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Motorcycle helmet laws

What do you think of helmet laws?


  • Total voters
    114

Darky

NAXJA Forum User
Location
29 Palms, CA
Sarge said:
You hit a motorcyclists and you're not responsible? BULL. In a large number of accidents the blame is shared in some part by all involved. We should have something like Japan does, if you hit a bike and you say something like, "I didn't see him", automatically guilty.

Sarge
Ok, lemme retry that, I fear I was misunderstood. If I hit someone, motorcycle, car, whatever and its my fault, then its my fault, there's no debating that. What I was talking about is more along the lines of the guys who think that being on a bike makes them superman (genrally crotch rockets...although Harley riders can be guilty of the same) and jump in and out of traffic through gaps that they barely fit through. One jumps in front of me then has to hit the brakes because traffic slows. He doesn't think of the fact that the 3000 lb Jeep behind him he just cut off doesn't stop anywhere near as good as he does. I hit him and he gets hurt. He and/or his family sue me for injuries, lost work etc.
Japan also has a law stating that if you're an American driving over there and you hit someone you're guilty no matter what the circumstances. They could've T-boned you after running a red light, you're guilty. We're "professional" drivers under their law. Or they have law that if you're driving along and a bus pulls out in front of you, you have to stop or be ticketed. Heaven forbid the bus just pull out without enough space (common occurrence) and you don't lock your brakes to doge him and hit him... Many laws are in place for your own good, I don't see why we should complain about the ones that hurt no one. If a law were made saying I needed a roll cage before lifting my Jeep, I'd be pissed because that's a fairly major expendtiure, but I'd abide by it and wait longer... About the 15 mph thing, I wasn't aware of that...but I'd still have to say you're better off having something between your head and the pavement. My stepdad's been riding bikes for years, a member of the Clampers and a couple other clubs (mainly revolving around his 71 Norton), and he's had more than a few situations where he's praised his helmet and he's just as wary of gov't encroachments upon the rights of bikers as anyone. Try 40 mph headfirst into a pole...split the helmet, gave him one mean headache, but he survived without any injuries besides a sore neck/back, and some scrapes and bruises...

I threw the poll in for fun, didn't know how to make them til now...
 
Not sure wehre this thread came from...

Personally I wear helmets on motorcycles (not on bicycles, that's an instant headache) and will with a law or without, I just don't much like nanny laws...
 
came from the GEICO insurance thread, didn't want to continue the hijacking, so I made a new thread... :)
 
BlackSport96 said:
What I was talking about is more along the lines of the guys who think that being on a bike makes them superman (genrally crotch rockets...although Harley riders can be guilty of the same) .

kryptonite never bothered me before. Now that I have a bike, I pretty much control the universe.

My :soapbox:

Seat belt laws and helmet laws are nothing but a freakin' income source for the government. Do they need that income to support the economy?
With that said, I do wear a helmet on the highway for MY safety. If I'm cruisin' ho's on main street, the helmet comes off for temperature and comfort reasons.

Flowers
 
Helmet laws are a stupid intrusion on our basic right to do dumb things if we want to, so long as it doesn't hurt anyone else.

People who ride without a helmet are even stupider.
 
dmillion said:
People who ride without a helmet are even stupider.


You are entitled to your opinion.

According to your logic:

This guy......smart

hells_angel.jpg



This guy.....stupider

getImage.asp
 
Flowers said:
You are entitled to your opinion.

According to your logic:

This guy......smart

hells_angel.jpg



This guy.....stupider

getImage.asp
In the context of helmets, yea, I can live with that.
I believe that riding without a helmet is foolish. Just like I feel wheeling without seatbelts is foolish. But I'm strongly against laws designed to protect me from my own decision making ability.
 
kid4lyf said:
In the context of helmets, yea, I can live with that.
I believe that riding without a helmet is foolish. Just like I feel wheeling without seatbelts is foolish. But I'm strongly against laws designed to protect me from my own decision making ability.


You, also, are entitled to your opinion.
 
"You are entitled to your opinion."

Yes I am, and I don't need you to tell me so.

And, yeah, the guy in the second picture looks pretty damn stupid to me.

Oh, and by the way. I never said that EVERYONE who wears a helmet is smart. I said that folks who don't are STUPID. There's a big difference. The guy in the first picture doesn't look any too bright either.
 
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The guy in the second picture is Billy Lane. He built that bike. I think that makes him smart, or something. The guy in the first picture is me before I went on the Subway diet.
 
Flowers said:
You are entitled to your opinion.
This guy.....stupider

getImage.asp

Considering that the chain on his White Trash wallet looks to be about three inches from being sucked up into that hubless rear wheel, yeah he looks pretty stupid. . . . . Face it, fewer idiots getting head injuries when they wipe out on their bikes means lower insurance rates for all of us when we go to buy another bike. Wear your lid and quite sobbing about your "rights" being trampled. . . . . .
 
Face it, fewer idiots getting head injuries when they wipe out on their bikes means lower insurance rates for all of us when we go to buy another bike. Wear your lid and quite sobbing about your "rights" being trampled. . . . . .

Typical American. Sell out a fellow for a few dollars more in the pocket.


Think of it this way. I'd rather see someone pay the funeral expenses than keeping him alive as a vegetable.

People who ride without a helmet are even stupider.

How about bright day-glow yellow? :D

DSCN0503.jpg


but then again this is my rain gear and I ride in all weather.



Copperhead-
 
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I have crashed many times :wierd: when I was waaaay younger...road racing, motocrossing, short tracking and drag racing....umm and a few times on the street. I ruined a pile of helmets and leather in the process. But I never got my head messed up.

There are a few laws of riding: A. If you crash on the street at 150+, you are dead meat, helmet or not. B. The throttle goes both ways. C. Better to ruin a $800.00 set of leathers than grind off irreplacable flesh. D. replacement teeth don't work as well as the OEM ones. E. Never ride faster than your guardian angel can fly. F. If you can't use the front brake effectively, you have no right to be on a bike. G. Most fatalities happen in the first 6 months of ownership of your first bike.

I have been riding for over 35 years...the best advice I can give...assume that EVERYBODY on the road has you in their sights..oh yeah and learn how to countersteer. :lecture:
 
Do some research folks.

Hospital stay time is the same for helmeted and non-helmeted riders.

Insurance is not an issue in helmet use as most motorcyclists today are better insured than car drivers. In fact most unisured or underinsured drivers are in cars.

If insurance misuse is your issue then go after insurance fraud and illegal aliens.

Non-helmet states have lower injury/fatality rates.

Most common cause of death on a motorcycle is the same as in a car...thoraic injurues. This means impacts and/or damage to your torso (torn aorta's being number 1). Helmet doesn't do squat there.

Helmets do not prevent accidents. If they did then it would be a valid law.

As previously pointed out, NO helmet maker claims their helmet is any good over roughly 15mph. Usually on the dang label inside the helmet.

The program for DOT certification of helmets is a freakin' joke. Many helmets with the DOT sticker are in fact not capable of passing the test.

Let the rider decide.

As for the pics posted, judge not lest ye be judged. Outward appearance as nothing to do with the mind within. Both could be very intelligent. The second one definitely is. He's a freakin' artist with bikes.

Sarge
 
BlackSport96 said:
He doesn't think of the fact that the 3000 lb Jeep behind him he just cut off doesn't stop anywhere near as good as he does. I hit him and he gets hurt. He and/or his family sue me for injuries, lost work etc.

Don't remember the web site I saw this on but cars and trucks brakes are better than bikes brakes due simply to the greater swept area. I know I can outstop most cars BUT that's usually because I'me very aware I can not just slam them on and pray as most car drivers do.

BlackSport96 said:
Japan also has a law stating that if you're an American driving over there and you hit someone you're guilty no matter what the circumstances.

Didn't say we should adopt all their laws, just that after loosing friends and the drivers exuse was, "I didn't see him." the failure to be consious of the traffic around is bull.

Messed the last split of the quote so....Basically you'll follow any law enacted no matter how stupid, just cause their "looking out for you"?????

I've been in a few accidents myself, both with and without a helmet and am doing fine. It should be my choice anyway. If the rationale is due to head injusries and protecting myself then require the things in cars. Stidues show that MORE head injuries occur in cars and trucks than on a bike.

Sarge
 
If the rationale is due to head injusries and protecting myself then require the things in cars. Stidues show that MORE head injuries occur in cars and trucks than on a bike.

Sarge

Too true. I got my concussion in my Jeep. Been riding bikes for 19 years now and all my major injuries (severe herniation S1, concussion, various other torso and limb injuries..) all occured when I was in an auto.

I think the studies showed that helmets were a bad idea in cars because they impaired vision and hearing. can't remember for sure though.

I remember the panic in Florida when the state changed its helmet law to allow people 21yrs and over to ride helmetless. you would have thought that they were going to have to shut down the roads to clean up all the motorcylist carcasses. In the end I don't think the injury rates changed much. Most injuries were alcohol related at Daytona.

The truth is that helmets can help reduce some injuries (mostly abrasion). What they cannot do is protect the rider from serious trauma. The problem now is that most research and statistics are skewed to favor/promote the laws.

A few more points: I have spoken with some long distance riders about fatigue, and many feel that full faced helmets contribute to it, as the full faced helmet can't vent all the exhailed CO2. Not scientific, but something to think on.

Outward appearance as nothing to do with the mind within. Both could be very intelligent. The second one definitely is. He's a freakin' artist with bikes.

Billy Lane is definately an artist with those bikes. Now, if he could only be convinced to use a proper paralell twin for his choppers. :D


I love living in a state with no helmet law.

-Copperhead
 
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