Deadly motorcycle accident sparks helmet law debate

Protective gear should be required for all riders. period. No helmet = no brains.

i always wear a helmet. i feel safer. im not going for the bad ass wana be type guy on a bike. i think the state of ct is stupid for many reasons but in this particular case very dumb. why is it mandatory that i wear my seat belt in my car but not mandatory that i wear my helmet? answer that and then i can relax.

Since I am in the Army I am REQUIRED to wear a helmet, full-finger gloves, over the ankle boots, pants, long sleeves, eye protection, and reflective material. It's understandable because technically I am "government property". But people should have their own choice when it comes to their safety. You always here about the dumb@$$es on motorcylces but not about the ones in cars. Reason being people are use to seeing accidents with cars. Now that there are more bikes on the roads there is bound to be more accidents. And they are bound to be more severe. But with the proper training and sense you just need to watch out for the dummies that are on the road and pay no attention to motorcycles. They tend to be the leading cause of motorcycle facilities. If everyone uses proper road ettiquete it would be much safer.

Stop wasting money trying to pass a helmet law and make the motorcycle training better. Defensive driving is required when riding a motorcycle. Make auto drivers more aware of motorcyclists. I choose to wear a helmet and that's the way it should be. The government keeps taking away more and more freedom.

There is no logic in "more cycles = more severe accidents". Any motorcycle crash at any speed has the potential to be lethal, even more so without a helmet. The simple fact is that helmets reduce brain injuries and death. To suggest that people should just 'use proper ettiquete' is a useless truth, applicable to everything.
This also has nothing to do with people 'getting used' to seeing car crashes vs. cycle crashes. Reason being most people won't die in a car crash. Most people involved in a motorcycle crash will die or become crippled. This makes people justifiably more concerned about cyclists' saftey.
Since the state usually ends up paying for the long term care of the TBI patients, they are perfectly justified in requiring helmets, just as they require seat-belts.

MOST of the people that die from motorcycle crashes would have died whether they had a helmet on or not.
Speed Kills.
We're told enough of what we can and can't do in this country, remember, this is the land of the free..........roll eyes).
If I want to wear a helmet, I'll wear it, If I don't I won't.
LET THOSE WHO RIDE DECIDE......it doesn't get any simpler than that.
STOP telling me what I can and cannot do..........
If I'm going to die cause I didn't have my helmet on, so be it..........But I'd rather die, than have the helmet keep me alive so I can be nothing more than a breathing head in a bed or wheelchair.

"donorcycle" is freakin' amazing and says it all.

Somebody please explain to me where the intelligence is in the person who rides a motorcycle on a summer day wiht a tank top, shorts and flip flops on?

Back when I took driver's ed in high school, we were also given a motorcycle course and told that to be safe we needed to wear heavy-duty boots, jeans, a leather jacket, gloves and a helmet. Not only does this help prevent serious injury such as a burn on the leg from the exhaust pipe, it also halps prevent most ROAD RASH injuries!

Oh yeah, let's look good on that bike with your tank top, shorts and flip flops - that'll go real well with all the skin peeled off from the road rash you're gonna get when you drop that bike making too sharp a turn.

Morons.

Helmet Hair wrote:

MOST of the people that die from motorcycle crashes would have died whether they had a helmet on or not.
Speed Kills.
We're told enough of what we can and can't do in this country, remember, this is the land of the free..........roll eyes).
If I want to wear a helmet, I'll wear it, If I don't I won't.
LET THOSE WHO RIDE DECIDE......it doesn't get any simpler than that.
STOP telling me what I can and cannot do..........
If I'm going to die cause I didn't have my helmet on, so be it..........But I'd rather die, than have the helmet keep me alive so I can be nothing more than a breathing head in a bed or wheelchair.

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?

Hawleyville Hound wrote:

Protective gear should be required for all riders. period. No helmet = no brains.

Do you ride a mororcycle ??

I almost lost my husband to a motorcycle accident a few years ago. He wasnt wearing a helmet either, but the way he was thrown off of the motorcyle, he probably would have been killed had he been wearing a helmet. It was the stupidity of his passenger that caused the accident, but we wont go there. I hate motorcycles and think they should be banned period!

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

Do not cover all riders with the same blanket. The vast majority of motorcyclists operate in a safe manner. The few that do ride recklessly do worry me. Over the last few weeks I have been passed by several riders riding at a very high rate of speed and weaving in and out of traffic. Due to the Doppler effect I didn't know that they were there until they were right behind me and I look at my rear view mirrors frequently. Don't let the actions of a few dictate for the majority.

No matter what is done people are going to die on motorcycles, it's the nature of the beast.

"Somebody please explain to me where the intelligence is in the person who rides a motorcycle on a summer day wiht a tank top, shorts and flip flops on?"

I have a friend who has "leathers" but almost never wears them except to motorcycle-related social events. When I asked why, he said "What, are you kidding? If I fall off the bike, I might scratch them up!"

In Connecticut, where there's no helmet law, the difference in attitude is easy to see. Bikers who wear helmets almost always obey traffic rules, drive politely, and don't try to be obnoxious. Many bikers who do not have helmets drive aggressively, ignore rules, and have over-loud mufflers as if to announce the arrival of just one more a-hole.

CT's no-helmet law is Darwinism at its best. I've cleaned up the road enough times after them to not shed many tears any more when these guys meet their makers. If you want to protect yourself, wear one.

Jay wrote:

Do not cover all riders with the same blanket.

baloney. All cyclists P*SS and MOAN when it comes to a helmet law.. I blame them all.

Let'em pay higher insurance rates to balance out the idiots that DO get into crashes.

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

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.

Let it be optional. Put a notation on the motorcycle license, that way insurance companies can charge the non-helmut riders more. Connecticut should pass a law requiring mufflers.