The speed may be the problem. If you're traveling 50-80 mph and you lay that bike down, that helmet will do nothing more than keep your brain alive till they transport the body to the hospital and pronounce you dead of massive internal injuries.
By the way, folks shouldn't drink, or smoke, eat fatty foods, or charred meats such as bbq or carry firearms, eat eggs more than twice a week, ride in the back of a pickup truck on a country road, chew tobacco, drive over the speed limit, take a tablet from someone elses Rx, watch the butter/eat margarine...no no not margarine, can't take Midol or Tylenol to school....and on and on and on.
Personal liberty means get busy living your own life and stay the hell outta mine.
The government doesn't need to legislate every aspect of life as if they are babysitting the adult population.
We are already incredibly over-lawed, the government passed yet another 80,0000 laws, rules and regulations last year.
Smaller government = personal liberty.
I agree with you, but society shouldn’t have to bear the costs of your liberty.
A private road will solve your problems.
You are apparently unaware of the current state of affairs with regards to gear and technique.
1. If you have enough time to lay it down, unless you’re riding a Harley with their useless ABS and understrength brakes (which is why cops are now switching away again despite low police pricing), you usually had enough time to actually get the bike to a complete stop.
2. The current state of the art in gear is this - if you are wearing full gear, you can drop the bike at 80mph and if you don’t hit anything but the pavement you can get up and walk away. In fact, riders routinely fall off bikes at higher speeds on tracks and walk off.
3. The airbag jacket is now a reality (a la Snow Crash) and the full suit is under development.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX2jc39SLfw&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mo9Vlt5tGwY
It’s been in use on tracks for a while now and it’s saved a number of riders.
4. The armor in gear, especially Knox armor, is highly effective; it diffuses impact forces. The problem is sudden deceleration - if you can avoid hitting a car or a pole, you’ll likely be fine. There are also new developments in impact armor in the pipeline which may further resolve the issue.
5. I’ve hit an oil slick and gone sliding down the road in full gear at about 50mph. I’m still here. In fact, I rode the bike home after some field repairs that afternoon.
Should any of this be mandated? No. The right to be free includes the right for consenting adults to be stupid so long as it doesn’t infringe on anyone else’s rights.
****If you’re traveling 50-80 mph and you lay that bike down, that helmet will do nothing more than keep your brain alive till they transport the body to the hospital and pronounce you dead of massive internal injuries.
Tell that to the Moto GP racers who “lay it down” at 130 mph and sometimes get up w/out a scratch. It’s not the sliding, it’s the crashing into solid objects or getting run over by another car after you crash that produces those internal injuries.