I hate helmets

[Eli69]

i rode many years helmetless and with fake half helmets. i was lucky and didn't get hurt bad. i simply didn't like being told i had to wear a helmet by the gubment. then i got a really fast snowmobile and realized i would freeze my brains out without a warm helmet with a heated visor. i got used to wearing the full faced helmet and have ever since.

so i guess it wasn't like i a gave it alot of thought or anything. just kind of blindly fell into helmet wearing.

moral of the story is, i think, i was the typical rebellious punk that lived long enough to grow up and change my ways. when i see someone my age riding with a junk helmet i think they are being childish. i mean if i figured it out anyone can right?

[gustovh]

When I was 10 and learning to ride, my brother would not let me get on the thing untill I was helmeted and wearing at least gloves. That was 51 years ago and I still put one on to test a bike around my drive. I ware everything to ride the 2 1/2 miles to the store and back.

Been down 4 times, once high sided off after comeing to a stop and the other 3 times at less than a walk. It still tore up some gear but I was unhurt.

I chose life and health over the alternative. Ride to arrive alive.
V

[7th day]

I always wear a helmet but don't believe the government should be telling me I have to. One thing that seems odd to me is that some don't wear helmets around town because they feel there is less risk because of low speeds but consider that when seated on a bike your head is approximately 5 feet off the pavement and if you fell striking your head from that height it can easily kill you........ it has happened.

[tkent02]

Here's an interesting tidbit... In India men are require to wear helmets, women are not. Discuss.

[argonsagas]

Sometimes lessons in life come a fairly steep price.


I have a vivid recollection of looking at a couple of doctors in a hospital. Later, I thought they looked funny, both of them staring at me with their mouths wide open, and unable to speak a word.

Perhaps it had something to do with them thinking I should not have been able to speak either, mostly because they had just finished examining me , and that was about two hours after several other people had examined me and decided I was dead.


i was not wearing a helmet because it happened while I was changing a tire on my car, and someone drove into my parked car, which drove the car into my head, and my head then hit the guardrail that was behind me.

The result of the two head impacts was that I was killed on the spot....at least that was the case according to those who checked me out over the next two hours and found no life signs.



One of the lessons learned was that you really do not have to be moving very fast for the impact to do some nasty stuff to your head.

[argonsagas]

Here's an interesting tidbit... In India men are require to wear helmets, women are not. Discuss.

There is little to discuss........it is VERY common to see bikes with a family of four, five, or even six people on board.

[tkent02]

Yes, and in this family men will waer helmets, women will not.

[argonsagas]

Yes, and in this family men will waer helmets, women will not.

In actual practice, the law is treated as a joke. Very few people wear them and if they do it is the operator, while the passengers on the same bike will rarely wear a helmet.

It is also common to see the rider who has a helmet ride bare-headed, with the helmet sitting on the gas tank.

Here is an example:

[argonsagas]

Yes, and in this family men will waer helmets, women will not.

In actual practice, the law is treated as a joke. Very few people wear them and if they do it is the operator, while the passengers on the same bike will rarely wear a helmet.



Here is an example:

[Ecklund]

What very few years I didn't wear a helmet I now have a nice scar on my forehead from a June bug at 70mph and damaged tear ducts around my eyes. Besides from the wind/sun burn and fatigue....well I always wear a helmet now though it was my choice. I spent alot of time with ABATE chapters around the nation fighting the mandatory helmet laws the Feds were blackmailing the states to pass in order to receive their hiway funds. So it is your choice, weight the pros and cons. I did, I wear.

Agreed, wearing a helmet has many advantages. But having my government demand it is not a good idea.

[tkent02]

I have hundreds of picture of motorcycles in India. In every one, no matter how many are on the bike, men wear helmets, women usually not, although a few of them do.
I have not seen anyone break this law.

Your picture shows a woman on the back, yes?

The joke is that very few wear gloves, and most wear sandals.

[Ecklund]

Yes, and in this family men will waer helmets, women will not.

Same in Africa.

Motorcycles here are used for many purposes. Pickup truck, taxi, mini van, beer and or charcoal devilery.

The government has ordered the use of helmets but there is less than 10 percent compliance.

The bugs, dust and road traffic being what they are here, I always wear a helmet.

[robinelwood]

Washington has a helmet law, and I've always worn one....heading over the border to Idaho, it's a bit shocking to see folks without them.

Not to discount the 'government shouldn't tell us' line entirely, but it does seem to me that if the local and state government and the surrounding community are the ones likely to pick up the emergency room tab, not to mention the social service costs of surviving family members, then there is some vested interest in helmet and other traffic laws....

[earlfor]

I never return home after a ride without bugs on my face shield. I don't want all the crap that hits my shield hitting my bare face or going into my eyes. Besides that, I have had my head bashed on asphalt too many times and not once have I left the house expecting to be eating asphalt that day.

[lurch12_2000]

I hate helmets because:
They give me helmet hair.
I have to pay $ every few years for a new one.
I don't know where to put it when I go somewhere and park the bike.
They partially block my peripheral vision.
They make my head look big.

I love full face helmets because:
They keep my head warm in cold NH.
They keep bugs from splattering on my face.
They keep my glasses on when turning my head at 100mph.
They keep me from losing my hearing and getting earaches.
They keep cigarette butts, stones, spittal, and other flying stuff from hitting my face.
They keep the rain from feeling like a hundred BB's hitting my face.
They keep my brains from splattering on the asphalt if I have a get off.
They hide my older face in a crowd of young ladies.

8 to 5 reasons in favor make me lean towards wearing a helmet. Scientific data wins out, eh?