I live in Canada. Helmet laws are coast to coast to coast. And I've always worn one. In addition to crash protection, I do it to keep the rain, bugs, grit, gravel and birds out of my face. I laugh seeing cruisers with beanies on riding slowly in the rain because it hurts too much.

Regarding laws - we live in societies. That imposes some rules on us. The question is how many and what should be regulated. The reality is that people will not generally do what they should, they have to have rules. Rules for seatbelts and helmets and baby seats are a small freedom to lose toprotect the idiots from themselves and reduce the cost of their stupid decisions on the rest of us.

If you believe their should be no rules that apply to you, then go live somewhere where there is no society. Oh, wait, that place don't exist.

 

Well said, people seem to hate accountability. I thrive on it.

 

end of summerI saw this maybe 5-8 year old on the back of a bike. He couldn't even touch the pegs, the helmet was 10 times bigger then him, t-shirt and shorts. This idiot was splitting lanes (now Im all for splitting lanes) with this little guy hanging on for life. He was driving like an asshat. If that kid fell off cause his little grip couldn't be that strong, he would of been toast.

It took everything I had not to catch up to him and give him a lecture (being the father type and refuse to ride my own kids on the back) but I felt the punk would just flip me off and tear out there and make it worse. The parent is also an asshat for letting him go also (most likely was the older brother).

 

X, you let this retarded statement go by without a snappy retort? I am quickly losing faith in you.

OK, allow me.

Aj, by your reasoning heroin should be legal or beastiality or constructing a nuclear reactor in your basement or even breeding with your sister. What you will realize someday is all our actions are somehow intertwined with others. Everything YOU do affects me in some small fashion, sometimes there are large effects. The average motorcycle accident averages $48,000 in costs. That number would be greatly reduced if traumatic brain injury numbers were reduced by even a small percentage. If non-helmet wearers instantly died in every accident, we as a collective insurance group would pay less, but some people, no matter how stupid and short-sighted survive and become a financial burdon to us all.

Think about cigareete smokers, they tend to be more less educated, lower income and generally less intellegent, but the government allows them to smoke. Look at their health care cost as compared to a non-smoker, however, we all are impacted by them due to their higher risk.

So, what we have learned here is this...Please think before forming opinions.

 

I believe Florida law requires insurance like this for helmetless riders. I think it has to cover $10,000 in medical bills. But you and I know that $10k for a head injury wouldn't cover 10% of the cost. Also, our cops don't enforce this requirement.

 

I just summed it up earlier,
But you are correct. It needs a proper response.

 

Not buying that one. I have never had my insurance go up afterthe inital coverage. But I have had tickets that they wanted to raise my rates for, until I said cancell my insurance and I will find somebody else thats wants my long term service.

Hell even your other post stated that you pay $32 a month for full coverage. That doesnt look like your hit by that quote either.

 

OK, I`ll play Devils Advocate here

And that number would be reduced even more if motorcycles were banned entirely from public streets, so why not? And why are people allowed to go on public streets with cars (and bikes) that can go 2x or more the legal speed limit?

Other than the fact that there is enough political support for helmet laws, but not for an outright ban or speed restriction, what`s the difference?

I have no interest in riding without a helmet, and I`m not one of these paranoid guys who worries the government is suddenly going to take away all our freedoms. I just want a rational argument for why the line is drawn where it is. Something better than `I like to ride and should be allowed to take that risk, but I don`t like to ride helmetless so it`s OK if nobody is allowed to take that risk.`

So far all I can come up with is that we as a societyaccept certain risks but not others, and we`re willing to give the government a certain amount of control over our behavior but not complete control. Maybe it`s as simple as that.

 

im willing to bet that if you have a motorcycle accident with out a helmet your gonna end up six feet under if you have a helmet your gona end up in the hospital alive. that being said it cost far less to put someone in the dirt then to keep them in a hospital.

i agree people should be able to make there own choices in life its there life to do with as they chose and long as no one else is pysically harmed you comparing building a nuclear reactor and riding with out a helmet is not even close to the same becuase of danger to others. the inherent danger to other from me not riding a motorcycle isnt even measurable yes someone might be hurt emotionally but if i go to jail for life, if i kill my self sky diving, scuba diving and so on the results should be the same. people have killed them selves becuase of there g/f or b/f break up with them emotionally damaging so should we ban dating? becuase that's the logic your running on that we should put every one in a padded cell and leave them there becuase someone may be emotional hurt becuase of someone elses actions.


for the record i cant imagine even geting on a bike with out a helmet. if i dropped my helmet i threw it in the garbage and got another one. i never even got on my bike with out my jacket or gloves even if it was a 2 minute ride around the block for a test ride.

 

We all pay rates for the overall cost of insuring us plus a percentage for profit. When costs are higher, everyones rates are as well. You can disagree all you want but it doesn't change that basic fact.

Not a single convincing argument to be had here, I win.