Motorcyclist crashes in helmet law protest, dies | Reuters

Just saw this in the news and couldnt help but shake my head. There are obviously tons of comments that can be made about this but thats not where im going with this at all. I just dont understand why? Why do people even WANT to ride without a helmet, or want to ride without one so bad that theyll protest against it? I would never even consider getting on any motorcycle without a full face helmet. Is it just the fact that they have to that makes them not want to?

 

Keeping an eye on this so keep it SEMI-friendly

 

I almost posted this too. I find a lot of people are just against the removal of personal freedoms. That, combined with an attitude of "It'll never happen to me, all those other folks weren't near as good a rider as I am."

I just question some of those people's ability to understand the reality of what happens in a motorcycle wreck, and the unfortunate frequency of them where the rider has virtually zero chance to react to an idiot in a cage doing something stupid.

 

Okay this is a non-moderator opinion here:

It's been shown too many times that falling off a bicycle and hitting your head can be fatal. Given the speeds our bikes can hit and how many times our heads can hit the ground during a fall at speed, wearing a helmet makes 100% sense

 

Even when i was working on my bike and wanted to just take it for a loop around the cul de sac real quick and id throw on my helmet and gloves. Too much can go wrong and yeah its waaaay too easy to hit your head and at these speeds its always gonna turn out bad if you dont have at least your helmet on. When i see harley/cruiser riders in full face helmets and not those stupid turtle shells i almost want to shake their hands. Ill quit riding before id ride in one of those.

 

Yeah I believe I have rode once without a helmet and not only does the wind in your face suuck but getting hit with bugs is no fun either!!

 

rollin around town with no helmet is dope, i miss my scooter days. but sadly i lol at this guys misfortune.

 

Wow! What a fine example of irony.
I guess he died expressing his belief that his freedom to make the choice was more important than the consequence of not wearing a helmet...a martyr to the cause of freedom to choose.
RIP. I hope those left behind appreciate his dedication to the cause.
I freely choose to wear my helmet.

 

Personally, I'm torn on the issue. I've lived in both states (legislated and non).

If I'm not sporting or in heavy traffic, I've been known to go sans helmet. It all depends on the intensity of the action, imo. They do restrict your side vision and detract from the feeling of 'free floating' through the country-side. I do treasure the experience/feelings you get from riding sans.

On the flip side of the coin, they require seat-belts don't they? How much of that is a denial of freedom. Or is that the state reducing the cost of indigent medical care?
Driving on the public roads has long been established as a privledge not a right, so further restrictions can't really be considered a denial of individual freedom.

Then there is the physics argument, it's really not the speed of forward motion that is a threat, it's the acceleration from 6'ish vertically to the ground that is germane to your head (hence why bicyclist's should also wear helmets).

There are dozen's of pro/con arguments to be put forth on both sides for wearing of helmets. Logic and reason are on the helmet side, emotion on the non.

One thing I've noted (without any statistical database to bake it up, however) is that the 2 sides are mostly divided by the reason you ride (i.e. sporting vs cruising).

Sport riders are out for the visceral rush off adrenaline, cruisers are looking for the over-all flooding of all the senses that comes from 2 wheeled riding.

This is a mash-up of comments, presented early in the morning with-out a real point one way or the other. It's justintended to present some of the motivations of the two sides.

Ern