Motorcycle Helmet Laws

[hemet dennis]

Helmet laws and seatbelt laws makes perfect sense to me.
Years ago, before we had a seatbelt law in this country my parents and uncle had an accident. Drunk driver drove into them as they were waiting at a red light. None of them were wearing seat belts. My uncle got killed, my dad got thrown from the car, over a 7 foot fence. He spent the the best years of his life in a wheelchair.
As for helmets... if you fall off your bike, travelling at, say 80 miles an hour, would you or wouldn't you rather be wearing one?

At 80 mph i might go with the wouldn't but under 60 mph I'd want the helmet.

 

[teach1rusl]

As I told my neighbor, who was mocking me for riding fully geared up, "If you've got nothing to protect, then a do rag will work just fine."

Those do rags come in handy for wiping up grey matter from the pavement...

 

[konopswj]

As I told my neighbor, who was mocking me for riding fully geared up, "If you've got nothing to protect, then a do rag will work just fine."

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

I don't think the gov't has the right to tell anyone that they must wear a helmet or a seat belt. I do think your insurance company should have the right to not cover you if you are in an accident and aren't wearing one. If you are not insured and choose to not wear one you are just screwed (although you are pretty much screwed anyway if you aren't insured these days).

That being said, I lost a dear friend who crashed his motorcycle one night and pretty much landed on his head. He wasn't wearing a helmet. He spent 6 weeks in the ICU and another 6 months+ in therapy. He's still alive, but he is not the same person at all. For all intents and purposes my friend is gone and a shell remains. It is terribly sad to think that if he had just been wearing a helmet he would have been okay.

 

[Ferrret]

Michigan just recently changed the helmet laws, and the day they, did many, many people were out riding around without a helmet, and many of them probably haven't actually read the changes to the law. You can ride without a helmet, provided you are over 21, passed a safety course, have a $20k in medical insurance (per rider), and 2 years of riding with a motorcycle endorsement on your license.

I imagine there might be quite a few people, who didn't bother to read the law changes, who will be quite upset when they get a fine for not fitting the requirements.

 

[EmtheFishLady]

Laws....laws....laws

for crying out loud.........

everybody wants to tell everyone else "what to do"........

BUT....most .....haven't sense enough to tell themselves "what to do"....

Let's just have another "LAW" !

COMMUNIST FOOLS !!!

THE Curmudgeon

Go C!

 

[JohnnyxRex]

At 80 mph i might go with the wouldn't but under 60 mph I'd want the helmet.

Red and others...the choice does not come down to either surviving an accident, being killed or being in a vegetative state where you are allowed to die. Your real problem will come when you survive but your quality of life has now become so bad that you wish your were dead but both medical and legal ethics will not permit your care givers to put you out of your misery and you are unable to do it yourself. What you really will really want at that time is an assisted suicide law. I believe in seat belt laws and helmet laws and think that Maye is somewhat on the right track. I am not so sure that it is not a bad idea to protect those who may be too dense to protect themselves.

Personally, I do believe in seatbelt laws, athough I understand peoples' concern about ever increasing gov. control.
I guess the lack of logic bothers me. A vehicle with 4 wheels, usually with built-in safety measures of airbags, generally highly visible - we're required to take the extra measure of a seat belt. But a vehicle with 2 wheels, no built in safety measures, and due to small size not highly visible - there are no mandated safety expectations. It just strikes me as crazy...

I can't understand how seatbelt laws got so much backing, but helmet laws have stayed under the radar...

Helmet laws and seatbelt laws makes perfect sense to me.
Years ago, before we had a seatbelt law in this country my parents and uncle had an accident. Drunk driver drove into them as they were waiting at a red light. None of them were wearing seat belts. My uncle got killed, my dad got thrown from the car, over a 7 foot fence. He spent the the best years of his life in a wheelchair.
As for helmets... if you fall off your bike, travelling at, say 80 miles an hour, would you or wouldn't you rather be wearing one?

I don't think the gov't has the right to tell anyone that they must wear a helmet or a seat belt. I do think your insurance company should have the right to not cover you if you are in an accident and aren't wearing one. If you are not insured and choose to not wear one you are just screwed (although you are pretty much screwed anyway if you aren't insured these days).

That being said, I lost a dear friend who crashed his motorcycle one night and pretty much landed on his head. He wasn't wearing a helmet. He spent 6 weeks in the ICU and another 6 months+ in therapy. He's still alive, but he is not the same person at all. For all intents and purposes my friend is gone and a shell remains. It is terribly sad to think that if he had just been wearing a helmet he would have been okay.

All these posts relate to a horrifying accident I saw a few weeks ago.

To make a long story short, I was in the back of my family's van heading home after eating Sunday lunch at my grandma's. We were on the highway, about to pull off to take the exit to go home. Now I am like really addicted to watching the cars go by. I always have been. I watch them coming and then turn to see them drive away.

Anyway, in coming towards us was a huge silver/grey dodge ram (i think a duelly? but not important) pulling a big camper behind it. As i turned watching it pass, I saw a big blue cruiser style motorcycle with 2 passengers wearing blue helmets that matched the bike. It threw up some white trash (or so my mom commented that it was trash). I was it swerve like it was trying to regain control (like a serpentine). Then it suddenly righted and swerved to the right, off the highway and into the grass. The wheel must have hit something off the road like a bump, because the wheel jerked to the left and threw the bike head over tail, and then rolling over and over on its sides. After 5 or 6 rolls it dissapeared down the embankment (which dropped off a very steep 20 feet)

The crash was at 80mph.

The trash was the white fiberglass being ripped off the back of the camper where the wheel hit it.

I could not see these people surviving.

We pulled off at our exit (only about 200-300 feet away from crash site) and stopped to tell the cop what had happened. Its a small town and they have tons of speed traps. He sped off and when we turned to our road that ran parallel to the highway (although we were now going the opposite way, back towards the crash) there were over 10 cars pulled over and people were freaking out and running to help.

You can only pray in situations like that.

I already had decided to never ride a motorcycle. This sealed it (although dirt bikes don't count, lol)

I do support these laws. A friend of the family was at a stop sign one time and a motorcycle hit her driver side at 65mph. He flew over 50 feet before he hit the ground. I think that the goverments power should be very limited, yes. It it the people who should control the government, not the other way around.

----But my opinion on this matter is that you have to realize that it isn't just the rider and his/her family that are affected. Its anyone else involved. Could you sleep at night knowing that if it wasn't for you someone might be alive. These laws protect more than people realize.

As i finish up i see an advertisement for the 2012 Honda Gold Wing Motorcycle........at least they're wearing helmets in the picture

 

[thaiturkey]

Another thread hijacked by politics. So, before it's locked .............

If you have the stomach for it, look at 'motorcyclists head injuries' or something similar on Google Images and You Tube. There are some graphic images that aren't suitable for showing here. It's so obvious that helmets should be compulsory and such nonsense that laws about it should be labelled as political or, for goodness sake, Communist. There's no reason to insult Canadians either. Everywhere you go there are health and safety laws at work - at home, at work, on the street, in the shops, in 'planes, train and buses and in restaurants. There's no reason why bikers should be exempt. Cyclists should be included too. You can break your skull open even at low speed.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

I have plenty of pictures of my own from calls I went on an had to clean up. I could rant all day about the deaths I have seen because of lack of using seat belts in cars an tractors an the lack of helmets on bikes an ATVs...

That has nothing to do with laws though. People in the EMS system have a high percentage of anti-"nanny state" people. Lots of dust collecting on the seatbelts of thousands of EMS trucks all over the USA.



I am lost though how you took that as an insult to Canada...

 

[mom'sfolly]

I think the lack of helmet laws is a secret experiment in social darwinism, and an effort by doctors to have more organs available for donation....