I wanna swear. Else I would have put this in the GD forum.
So go ahead braniac, post your justification for such regulations.
I especially welcome the “public burden” fuckeheads. God I want to roast your ass.
PS Biker And been so for 2 decades.
Sorry, dude. I have to agree with you. Helmets are DANGEROUS to society. Limited field of vision, obscured hearing, the whole neck-breaking thing…thankfully, I live in Illinois, where our ABATE lobbyists are so effective. And as for the “public burden” thing, they can all kiss my ass on that one, too. Smokers and drunk drivers, among others, are at least as big a public burden as a motorcyclist with no helmet. (Incidently, I smoke and bike). This nation of ours should try to get over the blame game circle-jerk we’ve gotten ourselves into.
I’d have to guess that riders without helmets are less of a societal burden than riders with them. Most head injuries at that speed are going to be fatal without a helmet. With a helmet there’s all that expensive medical treatment - surgery, bone setting, hospital time, rehab . . .
The only expense most helmetless accident victims incur is the funeral, and state funerals are dirt cheap.
Will work for sig line.
I am very much against helmet laws.
It really puts a crimp in the organ donation industry, and there are long waiting lists for just about everything.
Maybe we should, instead, require all cars to be topped with clear Plexiglass domes and ban car radios?
"I prefer shows of the genre, “World’s Blankiest Blank.”
Actually, you can TURN DOWN the radio when you can’t hear what’ going on around you (if you’re smart). All safety issues aside, it’s nobody’s fuckin’ business whether or not I wear a helmet, which is intended to protect only me. Nothing pisses me off more than the big brother approach to “safety.”
or a seatbelt, or countless other ways legislation saves us from ourselves.
Hey, I was just making an extrapolation. You guys wanna spread your brains on the asphalt, be my guest. No skin off my back. However, as far as saying:
Yes, and you’ll note that drunk driving is illegal, and that states are suing tobacco companies to recover the cost of treating cancer patients who were smokers. So what exactly is your analogy supposed to mean, here?
I wholeheartedly agree. I just added the seatbelt thing, because I think it’s bullshit also. Where I live, not wearing a seatbelt is probable cause. Getting pulled over for not wearing a seatbelt?
I have been on bikes all of my life (my mom, who has had several Harleys of her own - at least one w/ a kick start - even rode while she was pregnant w/ me). My dad has had Harleys, Nortons, and Triumphs. My girlfriend has her own Harley, and works as a salesperson at a Harley dealership. And yes, I have a Harley. I’m 31, and have had my motorcycle endorsement since I was 17, but obviously rode well before that. My parents were both in honor societies in high school, and have college degrees; my girlfriend is working on her MBA; and I graduated college cum laude (a little too much partying – could have done better…) I am not an idiot by any stretch of the imagination, but I do run with a somewhat ‘rougher’ crowd (I think it’s due to my low serotonin levels). This is just a statement of credentials to let you know that I’m not just some whiny bastard that doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
My best friend while I was growing up is now brain damaged due to an accident he had while riding without a helmet – he wasn’t going very fast, either. I had a crappy incident myself, but the result was vastly different. Some dumbass very brave or very stupid old lady pulled right into the group of bikes I was riding with (right in front of me) and stopped suddenly to make a left turn into a strip mall. We were going about 50, and, long story short, I got dumped (I’m still a little pissed that that lady didn’t at least get her door kicked in by my buddies, but I guess they were worried about me). I was wearing a skid lid, which shattered, but it still absorbed most of the impact – from what I understand, my head took a lot of the impact when my body hit the pavement. I give sincere thanks to God, the legislature of North Carolina for making me wear a helmet, and the helmet manufacturer, because I got right up and walked/ran back to my bike, looked at the carnage, and helped my buddies move the bike off of the road.
I’ve seen a lot of bikes go down, heard a lot of bad stories, seen the bodily results of a lot of accidents, lost some friends and acquaintances, and fucked up on my own, and as a result of the knowledge that I’ve gained from these experiences, I support the helmet laws. If you do ride, you have seen the same things – didn’t they affect you at all?
If you want to take the chance of walking around like a retard just to look cool, it shows no wisdom on your part. I am still angry and sad about my buddy being brain damaged, because the guy I remember is gone, but his body is still around. If he had had a helmet on, his life, and mine, too, I’m sure, would be so much better.
Helmets aren’t going to save you every time, but I can’t think of who I would want to wipe my ass and change my diapers or feed me or wipe the drool off of my face if I did live through an accident and was brain damaged.
Peter, I agree that making not wearing a seatbelt a primary offense is crap. It’s that kind of thing that makes cops pull over a bunch of otherwise lawful motorists when it gets close to quota time, ignoring the morons who are weaving in and out like NASCAR drivers at 85 MPH in a 45 zone because they’d be too difficult to chase down.
Bite me, PLD. Laws that tell you to behave a certain way to protect OTHERS has nothing to do with laws designed to “protect you from yourself.”
As for losing friends due to bike accidents, I’ve lost friends who were wearing helmets and died of internal body injuries
Er, I’m not sure what your problem here is. I didn’t say I supported helmet laws. In fact, I said if you don’t want to wear a helmet, I don’t really care. I did ask why you compared it to drunk driving and smoking, or threw those two out as “bigger burdens,” since the states already have taken action against those activities.
If you can’t read or can’t construct useful analogies, don’t get all in my shit about it.
Sorry. Didn’t mean to get pissy. I guess what I meant was that nothing is done to physically prohibit a drunk driver from hurting others, just a law that tells you not to. Yet they want to legislate people from possibly hurting themselves.
Being a rider myself, I have ridden with and without helmets. On one trip I had over the handlebars I was wearing a helmet. Oddly enough it never touched the ground–my back and sides absorbed most of the impact. On the other hand, my brother and one of my best friends have had accidents where they were saved from severe head trauma by their helmets. Now that I am married and have a wife and kids, I try to protect myself when I ride. This includes wearing a full-face helmet.
That being said, I’m not quite comfortable with enforcing helmet laws. My personal belief is that the benefits of wearing a helmet outweigh the potential risks. Other people may not arrive at the same conclusion based on their own riding experiences.
Not to go off on a tangent, but how do you other riders dress for the road? I prefer a helmet, jeans, gloves, and preferably a leather or denim jacket. I don’t own a sport bike or a Harley, so I don’t feel the need to dress up to suit my bike’s image. (I find it very contradictory to see riders in heavy leathers without helmets, or sport riders with serious helmets riding around in shorts and without shirts on.)
Bottom line: I like to see people riding. I don’t care what you ride–if you wave at me, I’ll wave back (and I hope you can safely do the same). More importantly, though, I like to see people riding responsibly. This means reducing personal risk as well as the risk to others. If wearing a helmet hinders your ability to ride safely, don’t wear one. Me, I’d rather sacrifice a perfectly good Snell-rated helmet on the pavement than my brain pan any day.
I don’t want to have to pay for the medical expenses of some idiot who spread his brain case out all over the road when he fell off of his motorcycle and was not wearing a helmet because he wanted to ‘have the wind in his hair’ or be macho. Then again, perhaps we should let them run without helmets and deny them medical treatment if they cannot pay and that would eventually get rid of all of the ‘macho’ motorcycle idiots out there.
The laws were passed because of so many brain injuries resulting in permanent damage – though some of the bikers I’ve met seem to have been born with that condition anyhow.
What? Me worry?’
Ladies and Gentlemen…… Let’s Get READY to RUMBLE!
Do you want to deny payment to people who crash because they’re speeding? Talking on a cell phone? How about those who aren’t wearing seat belts? Or maybe deny the kid who isn’t paying attention while riding his bicycle? All of these are personally unsafe behaviors. Riding without a helmet is not endangering anyone else on the road (speeding endangers both the driver and the general public). Where do you draw the line? How much more control over personal choice are you willing to take?
One of the arguments I’ve always used against socialized medicine was that it would give ammo to the safety nazis. Now that the state is involved in the medical consequences of my activities, it feels it has the right to dictate what those activities are. BAD NEWS.
I’d like to see a study as to the relative societal costs of helmetless motorcylists vs softball players or skiiers. Why don’t we ban skiing? After all, the type of accidents you get skiing are often horribly expensive and involve reconstructive surgery, physical therapy, etc.
Do you have any idea how many minor injuries are treated by overworked emergency rooms due to sandlot ball games? How about skateboarding?
I agree wholeheartedly with those objecting to legislation based upon the premise “the public is paying for your healthcare.” Any number of activities pose a risk, including taking a shower while standing. Shall we pass a law requiring shower heads to be no more than 3 feet above the ground? If, as a society, we decide that some minimal amount of healthcare is deserved by all human beings then we must be willing to pay th eassociated costs (both financial and social). That does not give us the right to curtail the rights of individuals. After all, they do not write exemptions into those laws for people with private insurance, do they?
The best lack all conviction
The worst are full of passionate intensity.
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