For our bike-ridin', chicken-lovin' friends (grab the tissue box)

[herechickchick]

Quote:
I dont ride anymore, but Carri, I promise, I've never ridden a motorcycle without a helmet and anyone who does is an idiot, plain and simple. People just dont see bikes, even great big, honkin' Goldwings like ours was. In that pic, I was just sitting for the snapshot. Some stupid woman ran into the back of my DH while he was stopped to turn left into our subdivision way back in the early 90's. She went around him on the right because she was too impatient to wait two seconds for him to turn and ran smack into his tag. Totaled the bike. At least he wasn't hurt badly. I was 4 days out of the hospital from major surgery and couldnt drive.

Ok so probably a stupid question but will a helmet really save your life. The only reason I ask is because the first dead person I ever saw was a bike accident and he/she had a helmet on and died. I personally think bikes are really cool but I do not have the nerve to ride one.

 

[ibpboo]

My husband is a lifetime AMA member. He was hit on his bike when he was just 18, broke his leg badly, several years of surgeries. Almost lost his leg when staff got into his bone after one of the surgeries. Bone graphs off each of his hips and lots of scars on his leg. He's a trooper, works very hard, raised 3 boys and me as his wife. He has a 72 Hodaka Wombat now, he's had for several years. Doesn't ride too much anymore though. We raised our boys with dirt bikes. We still have a quad the boys ride sometimes. Oh, and my silkie chicken likes to sit on the quad too!

 

[WriterofWords]

Quote:
I dont ride anymore, but Carri, I promise, I've never ridden a motorcycle without a helmet and anyone who does is an idiot, plain and simple. People just dont see bikes, even great big, honkin' Goldwings like ours was. In that pic, I was just sitting for the snapshot. Some stupid woman ran into the back of my DH while he was stopped to turn left into our subdivision way back in the early 90's. She went around him on the right because she was too impatient to wait two seconds for him to turn and ran smack into his tag. Totaled the bike. At least he wasn't hurt badly. I was 4 days out of the hospital from major surgery and couldnt drive.

Ok so probably a stupid question but will a helmet really save your life. The only reason I ask is because the first dead person I ever saw was a bike accident and he/she had a helmet on and died. I personally think bikes are really cool but I do not have the nerve to ride one.

A helmet will save you in most instances when the head is compromised in an accident. It is not intended to be wrapped around a tree, bounced down the road at 80mph, or run under the flat bed trailer of a semi. These are all accidents I picked up while still on the Fire Dept. Under NORMAL circumstances it will prevent gross injury to the facial area, but no it won't prevent TBI, Traumatic Brain Injury, when it's violently bounced off the pavement. A helmet is a precaution that should never be forgotten, it's like a seat belt that keeps you in place in a car but does no good if you are not wearing it.

Will a helmet save your life? Yes. Will it save your life in all instances? No. I'm a former rider myself, and I've lost a lot of friends, both those wearing and not wearing a helmet. The most important thing I tell my friends and family is that your body is vulnerable. No matter what you are wearing for protection, if you leave your ride at anything over 40mph, you are going to suffer major trauma and shock. There have been 9 motorcycle deaths in less than a month in El Paso, 3 of those on the same mountain road, with riders going way over the speed limit and losing control. Then for some odd reason that stretch of road gets called dangerous, it wasn't the road that was dangerous, it was the rider.

I'm glad that old poem was printed again, I had lost my copy. Thank you!
Kate

 

[speckledhen]

Will a helmet save your life? Well, I don't want my head bouncing off the pavement without one, is all I can say.

 

[Moonwalker]

My former BF was coming down a hill at night and a truck ran the intersection. He slammed on his brakes and ahis front tire blew. The bike went down and spun. The ball on the clutch handle was ground in half and he had VERY deep road rash on his thigh and forearm. He got up and walked to a nearby gas station (the truck never stopped, probably never noticed him) he called a friend to come get him. When we looked at his helmet, it had a yellow stripe down the back of it where his head had hit the curb! If he had not been wearing one......

Years ago, I did something stupid. It was after a race and we were all sitting around one of the guys house. I decided to make a run to the store for soda (they were drinking beer, nasty stuff!) My bike was around the back so I jumped on my BF's dirtbike and grabbed his race helmet (mine was a regular one) I took off across the yard between a couple of concrete footings buried in the grass. Unbeknownst to me, someone had put a pipe across them and when my front tire hit it, I did a head stand and flipped off the bike onto the road, slid facedown about 50 ft and ended up right in front of a police car! SInce that day, I have never worn anything but a full face helmet. I tossed mine that same day and snagged his extra one for the ride home.

 

[CarriBrown]

Quote:
I dont ride anymore, but Carri, I promise, I've never ridden a motorcycle without a helmet

Good!

Being in the dirtbike industry, it's amazing how many idiots I've seen. They will spend $500 on an exhaust but $75 on a helmet. Or, my personal favorite... "I don't need a good helmet, it's just for my wife."

It doesn't matter how fast or slow you're going, or how well you can ride... Accidents happen.

 

[RayP]

As you can see I am one of those that people avoid for no reason, I have a 2007 Harley soft tail deluxe now, I was run off the road by a drunk in 1989 and broke my pelvis, still walk with a limp, My children nailed the helmet up in my garage to remind me to wear my helmet it is sanded almost all the way through on the road, all I can say is ouch.

 

[Broke Down Ranch]

My sister and BIL were run over on the 4th of July in 1993. She had multiple compound fractures on her left leg and literally had to scrape the asphalt off her teeth. My BIL almost lost ALL of his nether regions but as it was it took almost 200 stitches to "fix" it. They were in the hospital for weeks, my sister had to have a rod put thru her leg to hold the bone in place while it healed. They had MUCH physical therapy. All because they truck driver did a rolling stop then an illegal turn. They are good now but will never totally heal.

 

[amystours]

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OMG, bless his heart!!!

I hope y'all don't mind, but I emailed this to several biker friends of mine. I didn't figure you would, considering it can save lives if enough people see it.

 

[COgirl]

DH and I are riders and last year were nearly rear ended by a big dodge ram, all I could think was this is gonna hurt!! What was funny was the car BEHIND the truck saw what was about to happen and she swerved around him and that is what alerted the driver of the ram, he missed us by inches. Dh had turned on his turn signal to make a right turn and I saw this monster coming up in the rear view so scary, he never even stopped... Then I was just hopping mad, DH stopped and yes the signal was working, this idiot simply didn't see us. Dh rides home every night around 11:00 and I say a prayer every night and wait for the rumble of the bike and then breath a sigh of relief. It can be scary for sure.
Kim