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NY motorcyclist dies on ride protesting helmet law
AP via YAHOO! News ^ | Sunday, July 3, 2011

Posted on 07/08/2011 10:16:52 PM PDT by Paleo Conservative

ONONDAGA, N.Y. (AP) — Police say a motorcyclist participating in a protest ride against helmet laws in upstate New York died after he flipped over the bike's handlebars and hit his head on the pavement.

The accident happened Saturday afternoon in the town of Onondaga, in central New York near Syracuse.

State troopers tell The Post-Standard of Syracuse that 55-year-old Philip A. Contos of Parish, N.Y., was driving a 1983 Harley Davidson with a group of bikers who were protesting helmet laws by not wearing helmets.

(Excerpt) Read more at beta.news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Local News
KEYWORDS: helmetlaws; helmets; motorcycles
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1 posted on 07/08/2011 10:16:56 PM PDT by Paleo Conservative
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To: Paleo Conservative

Oy!


2 posted on 07/08/2011 10:19:59 PM PDT by stanne
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To: Paleo Conservative
Irony. He demo'd it.

/johnny

3 posted on 07/08/2011 10:20:42 PM PDT by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: Paleo Conservative; Pete-R-Bilt; glock rocks; B4Ranch

Just damn....


4 posted on 07/08/2011 10:22:55 PM PDT by tubebender (The voices in my head may not be real, but they have some very good ideas)
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To: Paleo Conservative
Sometimes referred to as...organ donors.


...mostly in the ER.
5 posted on 07/08/2011 10:24:59 PM PDT by Tainan (Cogito Ergo Conservitus.)
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To: JRandomFreeper
I used to ride quite a bit. I have been in a few motorcycle accidents, one pretty bad one. Had I not had leather gloves on & covered my face I would have been scarred for life. But I think it is up to each person to decide for themselves if they want to wear a helmet or not. When I would cross over to PA all the bikers I know remove their helmets but me. Helmets can save lives but they also can kill you. If there are going to be laws on what to wear they should insist on proper clothing too. I've seen some road rash that left some bad scars. I see girls with hi heels & sandals & shorts & think how stupid. You never think it will be you in an accident but there is always that chance. I stopped wanting to ride when I felt people were going out of their way to cut bikes off. Now I stick to my horses & I refuse to wear a helmet. I like my cowboy hat even though I know I have no protection. Next I bet there will be a law I have to wear one on my horse if there isn't one already. I am just sick of laws. Common sense seems to be lacking in too many people.
6 posted on 07/08/2011 10:38:51 PM PDT by pandoraou812 ((You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.))
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To: Paleo Conservative
Irony strikes again!

Hope he gets to ride a motorcycle in Heaven.

7 posted on 07/08/2011 10:46:49 PM PDT by Luna (Evil will not triumph. God is at the helm.)
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To: pandoraou812
Yep. But the 'media' was quick to jump on this.

I agree.

I quit riding when my passenger got badly hurt. Minor, Sunday morning, pillar of the community hit us. Couldn't read the ticket he got because his eyes were bad.

You deal with your wife, your insurance agent, and your NCOIC on what safety gear you wear. Everyone else can pound sand.

But I'm not know for slavishly following laws.

/johnny

8 posted on 07/08/2011 10:49:45 PM PDT by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: JRandomFreeper
But I'm not know for slavishly following laws

Me either. I am waiting for a cop to pull into my farm & say you need a helmet when riding that horse. I need a permit to cross the road to get on the trails. I am tired of permits for everything too.

9 posted on 07/08/2011 10:57:27 PM PDT by pandoraou812 ((You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.))
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To: Paleo Conservative
I don't like mandatory helmet laws anymore than I like mandatory seat belt laws. I personally wouldn't even ride a motorcycle because they are obviously much more dangerous than using a regular vehicle, but if I did I would wear a helmet just as I always wear a seat belt. I just don't think it should be mandatory unless we are talking about juveniles. I just don't like the idea of an adult not being able to choose if he wears a helmet on a bike or a seat belt in a car.

These laws have nothing to do with safety as they are advertised, but are just another of the many ways politicians bring in revenue by issuing frivolous tickets while pretending to be doing it because they care and want to save lives. It usually works because most people like me who don't ride motorcycles and always wear seat belts either support or ignore the issue. It's the same thing they do with cigarettes. A lot of people who don't smoke don't care about the laws because it's something that doesn't affect them, and while I don't smoke I think a person has the right to do so and I'm not afraid of the exaggerated second hand smoking crap they always report.

The only problem with things like smoking is many smokers are going to be using taxpayer money to get treatment for any illness that it causes. That doesn't change my opposition to the anti-smoking laws it just makes me think we need to make some big changes in taxpayer health care programs, and I have absolutely no confidence that any of that will ever be changed significantly for the better. There will never be a significant and permanent cutback to any of those things. There are just too many ignorant people who don't understand how things work and those who just don't care.

10 posted on 07/08/2011 10:59:50 PM PDT by ThermoNuclearWarrior (Illegal immigration is a bigger security threat to our nation than any terrorist group.)
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To: Paleo Conservative
I don't like mandatory helmet laws anymore than I like mandatory seat belt laws. I personally wouldn't even ride a motorcycle because they are obviously much more dangerous than using a regular vehicle, but if I did I would wear a helmet just as I always wear a seat belt. I just don't think it should be mandatory unless we are talking about juveniles. I just don't like the idea of an adult not being able to choose if he wears a helmet on a bike or a seat belt in a car.

These laws have nothing to do with safety as they are advertised, but are just another of the many ways politicians bring in revenue by issuing frivolous tickets while pretending to be doing it because they care and want to save lives. It usually works because most people like me who don't ride motorcycles and always wear seat belts either support or ignore the issue. It's the same thing they do with cigarettes. A lot of people who don't smoke don't care about the laws because it's something that doesn't affect them, and while I don't smoke I think a person has the right to do so and I'm not afraid of the exaggerated second hand smoking crap they always report.

The only problem with things like smoking is many smokers are going to be using taxpayer money to get treatment for any illness that it causes. That doesn't change my opposition to the anti-smoking laws it just makes me think we need to make some big changes in taxpayer health care programs, and I have absolutely no confidence that any of that will ever be changed significantly for the better. There will never be a significant and permanent cutback to any of those things. There are just too many ignorant people who don't understand how things work and those who just don't care.

11 posted on 07/08/2011 11:00:38 PM PDT by ThermoNuclearWarrior (Illegal immigration is a bigger security threat to our nation than any terrorist group.)
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To: pandoraou812; JRandomFreeper

You two are goiung to have to learn to walk on your knees like everyone else! Now bow down and get on your knees. Right this moment, do it!


12 posted on 07/08/2011 11:05:47 PM PDT by B4Ranch (Allowing Islam into America is akin to injecting yourself with AIDS to prove how tolerant you are...)
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To: JRandomFreeper

I liken this to seat belts. I was so opposed to seat belts that I actually removed them from cars until they were required to be worn.

I didn’t wear them until I was nearly rolled over by a semi on an Interstate. The older state trooper asked me if I was wearing a belt (again, not required at the time). He told me that most of the time vehicles rolled over in that type of an accident, and that he had never pulled a living person from one.

So, then I started wearing them.

There is a personal freedom issue here, but there is also a societal cost issue. I don’t want to pay for anyone’s “freedom” to get a quarter of a million dollars of reconstructive surgery, or lifetime disability care. You may say “my insurance pays for that”, but it really doesn’t.


13 posted on 07/08/2011 11:07:33 PM PDT by The Antiyuppie ("When small men cast long shadows, then it is very late in the day.")
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To: pandoraou812

I’m just waiting for the day when our Western cattle men are forced by law to turn in their ten gallon hats for helmets ... not any time soon.


14 posted on 07/08/2011 11:10:53 PM PDT by ArmyTeach (Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain ... Iowa 61)
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Sorry about the double post. It seems to me there are too many people on FR who support these kinds of things. Maybe I'm just making assumptions just because they didn't directly say they opposed the law.
15 posted on 07/08/2011 11:18:50 PM PDT by ThermoNuclearWarrior (Illegal immigration is a bigger security threat to our nation than any terrorist group.)
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To: B4Ranch

lmao! Can’t. My knee is in a brace & the buckskin Sassy & I saved stepped on my foot & prolly broke it. You will have to wait until the xrays come back & they tell me what is wrong. Funny how I have to wait a week to find out if my foot is broken. After I get all those issues fixed I will let you know when I can do it. Good to see you.


16 posted on 07/08/2011 11:25:33 PM PDT by pandoraou812 ((You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.))
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To: Paleo Conservative

Why are you posting 5-day-old news that has already been posted at least a half dozen times since?

Search is your friend...

=8-)


17 posted on 07/08/2011 11:26:35 PM PDT by =8 mrrabbit 8=
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To: =8 mrrabbit 8=

First time I saw it. That’s all that counts.


18 posted on 07/08/2011 11:30:57 PM PDT by tsowellfan
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To: Paleo Conservative

I’ll agree to allow you to protect me from the danger of not wearing a helmet when you agree to protect yourself from the harm caused by cigarettes, alcohol, obesity, drugs etc.


19 posted on 07/08/2011 11:31:17 PM PDT by kik5150
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To: =8 mrrabbit 8=

1st time I saw it too


20 posted on 07/08/2011 11:40:44 PM PDT by pandoraou812 ((You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.))
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