Originally Posted by
KISSmyACE
One of the recent rider down threads got me thinking, why is it that the law is not in effect anymore to require motorcyclists to wear a helmet? The man who just recently passed away (Michael Gwaltney) was wearing one at the time of the accident, however at impact, his helmet flew off and was not able to save his life. Granted, in many cases, a helmet is protection that can be the determining factor in the outcome of an accident.
Many motorcyclists have chosen to ride without helmets now that the law is no longer in effect, and every day someone loses their life. DOT approved helmets can only withstand up to a 14 mph direct impact, which is not much at all, but many accidents do not result in impacts directly to the head. In those cases, the helmet protects the rider's vision, mouth including jaw and teeth, and aesthetically, eliminates road rash from the face.
What do you think?
Do you all wear helmets? Why/Why not?
this is a thing for school, cut me some slack 
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.