Helmets or no Helmets? that is the question!

[ACE]

Well guys, most of us live in states where wearing a helmet is the law, how do you feel about that and if you were riding in another state would you still wear one? Do you wish your state doesn't have a helmet law? I like my helmet becuase it does 2 things, matches my bike (cool factor) and it keeps me from being 6 feet BELOW the pavement.

[vtlion]

PA does not require a helmet for riders with two years experience or the MSF course.  I qualify, and I have ridden without a helmet a totoal of ZERO times.

[Jasco]

No helmet law here, but we do have a ghey seatbelt law.  I don't think we should legislate stuff like this.  If I wan't to risk myself by not buckling up or riding without a helmet so be it.  The laws should exist for minors under the age of 18, but not for adults.  

Ohh, and in indiana if you have truck plates you don't have to wear a seatbelt.  I have truck plates on both my vehicles so I am safe from harrassment. :nana:

That being said I always wear a helmet (more for bug protection and tinted visor) and always buckle my seatbelt, but I don't think that big-brother should be allowed to force me to do so.

I can't remember where or when, but I read an interesting study about helmets awhile ago.  The conclusion was that you were "better off" not wearing a helmet.  Turns out that helmets were saving lives, but not at a level of life worth living.  Vegetable hooked up to machines is not what I would consider life saving.  I think it is a trade off.  In a low speed crash a helmet will help, but at high speeds (probably about 40) it isn't gonna do much for you.  Just my .02.

Matt

[Tralala]

Ofcourse you should wear a helmet. The argument about riding 40 the helmet not doing anything good i purely wrong. Do you thing guys in MC racing is weat a helmet for fun ? Try to body slide in 40 miles per hour without a helmet   And i helmet save lifes, then it is a must. Good or bad life ? who is capable to decide ?

I would like a link to that study about helmet and safety.

/tralala

[vtlion]

with an issue as polarizing as mandatory helmet laws, no study will be unbiased.  I'm sure that if AMA funded a study it would show that they do not help, but if Shoei funded another one it would find that they do!    Pretty much everybody has a strong opinion on the subject and data can be 'massaged' to argue whichever point you want.  It comes down to a personal decision.  I am ok with the law in PA because it gives more choice (i.e. freedom) to the rider.  As long as fatal accidents don't rise dramatically (and along with them, tax expenditures for investigations, road-repairs, emergency services, etc), then its up to the rider.  Personally, I believe that a helmet is a good idea at any speed.

[Cal Price]

Wear it every time. I appreciate all the personal freedom issues and the debate is endless, like the one we had about street cctv thirty years ago, I was very anti surveilance but the nothing-to-hide-nothing-to-fear argument is a very powerful one and I have no doubt our city streets are safer and better places because of cctv. Same with helmets, we all really know it makes sense but should it be a legislation issue. I don't know but by the same principal, if we all know, does it matter?

Many (well 39) years ago when I got my first bike at the age of 19 there was no helmet law here, I could not afford one and did not wear one. I had the classic accident, late for work, rainy morning, overtook a military truck on the brow of a hill and met head-on with one of those things that delivers ready-mixed wet cement, not much of a contest, the Lambretta lost. By some freak or miracle depending on how you view these things, I was shot through a hawthorne hedge and ended up sitting on my arse in a field of wheat. Not a scratch or bruise anywhere, bit of luck as the Lambretta never rode again but I got the message. Still shudder as I pass that spot!

[gsJack]

Well guys, most of us live in states where wearing a helmet is the law, how do you feel about that and if you were riding in another state would you still wear one? Do you wish your state doesn't have a helmet law? I like my helmet becuase it does 2 things, matches my bike (cool factor) and it keeps me from being 6 feet BELOW the pavement.

Helmet not required in Ohio except for beginners and minors. but I've worn a helmet by choice for everyone of my 320k+ miles.

Damn glad I was wearing one last summer when I went rolling down the tarmac.  No big impact, but helmet was deeply scratched all around and my pretty face went untouched.   :lol:  :lol:

I do favor freedom of choice on this controversial issue and choose to wear one myself whenever on bike.

[dgyver]

I do favor the freedom of choice. SC does not require helmets of riders 21+. I did not wear one in my younger days. Always wear one now, especially after smacking the side of a mountain head first. The top of my helmet was caved in about 1/2". Looked like someone took a steel pipe and smashed it. No doubt that I would be dead without it.

[juggernaught]

I was T-Boned by an unlicensed cager last may.  I was airborn about 30 feet and landed on my back on concrete.  Broke my foot, my helmet cracked....my skull did not.  I ride again.  'Nuff sed.

[notoriouskeef]

I dare you to run as fast as you can head first into a wall.    Thats just running.  A 10mph crash can kill you.

I will never ride w/out a helmet.

Matt

[Zarathustra]

i'm all for personal decisions and keeping legislation out of personal affairs, but that being said, every time i see someone without a lid on, i just can't help but think about what giant jackasses they are.  being at a university, the guys without helmets are all on tl1000s, R1s and 6s, and gixxers.  no jackets, no helmets, just some shades and a tshirt.  i always wear my helmet, and i pretty much lose a little respect for someone when i find out they don't.

[Ed]

New Jersey has a helmet law but if it did not I would still wear one.

I've never crashed (knock wood) but on more than a few occasions I've had hard UFOs bounce off my helmet and I suspect had they struck my noggin I could have been dazed enough to lose control of the bike.

Ed

[mayz2010]

when i first started riding a car cut me up i was doing 30mph+ and locked my front wheel up, and i went down hit my head, and shoulder luckly i was wearing a helmet and textile jacket saved m shoulder and the lid saved my face froma nasty crash so that 40mph crash thing turning u into a vegitable is a load of bull, i have head storys of ppl hiting cars dead on at 120+mph and thanking god for lids and leather, and in the UK helmets are mandortory no choice and no1 over here complains.

[Ed_in_Az]

 

[dublinjail]

Down here in Panama City it's "Thunder Beach" weekend and we're chock full o' bikers. I'd say 97% of them are not wearing a helmet and are not required if they have over a certain amount of insurance, can't recall the exact number though. When I ride I prefer no bugs in the face, gravel etc... Also I think of the grusome experience of a helmetless wipe out and cringe. So when I see the majority of riders down here going au natural I wish em luck cause if I don't wear an armored jacket I get all nervous and crap. What really gets me is the biker mama's on the back without a helmet, you'd think they be more vain about the subject. Guess if your man goes you should follow him into the afterlife.

[Nomak]

I wear a full face SNELL approved helmet (dont trust DOT) and always ride in full gear no exception. However, I am torn between the law dorcing me to wear the helmet. On one end I dont like being told what do by Big Brother and then on the other end I dont want my insurance rates goin up cause a few morons wanted to try brain surgery on themselves.

I personally dont care. I always wear a set belt and ride in full gear.

[spdracer75]

I've rode with and wothout a helmet., and I can tell you this much.

Riding without a helmet is more addictive than crack.  Hear me out.

You'll ride once.... and probably be okay, and knowing that the last time you rode you were fine, so you can get away with it again and again, etc.

Now... anytime I'm on city streets I strap on the helmet and boots.

If I'm tuning the bike and such and am just putting along on my street in front of my house, I'll forgo the helmet as my street very rarely has any traffic.

As for the 80MPH Helmet usefulness factor, I can understand where people come from on wearing a helmet in city traffic, but not wearing one on the interstate.  I don't consider being hooked up to life support being "Alive" and would much rather be offed near instantly in a bad wreck than to hang on in misery.

Basically to sum it up it's personal preference, if it's just you on your bike, then it's your choice.

[TheGoodGuy]

helmet for sure.. atleast tehse days..

in my younger days I have gone without a helmet .. ofcourse i lived in india.. and i started on a moped.. max speed about 25-30mph..

Funny I used to actually wear a bicycle helmet when i used to ride the bicycle (road racer) but not when i rode the moped.. Why if you ask? I was faster as a pedal machine than i was on that moped. I was clocked around 65kmph on a bicycle.. that moped would never reach that level.

Later when i went to faster 2 wheels i used helmets..

These days even to go for a short ride within the complex that live in, i wear a helmet, i dont think i cant ride without a helmet, much like i cant comfortably without a jacket and boots and gloves on the warmest of days.

Also wearing a helmet is sort of a protection against bugs, since i seem to attract them on to my visor.. all i can say OUCH if i didnt have something covering my face.

[Changemanager]

I choose to wear a helmet every time I ride. It's as automatic as buckling the belt in the car. I believe in mitigating risk, not avoiding it altogether. My passengers must wear a helmet; they don't get to choose if they ride with me. My neighbor does not wear a helmet. I support his choice in principle but get a bit miffed when I pay my insurance. This is part of the current cost of riding.

[Jasco]

I don't buy the seat-belt laws and helmet laws lower insurance argument.  The seat-belt law was inacted not too long ago in indiana.  When it passed there was no change in my insurance.  It should of went down because everyone is safer, right?  I think the insurance argument is just something teh goverment used ot justify it to people.