Topic: Changes to Michigan Helmet Law

[OldSchool_IsCool]

For those out & about in and around Michigan, you no longer have to wear a helmet, effective immediately.

To ride helmetless, you must be:

- 21 y/o or older
- have passed the MSF safety course or have had a m/c endorsement for at least 2 years
- have at least $20k first party medical insurance

Passenger can go helmetless if
- at least 21 y/o
- at least $20k first party medical insurance
- the operator's insurance can cover the passenger if it's for at least $20k per person.

[kirkn]

O joy O rapture...

I guess Michigan is following Florida in it's program to thin the herd...

 

[Duke McDukiedook]

I view this as a good thing, we can only hope that the perpetually stupid do not produce offspring before they get brained.

[Duanob]

"To ride helmetless, you must be":

Brainless?

[OldSchool_IsCool]

I view this as a good thing, we can only hope that the perpetually stupid do not produce offspring before they get brained.

Or to state it another way...

Helmetless Rider, meet Charles Darwin. Chuck, this is Idiot!

[scrapvalue]

I live in Northern Michigan. I like to ride through the country side without my helmet on from time to time, but it is on very hot days at low speed.
The way they have the rules written, you can expect to get pulled over every time a cop sees you without a helmet.
How else are they going to know you meet all the stipulations?

Sounds like a great way to get pulled over.

I will continue to wear my helmet when I ride,(most of the time).

[seanbarney41]

Michigan already has some of the most expensive insurance in the country...guess what's gonna happen now

[sangyo soichiro]

Of course I will still wear my helmet, but I have to admit, on those really hot summer days when I am sweaty from kick starting a bike I've been working on and just want to go to the end of the block and back to check it without getting a ticket, I will appreciate the no helmet law.

[freedomgli]

Stupid motorcyclists think riding helmetless is freedom, a right, etc. The reality is their choice to ride without a helmet hurts all motorcyclists by costing all of us more money and may eventually lead to more restrictions or perhaps prohibitions on motorcycle riding altogether. Not to mention the fact that "good" motorcyclists now have to work even harder to combat a generally negative public perception.

The solution isn't allowing fewer regulations for motorcyclists. The solution remains better education, much more stringent exams and more frequent retesting of all vehicle operators. Put the extra revenues into programs that actually make a difference no matter the political consequences.

P.S. Thanks to my dad for working with his state legislator and for co-writing the mandatory motorcycle helmet bill that became NYS law in the 1960s.

[freedomgli]

Also, on a more personal note, all it takes is 10 seconds to kill yourself on a bike if you fuxk up and are not wearing proper safety gear including a helmet. My dumb ass cousin is proof of that. Never mind that he had no business being on a bike in the first place. But the fact that Ohio doesn't require helmets means he wasn't wearing one when he killed himself within seconds of swinging his leg over a bike my uncle had just finished restoring. He left behind a wife and three young children. A helmet would have prevented such a needless tragedy. My cousin wasn't the brightest but he was able to earn a living and provide for his family. Not anymore....

[seanbarney41]

...good points freedomgli, really sorry to hear about your cousin...this new law was sold as a means to increase tourism revenue.  I'm really excited about the types of motorcyclists that are gonna flock to my state now(sic)...the type that arrive, get wasted, and then go splatter their fringy leather vest all over one of our many large and beautiful trees...sounds like more money for Michigan's only truly prosperous industry, the health care industry....

[jamesb]

here in Kansas we don't have to wear helmets there are no restrictions just as Long as you are over 18. i do not wear a helmet i was in a near fatal accident last June layed in a coma for a few days a deer jump on me out of a cornfield going down the road 2 miles from my house.27 stitches and 35 staples from ear to ear.they thought i was not going to make it for 2 days.i still suffer from memory loss walk with a permant limp. I'm a dumba$$ did not have a helmet and i still won't wear one.i don't wear all the leathers and joe rocket body amor stuff it's just me and my blue jeans and t shirts.it's my choice i think seatbelts are bull$h!t too my cousins ex girlfriend was in a motorcycle wreck she was wearing a helmet when she hit the pavement her head bounced and broke her neck she'll probably never walk again. so even if you wear a helmet your not guaranteed anything.i should have died in that wreck i flew 35 feet and went through a big mailbox stand. i do not make fun of people becuase they wear a helmet.but it somehow gives them right to tease me.who cares to each their own.

[freedomgli]

Life is risky and we are all going to die one day. But taking unnecessary risks that are easily and cheaply mitigated is stupid and I have no problem teasing or shaming people about their poor judgement and poor choices. Hopefully a few numbskulls will eventually get it. jamesb, you will never, ever win the intellectual argument over the effectivness of seat belts and helmets at minimizing injury.

[seanbarney41]

Hey Jamesb, I guess I should have thought out my above post a little better because it's a terrible generalization.  You present your case well.  I guess in a world without blood sucking insurance companies and for profit medical industry I would probably ride without a helmet.  ...but I just know this #$%* is gonna cost me more insurance dollars I don't have, all so others can enjoy their "freedom".  I actually prefer wearing helmets for reasons beyond safety.  I like the quiet, I like the anonymity, the robotic look.  I like to go fast and the wind makes my hair hurt.  I have crashed many times always due to me pushing my own skills or the bikes limitations too far.  I love to stand up, dust myself off, pickup the bike, and ride my own sorry ass home with a helmet full of memories and lessons learned.

[jamesb]

i hate riding fast i regret getting on the highway.and i know i'll never win the argument about helmets and seatbelts. here they past a law the pigs can pull you over if you are not wearing a seatbelt it's a 5 dollar fine and no marks on your driving record. also the helmet law just up the age to 18 it used to be 16yrs old.i feel if i can ride without a helmet who the hell are you to tell me i need to have a seatbelt on.oh well like i said to each their own.i just hope everybody is safe and enjoys the summer time ahead.

[BeSeeingYou]

Life is risky and we are all going to die one day. But taking unnecessary risks that are easily and cheaply mitigated is stupid and I have no problem teasing or shaming people about their poor judgement and poor choices. Hopefully a few numbskulls will eventually get it. jamesb, you will never, ever win the intellectual argument over the effectivness of seat belts and helmets at minimizing injury.

Judgemental Judy...you sound like someone who needs to be kept away from the levers of power.  Wanting to regulate and keep everyone safe from themselves and risky behavior.  Some people consider motorcycles themselves to be an unnecessary risk, or mountain climbing, or hanggliding, or scuba diving, etc etc.  Where to draw the line?  Sure seatbelts and helmets are safer but so is staying home watching TV.  We don't have a helmet law here but I wear one 90 percent of the time and I like having the choice.

[Spanner 1]

Your arguments jamesb make zero sense to me and, I hope, zero sense to many more folks that read this thread.... just sayin' 

[jamesb]

I'm not trying to make any arguments. i was just stating the truth on what happend to someone i know that was wearing a helmet.I'm not making fun of anyone about their helmets but it seems that a person that doesn't wear one is stupid, brainless,and a idiot.

[Spanner 1]

Wow james... that was a traumatic accident that happened to you . I'm sure you posted about it last year when it happened... seeing as your a member since 2008... have you got a link ?? I'd like to read about it when it was all fresh in your mind, what bike was it btw ?

[trueblue]

Michigan must be low on organ donors

[dave500]

if you dont wear a full face helmet you are a fuxking idiot full stop!each to their own and what ever rules of the land you abide in,people get killed in fights with ONE punch to the head,mostly as they fall and hit their head on the ground.

[Retro Rocket]

her head bounced and broke her neck she'll probably never walk again

If her head bounced hard enough to break her neck then she would have been dead without the helmet. I had a bad accident {hit and run} when i was 17, my head hit a tree and the helmet was torn off still done up, it fractured my skull and broke my jaw in 3 places, without it the tree would have torn my head off, i also damaged my liver which resulted in a liver transplant nearly 2o years later, i always ride with a helmet and protective gear and i still ride hard {within my limits}, be very aware, bordering on paranoid and expect the worse every time you ride, wear all the right gear and you have a chance of making it through your next ride. I spent a lot of time in a trauma ward, i know all too well what the alternative is.... I'm sorry but people who ride without the right protective gear deserve everything they get....

[trueblue]

I was out riding with a mate of mine on dirt bikes a few years back, he always wore a full face even on the dirt, anyway a rock flicked up off my tyre about the size of a golf ball and hit him square in the visor it shatered the visor but he didn't recieve any injuries from it, it is scary to think what would have happened if he had been wearing an open motocross style helmet, a few weeks later we were out riding again, and he hit a tree hard when we were going down a tight track through the scrub, the bike completely missed he caught it with the top of his body on the inside of a corner, he was pretty beat up, but managed to ride back out to the cars, there was basically nothing left of the chin bar of his helmet, he had numerous broken ribs, a broken shoulder and collar bone, punctured lung and a broken nose.  He was bloody lucky about 6" above where his head hit the tree there was a metal spike hanging out of the tree about 10"long, I loaded the bikes up onto the trailer and rushed him to the hospital, all the while with him telling me he didn't need to go to the hospital, he just needed to go home and put an icepack on his nose, anyway after a week in intensive care, another 2 weeks in hospital he was released to go home but it took him another 3 months to get back to work.  If he hadn't been wearing his helmet I would have been bringing his body back from out there that day, that I'm sure of it.  When I saw him fold around the tree I was almost certain that I would be telling his missus and kids that he wouldn't be coming home, the couple of minutes he was unconscious were the longest few minutes of my life.  But thankfully he was wearing a helmet.

[freedomgli]

Judgemental Judy.

Damn right I'm judgmental! I have no respect for motorcyclists who don't wear proper safety gear including helmets. ATGATT. You can't sit back and do nothing about moyorcycle safety. Each of us has a tremendous responsibility. If we as a group don't achieve a "reasonable" level of safety then outside groups (government, insurance, safety watchdog groups) will do it for us and you might not like how they decide to fix our problem. So better to be responsible and not give them a reason to regulate motorcyling out of existence.

Some people consider motorcycles themselves to be an unnecessary risk, or mountain climbing, or hanggliding, or scuba diving, etc etc.  Where to draw the line?

The law often makes use of the word "reasonable" when determining what risks are acceptable or not. You can't go scuba diving without being certified on proper safety to minimize the risk of death / injury. Similarly, hang gliding is self-regulating (USHGA). My 2nd-cousin is an experiened hang glider and he'll be the first to kick your ass off the mountain if you don't know what the hell you're doing and put yourself, others and the sport at risk. Guns are another one. Nevermind the personal devastation, but take a look at the economics of illegal hand gun use. If gun owners don't do more to become more accountable for their proper use then you might see even greater restrictions. As a responsible gun owner myself, I don't leave a loaded hand gun on the kitchen counter for my unsupervised child to play with. Riding without a helmet is like playing with a loaded gun. It's an unnecessary risk that is easily and cheaply mitigated by a $100 piece of fiberglass and plastic.

[freedomgli]

but it seems that a person that doesn't wear one is stupid, brainless,and a idiot.

You hit the nail on the head. This is exactly what the vast majority of people think.