Topic: Bikers...Helmets..Latest Statistics..Weigh-in now!

[Ichiban 4]

This out on Parade.com/intel:

Over past 10 years..number of motorcycle fatalities in U.S. has increased 125%. [300% for riders over 50].  Total deaths were over 4800 in 2006 alone!

Of those killed..42% due to lack of wearing helmets.  Department of Transportation Secretary/biker Mary Peters says: at least 700 lives per year in U.S. could be saved by wearing helmets.

Currently..just 20 (out of 50) States require riders to wear helmets.  Currently..Louisiana..under pressure from "personal freedom rights" groups is considering repeal of helmet laws.  Proponents of repeal say: decision to wear helmets should be strictly a matter of personal choice/freedom.  Same explanation has been used in other States repealing helmet laws. Issues of increased medical costs to society..tragic loss to families..are not addressed. 

Loud pipes..lack of helmets..do not save lives.  This excuse subjugates all bike riders to same faulty reasoning-by-association.[Note the 300% increased death rate for over 50 riders!]

Where do SOHC 4 members come down on this issue?  Most in past have not gone along with weekend-warrior/cruiser/helmetless mentality seen with other venues.

You can weigh-in..influence current ideas about helmet versus helmetless laws in U.S. by voting @ Parade.com/intel.

Even if you don't make the vote on this currently..you can keep abreast/weigh-in on related issues on subject in future.

Ichi

[bzr]

I suppose with gas increasing to 4 bucks a gallon, more people are going to try their hand at motorcycling for the first time in their lives. I won't be surprised to see an increase in accidents and fatalities because it's difficult for people who have driven their entire lives to adapt to a completely different mentality. Hopefully Motorcycle Rider's Course registration increases as well...

Currently..Louisiana..under pressure from "personal freedom rights" groups is considering repeal of helmet laws.  Proponents of repeal say: decision to wear helmets should be strictly a matter of personal choice/freedom.  Same explanation has been used in other States repealing helmet laws. Issues of increased medical costs to society..tragic loss to families..are not addressed. 

Good, weed out the stupid. Charge the families for the cost it takes to clean up, because if you really think looking cool without a helmet is worth splattering your brains all over the pavement, then you've got no one to blame but yourself.

I suppose this is the same crowd that never uses seatbelts because they don't "look cool" either?

[Joel]

Do insurance companies charge higher rates to those who don't wear helmets?

[Ichiban 4]

Do insurance companies charge higher rates to those who don't wear helmets?

Good point!

I don't think they do..do they?

Ichi

[Ichiban 4]

BTW..

Please don't overlook the fact that Parade.com/intel is currently soliciting input/votes on-line about this.

Ichi

[Phxmark123]

I like wearing a helmet just because I can hear my pipes better without all that wind noise. My insurance company didn't even ask about a helmet but it did ask about a motorcycle safety course.

[bwaller]

I have always worn the best full coverage helmet I could get, and I try not to care what everyone else does.
In the case of these half hat jobs, riders might as well be bare headed anyway as far as I'm concerned, but I try not to care what everyone else does!!!

[Gordon]

There's no shortage of humans on this planet so the argument of whether or not some piece of personal safety gear is proven to save hundreds or thousands of lives a year doesn't hold much weight with me.  If someone chooses to take a greater risk of death or injury that's perfectly fine with me.  I take a greater risk every time I get on my bike instead of driving my car to work. 

[magnus72]

I always ride with a helmet. Its smart and safe but I still think people should be given an option after given the facts.

since I live close to SC with no helmet laws, I've had some riders try to convince me that helmets are more dangerous to wear. These guys are dumb. Where does this idea come from? I can understand not wearing helmets for personal liberty reasons, but I cannot be convinced helmets ADD to being more unsafe.

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

I wouldn't vote to take your personal choice to wear a helmet away from you. Thats my personal choice.

If we wanted to decrease the cost of medical care and deaths we'd stop this gdamn war!!  

It's really great that we have a partial caring society but if idiots like me that may not wear a helmet at times do not care what their fate is why the hell would you want to care about their choice?

[Spikeybike]

for me at all depends on whats going on

going to the corner store on a 90 degree day : no helmet

riding 10+ miles on city streets : open face

riding on the highway : full face

i think it's nice to have the choice not to have one on, but if i didn't have a choice it wouldn't bother me that much.  i like having a helmet on, wind can hurt you ears over time

[Gordon]

I've had some riders try to convince me that helmets are more dangerous to wear. These guys are dumb. Where does this idea come from?

IMO, it comes from choosing not to wear a helmet and then attempting to rationalize that choice by saying that helmets are dangerous rather than just saying they prefer not to wear a helmet and aren't worried about the added risk.

From what I've seen, the riders who say they don't wear a helmet because helmets are dangerous are usually the same ones who say "loud pipes save lives" instead of admitting they just like the sound and don't care about everyone else who is forced to listen to them. 

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

And Gordon states - "and don't care about everyone else who is forced to listen to them."     

His bike sounds real nice when you are behind it   

 

[hopterfixer]

for me at all depends on whats going on

going to the corner store on a 90 degree day : no helmet

riding 10+ miles on city streets : open face

riding on the highway : full face

i think it's nice to have the choice not to have one on, but if i didn't have a choice it wouldn't bother me that much.  i like having a helmet on, wind can hurt you ears over time

This is not an attack on you by any means, but this logic does not hold water with me.  What would happen, if on your way to the corner store you were t-boned by a Tahoe?  Those are the thoughts that run through my head which is why I choose to wear the gear I have on in in my avatar whether it is 45 degrees or 100 degrees, corner store or open road.  I guess I am kind of a worst case scenario thinker.  I don't buy the loud pipes save lives crap either, I saw a neon yellow shirt that said "Loud Shirts Save Lives", that I believe. 

[Spikeybike]

This is not an attack on you by any means,   

no offense taken , i know it's not the smartest thing.  but i accept the risk.
i'm very aware of the drivers in tahoes the have blind spots the size of 3 bikes.

i guess it all comes down to how you ride, you can still die from head trauma with a helmet on if you ride like an idiot .   

[Shenanigans]

You should be able to have the choice. I ALWAYS wear a helmet. I have a full and a 3/4 I rarely wear the 3/4, wearing the 3/4 more than "once in a while" makes me nervous.

I rode once 2 miles home without a helmet (un-expected female passenger, so she got my helmet) and I could not believe how loud and obnoxious the wind and bike noise was. This was with stock pipes under 55 miles an hour! I can not imagine the detriment to peoples hearing who ride with loud pipes on the freeway. However if thats what you want to do then by all means you should be able too. Medical and insurance rates aside...

What does boggle me is the people that try and rationalize not wearing a helmet by saying it is more dangerous. I think thats just ridiculous as the evidence is pretty clear.

But since when do people follow evidence...


Edit: I think that Arizona must have the highest percentage of people who do not wear a helmet. It sure seems that way from what I see day to day.

[bradweingartner]

I'm all for personal freedom.

If you don't want to wear a helmet, or wear a seatbelt, or you want to jump out of an airplane. Be my guest. Regardless of whether I personally will or not.

If it doesn't put somebody besides yourself in harms way, I believe it's fair game completely.

That's what freedom is about. And motorcycles are about freedom as much as anything.

[Chad]

Yeah, here in AZ I got whole weeks without seeing a helmet on riders (except me.) I don't like 110degF either, but I don't think that bare-headed riding helps.

[DammitDan]

Of those killed..42% due to lack of wearing helmets.

Kind of begging the question, isn't it?

Those 42% were killed by the motorcycle crashes, not their lack of helmet protection.  The statistic didn't say that 42% who were killed died due to massive head trauma, did it?

As for the insurance rates, are you talking about vehicle insurance or medical insurance?  Most vehicle insurers are there to cover the other guy's skin, not yours.

(BTW, I'm playing devil's advocate here, I'm 100% for helmets and helmet laws...  In fact, every time I saw a helmetless rider on my road trip to Alaska a few weeks ago I said, 'What an idiot')

[DammitDan]

I'm all for personal freedom.

If you don't want to wear a helmet, or wear a seatbelt, or you want to jump out of an airplane. Be my guest. Regardless of whether I personally will or not.

But how many people jump out of airplanes without parachutes?  A parachute for a skydiver is the equivalent of a helmet for a biker, or a seatbelt for an auto driver.  So far as I know, suicide is still illegal in the United States.

[mystic_1]

A parachute for a skydiver is the equivalent of a helmet for a biker, or a seatbelt for an auto driver.  So far as I know, suicide is still illegal in the United States.

That's not an entirely accurate analogy.  A helmet for a skydiver is the equivalent of a helmet for a biker.  Neither intends to hit their head, but they might.  Neither is trying to intentionally cause their own death either, so the suicide analogy doesn't hold either.

mystic_1

[hopterfixer]

I am not so concerned with the flying off of my bike at interstate speeds and my helmet saving me.  Small injuries from low speed accidents can be prevented too.  My helmet my save my brain sometime, but I like that it may save my face from any number of small injuries.  I guess that can be said for the jacket, gloves, pants and shoes too.  I just feel better wearing it all.  I makes me cringe seeing people riding in cut-offs, and flip flops.  To each his own. 

[Pawsoff]

I have heard of this "Helmets are dangerous" crap too. I agree with the former poster who said the proponents are just trying to rationalize their FASHION Choice by means of an urban legend. The defence I heard was along the lines of.... the extra material at the front of the helmet will promote the snapping of ones neck....
Now I find it hard to believe that the small increase in mass attributed to a full face helmet is reason to completely ignore the multitude of benifits is gives. I would say that is like people not wanting to wear seat belts because they hear that there are fequent issues of bladder rupture due to them....... well yes... thats true, but your a$$ didn't fly through the windshield did it?

This boils down to fashion, nothing else.

As for the Pipes.... I don't know how they are legal, I was under the understanding that there were noise bylaws, there is no way that some of these bikes I have seen could pass the DB rating.

[Markcb750]

I understand that there is a freedom issue involved but the problem is the people who do not die.

Many head injury patients wind up needing their diapers changed twice a day... and you and I paying through the social security system.  the only winner in your "freedom" is the CEO of the local brain trauma center.

If you don't want to wear a helmet, great...Just do not expect a society that KNOWS helmets will reduce this type of injury to pay to keep you from having diaper rash.


Loud pipes are simply impolite, on that basis not something I would do.

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

My full face greatly reduces my field of vision which MIGHT cause an issue in an emergency but, in that same emergency, such as when I got hit head-on and bounced off the front of the van and flew through the air only to land head first, it can also save my ass (and my head). Didn't do a damn thing for the broken bones.

My full face is fantastic when it comes to sealing out cold and wet and hail and noise which is why(only reason at the time) I was wearing it when I kissed that #$%*'s van in my lane.

My half helmet is great for keeping my bald head from getting sun burned and abiding the law in CA & NV but wouldn't save my face or jaw like my full face did.

I still prefer choice, my choice and not someone else's. If I finally get my fool ass killed when not wearing my helmet, well, that's choice, my choice. Please call me a stupid dead f@#k if that happens because that will be true. Stupid AND dead.