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Fewer Helmets, More Deaths


Belfry

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Like smoking, wearing no helmet is good for a countries' economy.......

Taxes and contributions are being paid into the state coffer and they in the end donot need pension payments, old folks homes and care for the elderly services.........

Tragedy though for those left behind................ :wacko:

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Darwin is having his say in all this. Thinning the herd of the lame, vain* and ignorant.

* I'm convinced that much of the helmet wearing resistance is because people feel cool when they ride and want to be recognized. Helmet = non-recognition.

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Lets face it, helmet law or not, if someone is ignorant enough to not wear a helmet simply because a law said you can instead of the fact that the most precious organ we have is put at unneccesary risk, then we cannot blame the law makers. It is up to us to choose the right thing.

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I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but the NYT did an interactive visual on its website a few days ago with recent U.S. statistics concerning motorcycle fatalities in states that have repealed helmet laws.

Just out of curiousity, why do you think they omitted to mention what happened to motorcycle fatalities in states that had not repealed their helmet laws?

Ciao,

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I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but the NYT did an interactive visual on its website a few days ago with recent U.S. statistics concerning motorcycle fatalities in states that have repealed helmet laws.

Just out of curiousity, why do you think they omitted to mention what happened to motorcycle fatalities in states that had not repealed their helmet laws?

Ciao,

They didn't omit it, but it wasn't the focus of the article.

"But through the same years, motorcycle deaths [nationally] were climbing. Some of the increase was linked to more registrations, but more bikers didn’t account for all of it."

It's just typical spin. Gotta hunt for the non-spun facts.

Though it's common sense... people who wear helmets tend to survive more often than those that don't.

I'd be curious to see how blood alcohol ties in to this... The BAC of people wearing helmets in a crash and the BAC of those NOT wearing a helmet.

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It would be interesting to know if people that choose not to wear helmets are also more likely to drink and ride. People with poor judgement don't usually confine it to just one thing. Despite being a dangerous pastime, having the right gear, not mixing alcohol with riding and using common sense can drastically reduce the chances and/or consequences of a crash.

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From my experiences in Missouri/Kansas, the cruiser riders are more likely to not wear a helmet if given their druthers, also many of the Harley riders take their breaks in bars. I've

been on a few poker runs/charity runs with a lot of Harley riders in attendance. Most of the stops were at bars, or a bar and grill. I drank Coke, but I was in a very small minority. Most

of the helmetless riders were pouring beer down their necks with abandon.

The bottom line is that there is no logic in why Harley riders do what they do. Sometimes I feel like Jack Kilpatrick to Shana Alexander in "Airplane": "They knew what they were getting into. I say, let 'em crash!"

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When California did not have a mandatory helmet law, I always rode with one anyway. Unless I was giving someone a ride home and they/I didn't have a helmet for them to wear, then they got mine and I went without it. I just felt safer with it on and knew the consequences of what would happen if I were to crash without a helmet.

It's funny, I went for a ride with a buddy today and after I got home and took off my leathers I thought about how much safer I feel when I wear it and that I don't even think about the "what ifs" when riding but rather I concentrate more on my riding environment. Same thing I think I felt when wearing a helmet back then, one less thing to be thinking about when riding.

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I have friends that prefer to ride sans helmet. I always ask them if they'll sit, not stand, but sit flat on the floor and let me push them over backwards. I have yet to have

any takers, but they'll all go out riding bare headed. :wacko:

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I was fairly impressed when an instructor in the MSF class I took before I ever owner a motorcycle told us you only have to bang your head on a curb at something like 3 or 5 miles per hour to permanently scramble your brain. :wacko:

The only time I've ridden without was once when the helmet got stolen while I was at work.

Wearing a helmet, it's a no brainer. Groan. :tongue:

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When I was a little kid growing up on the South Plains of Texas my grandfather would take me with him in his truck to the markets in San Antonio to buy watermelons in late spring when they first arrived from Mexico and the Rio Grande Valley. On the way back we would stop at grocery stores to sell as many as we could and then we'd park under a tree by the side of the road and sell them to anyone who stopped.

One of the highlights of the return trips for me was getting to ride in the bed of the truck and, once in awhile, when I thought he wasn't looking, throw a watermelon over the tailgate just to see it explode on the pavement.

Ten or twelve years later, when I started riding motorcycles, I remembered that image very, very well and never, ever rode without a helmet.

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I like my helmet, it has my speakers in it so I can listen to music which I love oh so much. Plus, as mentioned previously, I focus more on the ride when wearing gear and less on "I need to try not to fall off in my tshirts and shorts cause that would hurt like heck"

PRB

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I lived in NC for a bit, and often rode to SC on the weekends with a bunch of guys I barely knew. Each time, without fail, the entire mass would pull over at the SC line, right under the welcome sign, take off their lids, strap them on, and continue to ride. All of these guys were on sportbikes..ZXs, FZRs, CBRs, etc.

I could never understand it. Just riding across a parking lot @ 35 mph the wind was loud enough for me, and my eyes watered so badly I couldn't see at all. Running 65+ on the freeway like that seemed insane to me. I was the only one of the lot that kept it on in SC, and I got lots of "What's up?" and odd looks.

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Shortly after my wife started riding again we rode up to her sister's house in Kansas. She decided she was going to ride up to Hiawatha, about 12 miles away, and didn't want to wear her

helmet. After she got back she was amazed at how very noisy and buggy the ride was and said never again. She completely fails to see the attraction of riding without a helmet.

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I've probably told this joke before, but.

Why don't harley riders smile? Cause then they would get bugs in their mouth.

I have no idea how some of them have any skin on their face at all. If it's a little bit dustly, I hear everything just bouncing off the helmet and visor, then I see a harley with no helmet riding with a grimace on his face. Why why why. Do you like the feeling of having your skin sandblasted away?

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I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but the NYT did an interactive visual on its website a few days ago with recent U.S. statistics concerning motorcycle fatalities in states that have repealed helmet laws.

Just out of curiousity, why do you think they omitted to mention what happened to motorcycle fatalities in states that had not repealed their helmet laws?

Ciao,

They didn't omit it, but it wasn't the focus of the article.

"But through the same years, motorcycle deaths [nationally] were climbing. Some of the increase was linked to more registrations, but more bikers didn’t account for all of it."

It's just typical spin. Gotta hunt for the non-spun facts.

Although I have always ridden with a helmet (both before helmet laws and after them), I was more interested in why someone would write an article (okay, it wasn't really an "article" per se, but a "visual") in the Science section of the New York Times that apparently engages in "cherry picking". :mad:

Ciao,

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Peer pressure can be a powerful tool. I like to go motorcycling and because there is no such thing as a fender bender on a motorcycle. I always wear all gear! Read it or heard someone say it, you pay X amount of money for a motorcycle and then whine about the prices of helmets and the helmet is the product that will protect the most important organ you have! Do not get it either! Someone mentioned alcohol and helmets earlier, was at a bar one time and this person could barely walk but rode to this bar and started drinking some more, no helmet!


I lived in NC for a bit, and often rode to SC on the weekends with a bunch of guys I barely knew. Each time, without fail, the entire mass would pull over at the SC line, right under the welcome sign, take off their lids, strap them on, and continue to ride. All of these guys were on sportbikes..ZXs, FZRs, CBRs, etc.

I could never understand it. Just riding across a parking lot @ 35 mph the wind was loud enough for me, and my eyes watered so badly I couldn't see at all. Running 65+ on the freeway like that seemed insane to me. I was the only one of the lot that kept it on in SC, and I got lots of "What's up?" and odd looks.

Yes, I don't get it either, can feel the sun, hear the motor, all while knowing if it hits the fan I have taken some kind of steps to hope that I walk away from it all!

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Lets face it, helmet law or not, if someone is ignorant enough to not wear a helmet simply because a law said you can instead of the fact that the most precious organ we have is put at unneccesary risk, then we cannot blame the law makers. It is up to us to choose the right thing.

Peer pressure! I think.

I wear a helmet and gear because I do not want to be a statistic! Wear a yellow helmet and Hi Viz Roadcrafter have only wore them twice and have been snickered at already! On the other side though the majority have given me positive looks and sometimes you can tell by the way they follow behind you and or at a stop light! Some of the above may be off topic but think it pertains in some ways.

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I always wear a helmet and a jacket and gloves. 90% of the time I wear my tourmaster boots as well. Usually I just ride in jeans unless I am going out to ride aggressively, then I wear the pants as well.

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Have you never fallen off your feet onto your knees on pavement while wearing jeans?

Any slide at all will rip the jeans instantly, then you skin your knee.

If your going 20 mph or more, fall and slide how will that go?

Maybe you'll be lucky. I'd rather have leather with armor on my knees.

I like walking as well as thinking. If the brain works but the body is AFU, not so good. Just saying. :sleep:

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"Peer pressure! Mainly youth but still it does account for something, I think."

Actually in the US I believe there is more peer pressure from older riders on Harley's. I mean how many Harley riders do you see that aren't in "uniform":

jeans, engineer boots, chain drive billfold(optional), do rag, beany helmet, fingerless gloves, and black shirt advertising some Harley dealership. At the

same time they talk about their "independence". Riiiiiight, you can be independent as long as you conform to the Harley rider's code. "You're unique, just

like everybody else."

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I have no idea how some of them have any skin on their face at all. If it's a little bit dustly, I hear everything just bouncing off the helmet and visor, then I see a harley with no helmet riding with a grimace on his face. Why why why. Do you like the feeling of having your skin sandblasted away?

I rode for a day a couple of years ago with a high school buddy I hadn't seen in years. We discovered we were heading in the same direction at the same time on motorbikes so we decided to ride together. He rides some species of Star cruiser: Huge v-twin, 'beach' bars (not really sure why they're called that, for cruising by the beach, I guess ... but wide), sissy bar, lots of chrome and leather doodads and dangly things--definitely not my cup of tea. He also follows the Harley dress code: chaps, jacket with fringes, engineer boots--and a plastic WWII-style German helmet (with a fake DOT sticker). He did have some wraparound, purpose-made motorcycle sunglasses with a kind of gasket on the inside to snug them up to his face and keep his eyes from watering too much. Needless to say we were an odd pair going down the road and at rest/food breaks. We rode in perfect summer weather on twisty, rural two-lane mountain highways all day. When we arrived at a motel for the night and began unpacking the bikes he went straight to the bathroom, grabbed a (white) facecloth and wiped his face. The facecloth was black! :ohmy: I wasn't even aware it had been dusty. My face was quite clean under my (visor closed, vents open) full-face helmet.

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Have you never fallen off your feet onto your knees on pavement while wearing jeans?

Any slide at all will rip the jeans instantly, then you skin your knee.

If your going 20 mph or more, fall and slide how will that go?

Maybe you'll be lucky. I'd rather have leather with armor on my knees.

I like walking as well as thinking. If the brain works but the body is AFU, not so good. Just saying. :sleep:

Yes, amuses me when they say I wear jeans when I ride, like it's something durable. Riding jeans are sold but the majority just wear department store jeans.

"Peer pressure! Mainly youth but still it does account for something, I think."

Actually in the US I believe there is more peer pressure from older riders on Harley's. I mean how many Harley riders do you see that aren't in "uniform":

jeans, engineer boots, chain drive billfold(optional), do rag, beany helmet, fingerless gloves, and black shirt advertising some Harley dealership. At the

same time they talk about their "independence". Riiiiiight, you can be independent as long as you conform to the Harley rider's code. "You're unique, just

like everybody else."

Yes, you are right it was edited. It could be anybody not wearing a helmet.

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