where i'd fight for the right to have the choice, the truth is you and i are both wrong for not wearing them 100% of the time. even thou i'm like 99.48%. as you said. shit still happens.

even thou its your choice. its also a choice to give you shit for it lol.

 

shit. i wouldnt need a helmet if i am JACKIE FUCKING CHAN BITCH!!!!

 

wrong sir, its for protection so mama wont wipe your ass for you when its time to go poopoo

 

Ok, I worded that wrong.

I CANT AND DONT ride without gloves because my hands dont feel right on the grips and so they can protect my hands.

 

sounds better.

typical me when i go out riding on a saturday morning

 

The Department Of Transportation's guidelines for a "safe" helmet really are not that specific, so I'm finding. They want the helmet to have a thick lining, one inch of solid polystyrene foam, which is basically a thermoplastic material that can be molded into shapes and is flexible when heated. Nothing too technical there, it's the same thing that styrofoam cups are made out of. Sturdy chin straps are a requirement as well to keep the helmet fastened to the rider. The chin straps on all three of the helmets I own are pretty cheap to be honest and yes all three are DOT/Snell approved. Helmets that weigh one pound or less are deemed unsafe; hopefully that is obvious to motorcyclists however many riders prefer a more lightweight helmet. The ones that meet the requirements placed by the Department Of Transportation are generally three pounds or more.


In my opinion, if the manufacturers began producing helmets of higher quality for safety, then riders would be even less inclined to wear them. In order to make a helmet able to withstand a more forceful impact, it would in turn make it weigh noticeably more than what it does currently at the fourteen mile an hour standards. A heavier helmet would make for an unhappy rider; and especially in Florida's climate with the heat and humidity, I don't think many of the riders would want the safer option.


I completely agree with you, even if the body part, in this case the skull isn't fully protected, the helmet would reduce the impact & trauma resulting in a much better outcome. If your head got crushed but the rest of your body made it out okay, you would still be screwed because you would be in a vegetative state for the rest of your life and nothing else would matter.

 

FYI... I have not seen any tests specify the MPH ANY helmet can withstand, be it DOT, ECE or Snell for that matter.

That said, all tests that I have read show that ECE & DOT helmets transfer less g forces to the brain on impact than Snell. So by that bit of scientific data, DOT lids can be said are better than Snell. That puts quite a bit of emphasis on what we pay for with the super expensive name brands.

As for why people opt to not wear a helmet? I think a large majority fall in 2 categories...

Vanity - the excessive belief in one's own abilities or attractiveness to others. Thus, they want people to see their faces while riding. Or that an accident wont happen to them because they are "under control" by riding in a specific manner.

Broke - going out of their way to finance a toy as a daily driver and not realizing that the gear they can't afford to get is every bit as essential as transportation. If you are wanting to be a 24x7 rider, there is gear for types of weather.

There is no excuse for not having any gear, its a choice people make and quite frankly not a good one either.

Do we need a law? No... it should be common sense.

 

I wear a helmet every time out. I am just more confortable wearing a helmet as it reduces noise, reduces eye irritation from the wind, and basically just makes me feel safer on the street. I think wearing a helmet is common sense, but I do not feel we need a helmet law for the same reason I don't think we need many of the laws we currently have today, namely, a helmet law does not protect anyone other than the person making the decision whether or not to wear a helmet. Therefore, a mandatory helmet law infringes on people's Freedom with no reasonable, substantial basis behind it. I also disagree with seat belt laws, as it should be the responsibility of the driver to decide whether or not passengers in their car need to wear a seat belt.

No law should exist without significant evidence that the law is needed to protect the rights of free American citizens. I understand traffic laws as speeding, failure to yeild, running red lights, etc. puts innocent lives at risk. Those innocent people that are following traffic laws have the right to be protected from idiots that are wrecklessly endangering their lives. However, as soon as you start enacting legislation that protects people from themselves, I feel you are infringing on Freedom and restricting people's right to make their own choices in life. Seat belt laws and helmet laws fall into this category as they only protect those that are making the decision to partake in risky behavior, in essence, protecting people from themselves.

I suppose you could argue that accidents with injuries end up costing the general public more money in emergency response, medical insurance, etc. You could also argue that it is dangerous to other passengers in a car if someone decides not to wear their seat belt as their body could go flying into another passenger in an accident. Both of these arguments are valid, but I don't feel they are significant enough to justify limiting individual Freedom. After all, it is the driver's responsibility to protect themselves and those in their vehicle, just as it is the rider's responsibility to make sure they are wearing proper gear. If they do not, they pay the price, as they and only they are at risk.

Anyway, that's my two cents. Personal responsibility is dying in this country. I hate seeing people ask government to step in to fix everyone's problems as government creates more problems than they fix!

 

eh let people do what they wanna do. if they dont wanna wear a helmet its called population control. ya there will be some of the ones we care for that die in a motorcycle accident because he/she had no helmet but really? let the people do what the people want to do, it's our lifes. if we dont wear a helmet and fall o well that's their face. sometimes you just gotta learn the hard way which sucks.

i always wore my helmet, if i didnt i wouldnt be here. and about the 14mph impact, mine withstood an est 40mph impact and stayed together and saved me life.

my friend last semister took my helmet in for a speech and wrote about why people should wear helmets; but she said half the people that were in the class couldnt believe that i was still alive. the most damage the helmet recieved was in the lower right part of the skull. if i was not wearing a helmet the car that i hit would of snapped my neck making the spine go through my skull and hit my brain. this was told to me by a neuologist, so if the neck snapping didnt kill me that would of...

it's really stupid not to wear a helmet but there will always be the people that dont and wont.

the picture doesnt really do justice on how much damage the helmet has.

 

off topic buttsecks anyone? really needing some know