the left used similar arugments when they tried to outlaw guns as a healthcare issue.
given the fact motorcyle helmet standards only go to 14mph and 75%+ motorcycle accidents are the fault of the automobile perhaps we need mandatory automobile driver education about motorcycles.
It is facinating the sheer vitriol from people who don’t ride or care to ride.
I have two Honda Goldwings and have ridden cycles ever since I was 18 in 1973. I was in sever accidents where the helmet saved my head form severe damage. One where the helmet was unuseable afterwards. I cannot stress enough that helmets are a necessity...............
That's for direct impact. A lot of motorcycle accidents involve glancing blows where a rider's head bounces or slides along the pavement and for those situations a helmet can save your life even at highway speeds. I personally know a rider who was sideswiped at 80km/h; his helmet was destroyed and his collarbone was broken but he did not sustain any kind of head injury.
That being said, I wear a helmet but wouldn't make it mandatory. I would make eye protection mandatory, though, because a rider who's blinded by a bug is a menace to everyone around him.
Oh really? Come to DC or Baltimore and watch the motorcyclists cutting around cars on the Beltways at speeds in excess of 70 MPH and tell me about who's at fault!
I rode, and I always used a helmet.
You don’t want to wear a helmet? I have no objection.
I have a bigger problem with this catch all argument used to butt into everyone’s life. That being the notion that something [insert cause du jour here] you do costs the [government/taxpayer/society/someone else] so any and all of the above have the right to regulate every aspect of your life.
If you live and breathe you affect others. If we truly want to live in a free society we must accept the fact that freedom of choice comes with costs. Your head injury may cost me (via society) something, but it is also certain that some things I do will also exact something from you (via society).
I had to dodge moronic drivers all the time, but the helmet protection applied regardless of whose fault the accident was. Having the right of way doesn’t do one much good if one is dead.
All morotcycle accidents are the fault of the bike rider(not in a legal sense) for being on the road. No matter how much you “educate”, a motorcycle will still be harder to see than a car, people will be in-attentive, and you wil sometimes get mashed. Same thing is true if you go on a public road on a bicycle, walking, or in a little hockey puck car. Not saying don’t do it, not saying you don’t have the right, just saying you’ve got to deal with reality. It’s the old cafeteria plan for life. Take what you want and pay for it.
‘It is facinating the sheer vitriol from people who don’t ride or care to ride.’
Amen.