Deadly motorcycle accident sparks helmet law debate

Jesus Used To Love You wrote:

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Well we can all thank God that you are not in control. I think that mindless moms should be banned.

Harry Henderson wrote:

The government tells car drivers they must use seatbelts, whether we think they're necessary or not or want to or not, and they enforce that law aggressively (to the point of ridiculousness, agreed.) As annoying as it sometimes is, seatbelts have been proven to save lives, so I have no problem with the government telling me I have to use them.
I really don't see what the big deal is with helmets. Helmets have been proven to save lives too. Since there's virtually no other protection a biker has when riding other than the helmet, why on earth would someone choose NOT to use it? At least in a car, when there's an accident the driver is enclosed - in most bike accidents, the rider is launched into the air, over the handlebars, into the sides of cars or guardrails or the road. A helmet can protect the driver from severe brain injuries.
My brother rides. A few years ago he was going down a road and was cut off by someone making a left turn with no signal across his lane. He attempted to drop the bike to avoid a collision but still went headfirst over the handlebars and slammed into the car's fender and across the hood to the ground where his head slammed into the pavement. He was wearing a helmet (for once!!) and he walked away from that accident, only to find himself in the hospital a few days later with a lacerated spleen. But he could have had a traumatic brain injury as well, which the helmet protected him from.
If a helmet is the only protection a biker has from traumatic brain injury, why on earth would someone want to leave it at home? Makes absolutely NO sense.

Don Mei wrote:

They are putting nobody but themselves at risk.
Don

abc wrote:

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You are absolutely and astonishingly incorrect, leaving no doubt as to your complete ignorance on this topic.
It is an incomtrovertable fact that helmets and seat belts reduce fatalities. You can discuss any number of your own anecdotes, but it does not change this fact.
It is also not debatable that seat belts and helmets protect others in the way they protect their users. If you do not have a seat-belt on you endanger others on the road when you are ejected from your vehicle and land in the road, forcing other drivers to put themselves at risk by attempting to avoid you. Wearing a helmet will similarly keep you alive so you can get out of traffic should you be struck on the head, again making others safe by not forcing them to swerve dangerously out of your way.
Do not disguise the desire to ride helmetless as anything patriotic or freedom-loving. It is a completely selfish desire identical to unprotected intercourse with a stranger. You want to do it because you care for nothing but yourself and your own enjoyment.

Don Mei wrote:

abc,
while your prose is undoubtably articulate, your arguments could not be more absurd. The idea that a seatbelt saves others by reducing the chance that an occupant is ejected into the roadway borders on ridiculous. Same goes for your argument re helmets.
I dont disagree that riding helmetless and driving beltless is generally an act of selfishness. but it is an act against the riders/drivers families who depend on them for companionship, support, etc. But again, governments job is not to legislate responsibility.

JJP wrote:

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So, will you sign a waver agreeing that the state is nor responsible for your health care costs should you suffer a head injury?
Why should we foot the bill for your stupidity?

Don Mei wrote:

Robin - I could not disagree with you more about the experience of wearing a helmet.
But I could not AGREE with you more about whether or not wearing a helmet should be legislated.
As someone who has also been riding for 30 years, your experience with a full face helmet sounded like mine when I started roadracing. The old Bell Star helmets of the 70s had a very small opening. It was like looking through a tunnel. But out on the racetrack, it was the only choice that made sense.
Modern full face helmets have a much larger cutout and they dont affect your hearing too bad.
Overall my CHOICE is that I'd never ride without a full face helmet. Your choice is that you prefer to ride without.
We agree on the most important point, that it is a choice.

Holly Bryk wrote:

Every year there is a run called "Pappy's Run" (http://www.pappysrun.com/) to commemorate Donald "Pappy" Pitsley. A man who fought very hard in 1975 to get the helmet law in Connecticut repealed. Giving motorcyclists in Connecticut the freedom of choice to ride with or without a helmet.
With everything else going on in Connecticut like high gas prices, high heating oil prices, unemployment on the rise and food products at an all time high; why is our Government worrying about taking our rights away from us? It look like they have bigger issues to be concentrating on.

Se Habla wrote:

if you ride a motorcycle, helmet or no, you should be paying higher insurance rates until a helmet law is put in place. It could be pretty easy to find out if you own one, there can be a cross check by insurance companies with auto insurers. See how fast a helmet law is passed then!
People who smoke or have preexisting conditions pay higher rates, why not idiots that drive without helmets?
in the meantime, no brain bucket = no sympathy. I'll save my sympathy for the person that hit you and has to live with the guilt that you were a moron

WRESTLINGWOW3 wrote:

i saw make a law that u can not wear saddles, short pants, short sleeves, and no helmet or with no shirt this is why motorcycles cost allot and are allot to insure because of idiots that do this

Dumb Biker wrote:

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What a sad comment. Obviously you've never been or known any biker involved in a motorcycle accident. You actually sympathize with the inconsiderate, brainless idiots that regularly plow their cars into motorcycles because they "never saw them..."? In fact, your 'sympathy' comment could lead one to believe that maybe YOU were that thoughtless motorist ramming you car into some poor slob on a motorcycle. And maybe the only way you can live with your actions is to rationalize them by saying "if he was wearing a helmet, he would have survived my stupidity. Yeah...It's HIS fault he's dead; not mine." How sad (and scary).
Have any of you pro-helmet folks ever bothered to read any studies about helmet law effectiveness? I may be just another 'moron' who has chosen to ride without a helmet for the last 25 years or so, but I have read many studies before making my decision. Studies by people with PhDs who have uncovered certain facts like 'motorcycle helmets have no statistically significant effect on the probability of fatality; and while helmets can reduce the severity of head injuries; past a critical impact speed [13 MPH], helmets actually increase the severity of neck injuries significantly.' Not to mention the fact that helmets impede your vision, hearing and increase head temperature to an often dangerous level.
I've also read about how states almost always have an increase in motorcycle fatalities AFTER helmet laws are enacted. All of the facts are pretty easy to find if you look for them. Unfortunately, most in favor of helmet laws get their education about the subject spoon fed to them by the media ghouls (who obviously have their own agenda). Did you ever wonder why the news covers almost every motorcycle accident in the state especially if there is a fatality? They're also sure mention if the rider wasn't wearing a helmet. There are far more accidents involving cars happening every day, but you don't hear about them. I guess they're not always gruesome enough for us to tune in for.
By the way, if helmets are so wonderful, maybe we should force EVERY motorist and passenger to wear them. After all more people die in car crashes than motorcycle crashes. If you truly agree that helmets make you safe, then why in the world wouldn't you strap one on every time you get into your car? If you don't, wouldn't that make YOU an idiot deserving death, just like the rest of us "morons who don't wear helmets"?
Anyway, if you ride, please base your decision to wear or not wear a helmet (while you still have the freedom to make a decision) on FACTS, not media scare tactics. Oh, and ride defensively and watch out for inconsiderate motorists.
As you see here, many of them think you deserve to die.