Posted on 02/04/2005 8:21:40 PM PST by FoxInSocks
RICHMOND, Va. - It's been a tough day for highway safety advocates at the Virginia General Assembly.
The House Militia, Police and Public Safety Committee endorsed legislation allowing motorcyclists 21 and older to ride without a helmet. The vote was 12-to-7.
The panel also rejected a series of bills to continue the use of photo monitoring systems at dangerous intersections in six northern Virginia localities and Virginia Beach. Those pilot programs allow police to use cameras to catch drivers who run red lights.
The programs are scheduled to expire July 1.
Another bill rejected by the committee would have expanded photo-red statewide.
The motorcycle helmet bill will be up for a vote on the House floor early next week. Similar bills have failed on close votes on the House floor three years in a row.
FINALLY, someone that makes sense.
used to?
well, I used to be one too...for about the first 3 weeks I had my first bike back in 74...lol
Pretty obvious there are a lot of non-riders here.
(excuse me while I rant)
So quickly, folks, my only chance for survival surrounded by two-ton hulks operated by people more interested in the radio, CD player, applying makeup, the cell phone conversation they are having, snarfing that burger, or keeping little Johnny or Junie in their carseat so they don't get a ticket, is to be able to see and anticipate your actions and use the superior handling charracteristics of my motorcycle to get out of your way.
After suffering a neck injury 25 years ago (incidentally, from a driver who failed to yield the right-of-way), I cannot wear a helmet and look around adequately without doing some damage.
Kindly consider that the helmet ONLY helps sometimes if you are in a wreck. Keep in mind that almost all studies on the subject concentrate only on what happens in the wreck, and you might realize that the focus has NOT been on preventing accidents (a situation where no one gets hurt, regardless of atire), but on trying to mitigate the decellerative forces (60-0 MPH NOW!) no human was designed to endure by adding another 3-5 lbs. on the end of their neck.
Two out of three multivehicle accidents resulting in fatality to the motorcyclist are the automobile operator's fault. So go ahead, blame the biker for not wearing a helmet, when if they hadn't been cut off or hit, they wouldn't have been scratched.
Smokers DO pay higher rates for Health, Life and Auto insurance.
Amen.
Besides riding bikes ( yes, Harleys, on the street, and ringdings offroad ) since 1969 ) I ran John's Wrecker Service here from 1991-1999. And drove Newman's wrecker in the early 1970's.
I've seen just about every kind of accident you can name.
What they don't mention is that most fatal car wrecks involve a head injury... but wait! You say, why does no one advocate car drivers and passengers wear helmets?
Because it would be so unpopular ( think, women's hair... ) that the politician advocating it would never hold another office.
Instead, they pick on a smaller, less well organized minority ( motorcyclists ) to force "safety" schemes upon.
To be really safe while driving a car, you'd need a full-face helmet, fire suit, Nomex gloves-- and a full roll cage. And nobody would sit still for that kind of infringement.
But bikers are an easy target. So far...
There is an irreducable bottom line here- whose life is it, anyway?
It's your life-- once you are informed of the risks, you should be the one who decides what to do with it.
So If I get a head injury in an accident while stopped for a red light, rear ended by a drunk talking on their cell phone in an SUV, I shouldn't be covered because I was not wearing a helmet?
For that matter, a lot of 4-wheeler drivers suffer head injuries--maybe helmets should be required for them, too.
I don't think the insurance companies should be allowed to legislate (no coverage, you cannot operate the vehicle legally) either, and if you saw who funded the (mostly seriously flawed) studies, you'd find someone putting together an actuarial table at the other end.
LOL!
"Iused to be one!" Now that is good humor!
The price of an automobile has gone through the roof with all these geegaws, but the roads have not become safer.
We have limits imposed by government for the purpose of collecting revenue, justified by studies skewed to produce "evidence" to support legislation to collect that revenue.
But the one really essential bit of safety equipment on the highways, that of the operator is being ignored. Driver's ed has all but disapeared from school curricula, discrded in favor of putting condoms on pickles, and people are feeling safer and getting killed.
As for the slippery slope, I guess you were born on it, and just can't see it. BTW, hunting licenses do not regulate guns, just one use thereof.
Yea I know.
See: I don't smoke, but I don't think gov't has the right to regulate it, even in the form of taxes.
I don't think the gov't has the right to regulate helmet useage by m/c riders, in the same maneer that I don't think they have the right to enforce seatbelt laws on those trapped in 2-ton steel cages (cars). Do they, yes. Do I think it's right, no.
BTW, Joe Camel used to sponsor the Smoking Joe's American Honda racing back in the mid 90's. Damn those bikes looked good. Almost as good as the Marlboro Ducati in MotoGP!
B.S.!
You think someone who can afford a $20,000 Harley isn't going to carry medical and disability insurance? Get a life.
It turns out that motorcycle drivers tend to be better insured than most car drivers. I read the Harborview study ("The Public Cost of Motorcycle Trauma) and found the math to be seriously flawed. Not to mention the fact that all injury costs were included and helmet status of the injured parties was not determined. It was assumed that if someone was in the trauma center they were not wearing a helmet.
Quiz time! What is the most frequently broken bone in motorcycle accidents?
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), reply of the Pennsylvania Assembly to the governor"
Nothing follows
OOO! OOO!
I know this one!!
Collar bone!
I've crashed twice; both times at about 40 mph. The first time I missed a 200 y/o oak tree by inches - the cops said my helmet wouldn't have helped a bit if I had hit it. The second time, I was road rashed down my left side from the top of my boots to the bottom of my full-face. Again, I could have bled to death without assistance.
I learned my lesson: I now wear a $300 Shoei full-face helmet, and full leathers w/ sturdy boots every time I crank up the ride.
ROde Hondas, a beemer, and have had a Harley for years, but I never rode a Ducati, how do you like the desmodromic valves? Are the engines as good as I have heard?
No offence taken, its all in good fun. Just like a great day on a bike!
BZZZZT! You're going to hate this......tibia.
Luck, pure luck. I wouldn't suggest trying it again.
learn the hard way, but you still learn the lesson!
My first crash was helmetless, nothing more than a scratched up knee. My second crash, the helmet I bought whacked a curb.
Oh this would be a loooong list if I keep going. Lets just say I rode with little worries early on.
Dang, I'm thinking of roadracing crashes! You are talking about every day riding.
Harley's have a nasty habit of being too bulky to get away from when you bail.
In the late 80's a study was done by a Coroner in Austalia. He looked into all the motorcycle deaths he could find. The police reports and the injury reports.
He found that in most cases not wearing a helmet was not the cause of death. Also in some cases the helmet caused the death. Such as getting caught and getting dragged. Such as snapping the spinal cord. He reviewed thousands of US cases to get the most data.
Helmets are only rated at 15MPH so would you suggest going only that fast?
If I skydive why wear a helmet? It is not going to help me live if my chute don't open.
At 10 and 11 I was breaking horses never wore a helmet, I swallowed a lot of dirt landing face first after being bucked off. Yet people die every year of head injury in the tub.
Life is not without risk. But it is more of a risk without freedoms.
I will be riding my bike this Weekend I do not even own a helmet. If it is my time than so be it. I put on a helmet I lose all vision from the corners so the idiot next to me knocks me into the next lane or guard rail. No thanks.
I can move and react quicker, but it is up to me to watch the other idiots who always say, "Officer I didn't see him"
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