The helmet issue again

[dougl]

On 2006-05-25 08:50, R100Pilot wrote:
Here's the study. It's rather lengthy but very informative.

Todd was kind enough to post this link on the other forum.

Two things made an impression on me:

1) What gets you is falling on your head from 7 ft up. Like a bowling pin falling over.

2) The Pep Boy $69 special worked pretty well

[ This message was edited by: dougl on 2006-05-25 10:43 ]

Stats show that for every single motorcyclist killed that was wearing a helmet, 45 are killed without one. Soooo, you are 45 times more likely to be killed without a helmet than with. When you consider the number of sport bike riders that wear helmets even in states not requireing them, that stat could even be greater. If there isn't anything available to absorb the shock when your brain matter smacks into your skull you don't fair well, even in a slow speed crash or drop. I like playing the favorable odds and wear mine regardless of how ridiculous I feel a helmet law is. As for cheap vs. expensive helmets, I know that my Arai just fits my head better than others I've tried. Plus, with the Union Jack flying on each side it's still the coolest.

[Hondax]

If the least common denominator is "who will pay for motorcycle head injuries" we might as well slit our wrists and throw in the towel. This kind of thinking has it's ending in socialism and worse, always favoring a government or municipalities, never the people, where freedom always starts and ends. Freedom is difficult to gain but easy to lose,......think, people,... think!!

OK,...now off my soapbox...

[ This message was edited by: Hondax on 2006-05-25 17:12 ]

[REGULATOR]

Just an observation:

why is it all the motorcycle cops I see are in short sleeve shirts, and the half helmets?

oh sure the jackets come out in winter but during the summer?

as many miles as they do youd think they would be worried, of cours e maybe they don't have th eproblem with being noticed that we normal riders do

Helmet and seatbelt laws are paternalistic ***** plain and simple.

I do not need nor want big brother telling me how to travel the planet. There are all sorts of things that can happen to a person under any circumstance that will kill or debilitate them. Put the statistics away and stop feeling that the government has the need to legislate how safely I live my life. I moved out of mommy and daddy's house and I am living my own life, and do not wish to have my life legislated in this way.

Spend less time on ***** like helmet laws and address the real issues we have in this country/world. There is only so much time available to these idiots in the legislature, and for them to spend 1 minute of it trying to determine how safely I live MY life is not time well spent.

I'll wear a helmet or not. That is my decision...

[bigern2300]

I could live with road rash scars on most of my body. But the thought of having my face, ( a quite good looking one at that! :razz: ) ground down to the bone or further, and being disfigured for a lifetime...not worth it just so i can look like i'm having a great time or exercizing my right to say no.
But then there are those among us who wear $300.00 helments wearing shorts and worst of all...Flip-Flops!
You can't function with a bashed in skull, and you can't walk with out any toes! Can you say Lifetime in a wheelcair


[ This message was edited by: bigern2300 on 2006-05-26 15:40 ]

[dougl]

On 2006-05-25 19:19, REGULATOR wrote:
Just an observation:

why is it all the motorcycle cops I see are in short sleeve shirts, and the half helmets?

oh sure the jackets come out in winter but during the summer?

as many miles as they do youd think they would be worried, of cours e maybe they don't have th eproblem with being noticed that we normal riders do

Good point. They're definitely into looking cool. They get into accidents too. They're also driving in traffic a lot. Definitely more than me.

[Aussiebikerdave]

On 2006-05-25 04:28, Jamie wrote:
Davo: Your helmet case rests. My only misgiving about it is that you... er... editorialized it by scoping it out to cigarette smokers and week-end parchutists.

Without, while you were at it, equally indicting booze drinkers, over-zealous weight watchers, handgliders, addicts to uppers and downers, downhill skiers and snowboarders, cholesterol munchers, tanning freaks, unsafe sex partners, investment speculators, uninformed mushroom pickers, scuba divers, powder sniffers, NY cab users, techno bass listeners... ... ... They --and the vast majority of us on this hazardous earth-- are not worthy of your mercy either. :-D

Weeell Jamie, truth be known, I was going to include all of the above but decided against it thinking I may alienate yourself being my last true friend on account of our unsafe sex partnership :-D :-D :-D :-D but hey, you are quite right in identifying those unscroupulous self-harmers, the ununiformed mushroom pickers! Can you imagine how many mushroom pickers would be saved if they wore their damed uniforms! It's disgusting.

Ejmoment, I knew you were one of the helmetless brigade and I respect your decision. For us in Australia, the Govt made the decision for us so the philosophical debate doesn't normally rear it's ugly head... most of us just wear helmets without thinking too much about it.

However, I think about it more often these days because last January I threw myself down a gravel road while riding a Suzuki DRZ400E. I know there was a SUV involved because it clean ran over the bike but whether I hit the vehicle or not I'll never know. I can't recall the accident, the rider following hadn't arrived at the corner by the time of impact and the word of the driver may have been tainted. Frustratingly I don't know what caused the accident if I hit his vehicle or the road surface or what. But what I do know is that the body was banged up a bit with torn shoulder ligaments, tweaked ribs and sturnum etc... plus one destroyed crash helmet. Without wearing that helmet I would not be recounting this story today.

My theory is "you're on this planet for only a short time and you're a long time dead" so I'll do what I can to lengthen my days here while still havin' fun! If that means wearing a helmet while motorcycling, snowboarding or even playing cricket, so be it! Davo

[ This message was edited by: Aussiebikerdave on 2006-05-26 17:46 ]

[sbljr]

On 2006-05-25 07:55, Ugarte wrote:

In that case....then the study is much more believable. I agree that the difference betweean a 150 and a 400 dollar full face helmet is mostly in looks and comfort.

I've read that the REAL accident statistics indicate what's most important is to be wearing any REAL helmet i.e. one that actually meets DOT or better (does not even have to cost $150--I've bought lids that have both Snell and DOT ratings for less).

Now if any report claims those el-cheapo "novelty" class things protect like real helmets I'd say that IS baloney (you know what I'm talking about--those flimsy things riders who would love to go lidless wear in states that have a helmet law but the DOT req is enforced only as a secondary ticket if at all).

There is no doubt that helmets are a must for any biker.

There are some bikers that think wearing an helmets make you less biker or that you loss status among the others on the road. Stupid idea.

In Spain in the 80' and 90' it was impossible to know how many people died on motorbike accidents, but we are talking of 1,000´s a year, the reason ? quiet simple, the helmet was an option since the police did nothing to force that bikers use it.

The situation was so bad, that sudenly, riding a bike was sinonimous to be killed very soon, so sales of new bikes were going close to zero. A very bad image was given on TV, newspapers, etc, and finally people decided to look elsewere for a new hobbie.

The industry ( manufaturers, government, etc ) came into scene to solve the situation, and the first thing they did is forcing the user to use the helmet.

After some years of education, with less people killed on the road, today riding a motorbike is quite popular and in some areas there so much of them on the road that you see more than cars.

Wearing a helmet is A MUST !!! indepently of what the politics, police or your mother tells you.

Some times in life it goes more about being here 100% in good shape rather than you liberty and the right to chose.

We are like childs, we play with our toys and we don´t see the dangerous things until it is to late ... so some one needs to take care about us, we like it or not, that doesn´t matter.

To me, helmet only is not the issue, please, add back protection and the correct clots to it, trying to survive to any accident that for shure you wil have sometime if you ride every day.

BTW, here in Europe in most of the countries, riding without an helmet means you may loose your riding license and / or you pay a lot of money. Here it is worse to drive without the helmet than killing someone, so the decission is easy.

Best regards and drive safety.