smile on my face.

[GrayGhost]

Just a question for those who choose not to wear a helmet.
Do you wear a seatbelt in the cage, and if so why? Just curious as I have a buddy who wears a seatbelt religiously, but b_tches about wearing a helmet, and I always thought that was funny.

[mark]

No I'll tell you whats really funny, when I go riding with my HD buddies wearing sneakers instead of boots ( usually wear boots). You should hear the grief I get from them! Meanwhile they are wearing their $10.00 novelty helmets. I guess in their mind their feet are more valuable than their head!

[Mer]

I have been working in EMS as a paramedic for 19 years now and I favor helmet laws. Sure, some have helmets and die, some don't and live it all depends on how you fall and what hits the ground and how hard. Preventable brain injury from slow speed impacts are the ones where helmets make a difference between between having a productive life and having family and taxpayers care for you for life.

I agree in many cases dying would be better but we don't have a choice at impact. I used to teach Basic Trauma Life Support and Pre-Hospital Trauma Life Support and wish I still had some of my training materials. I guess seeing it in person makes a difference to me, and I feel the same way about skaters wearing helmets.

I agree and I haven't even seen it in person!