Sunday my wife and I were coming back from a visit with our grand kids in the cage and we started a game. We counted the folks on bikes with helmets and without (FL is a choice state). The finally tally after about 80 miles of counting was 132 without and 68 with. Only 6 full face on 3 sport bikes and one Goldwing. The rest were those half helmets with a few 3/4 helmets. One idiot on what looked like a Duce made me break fairly hard not to get very uncomfortably close to him head on as he was passing. Then his buds did the same to the car behind me. I'm all for personal liberties but if you can be stopped, cited and fined for not wearing a seat belt in a cage then how on earth can the politicians justify folks riding around without a bucket.

Because stopping you for not wearing your seat belt is a good excuse to find out what else you are doing wrong.  (Alcohol, Drugs, Guns, No Insurance, Suspended License, etc.)  Trying to stop a guy on a bike for not wearing a helmet will either get him to run and get away, run and crash, or 'typically' find out they aren't doing anything else wrong.

Seat belt laws are secondary in my state, meaning you can't be stopped for not wearing one, you can only be fined if pulled over for another violation. I believe it's like that in many states, which shows that the law only exists to generate more revenue for the state. Honestly, I think either law should be repealed, it should be a personal decision whether or not to protect yourself, but if you slap your kid in a car without a seatbelt, you should get your license suspended.

The nanny laws are generally written by the insurance lobbies. If a cager isn't wearing a seatbelt and gets in an accident, there are big medical expenses billed to his insurance. If a rider isn't wearing a helmet and gets in an accident, there's usually just the funeral costs.

All comes down to the numbers!

In Florida seatbelts are now a primary offense. The day it went into effect KPD was standing next to a sign announcing it as people went for their seat belts they were pulled over. One cop walked through three lanes of traffic to get one person while a minivan full of kids running around in it went right on by. 

Mary

I still can't believe you saw 200 motorcycles in 80 miles.

Maybe they just saw the same 20 motorcycles 10 times over 80 miles 

Does anyone on this site ride their bike without a helmet. I dont understand why people want to ride without a helmet. I talked to a harley rider down the street from me, he just moved over to California where helmets are required, and he is from a state that doesnt make wearing a helmet mandatory. He always complains about wearing a helmet, he doesnt understand why i like wearing a helmet when i ride. I always tell him if i get in an accident and my face hits the asphalt, i know my face isnt going to win that fight.

Why ride without helmet = why have sex without clothes on.

You might suffer from a false sense of security.

Helmets are less comfortable than no helmets, usually. I use my 3/4 sometimes cause it has a visor. And it makes family happier, who know nothing whatsoever about anything mechanical.

I never take a bike down near the city where the crazinesss all is. I hate driving my car there. People wander off road and hit mailboxes and knee walls and parked cars regularly as I watch behind them and all around my neighborhood. Looks like a drunkfest just ended late last night. Fresh glass and plastic scattered about each week. Text messaging while dining in SUVs, running red lights without looking.

Where I ride you don't need a helmet.

If you get in an accident and do anything other than slide to a stop you are going to break your body. Body armor helps as do helmets, once you are crashing.

So, don't get in an accident and hit a tree. Don't do stoppies drunk. Don't drive 3.5 times the posted speed limit and have the old lady in the 1991 Buick look your way, see nothing, look the other way and pull out... Know where the other drivers are and what they are doing (in my case 90 miles away).

I like the feeling a good fitting/ secure helmet. Ive ridden around my appt complex w/o one when i need to "test" something and it just feels weird. Im the same about driving, i like having a seatbelt on and dont feel comfortable w/o one.

Quote from: 007brendan on September 21, 2010, 11:00:13 PM
I still can't believe you saw 200 motorcycles in 80 miles.

The remnants of people coming home from Peterson's Harley Davidson's Poker run.

I'll sum it up like I normally do. If I get in an accident, no matter who's fault it is, and get messed up, they'll say one of two things. If I'm wearing my gear they'll say, poor guy did everything he could to protect himself, if I'm not wearing my gear they'll say, dumbass was asking for it and never stood a chance. Same with wearing a seatbelt in a cage. Plus if you start off with at least gloves and a helmet like I am with my wife and son, you'll never know any different, and will feel weird without them.

Quote from: johnny ro on September 22, 2010, 04:08:51 AM
Why ride without helmet = why have sex without clothes on.

having sex without clothes is like riding a bike in tennis shoes and a t shirt, riding without a helmet is more like having sex without a condom, which is a pretty big difference.

Riding without a helmet is a tough price to pay for trying to look good. I can see it happening if you only ever get up to 15mph when you're riding, but any faster than that and it's just really not all that enjoyable. When I see someone on a bike who doesn't have a helmet on, all I really assume is that they don't actually ride the bike. Whether or not your grand plan is just not crashing, you still have no way to predict when that giant beetle is going to smack you right in the center of the forehead.

You can't legislate intelligence, or, in the words of another great man, "you can't fix stupid".

If you believe in seat belt and helmet laws, they you also have to be in favor of:

1. Prohibition of alcohol and smoking
2. Bacon rationing (fat people can't buy bacon).
3. Candy and soda taxes.

I feel weird riding from the gas station pump to the air filler without gloves on.

I've had bugs in the eyes and bees stuck in my hair riding helmetless on dirtbikes. I've had large bugs smack into my sunnies and ooze their guts around the edge into my eye riding on the highway without a visor.

Now... I wear gloves All the time, full face all the time.

You?

If you wanna ride without a lid, that's a risk you're willing to take, along with the consequences of what might happen regarding flying things and unexpected offs. Coercion by way of fine brought in with legislation, is usually done to make more $ for the govt as they have another victimless crime to get you for - and - reduce the payouts insurance companies would need to make so they make more profit.

Michael

Quote from: tt_four on September 22, 2010, 10:28:44 AM

Quote from: johnny ro on September 22, 2010, 04:08:51 AM
Why ride without helmet = why have sex without clothes on.

Riding without a helmet is a tough price to pay for trying to look good

Dude, I look way better with my helmet on.

I'll admit, I've done both - with and without a helmet. If i go without a helmet anymore it's around the block on a little "test ride".

One of the guys i work with has a Harley and was bragging about how he only puts a lid on to keep his wife happy but rides all the time without it on. I asked him "Dont you have anything under that helmet worth protecting?"

In PA, it's optional to wear a helmet after 2 years, but it's mandatory to wear a seat belt in a car. Doesnt make sense to me either......

I'm no advocate for more government control but if seatbelt laws can be a primary offence how are helmets different. I like the analogy that without a helmet you stand a much better chance of being just plain ole dead than having to have medical treatment. A insurance guys best case scenario, dead don't pay and negligence can be argued even when primary fault lies in the cage that hit helmetless Joe. It's quite easy to get a percentage of blame off the insureds back in what could have been a survivable accident had the dead/maimed person been wearing a helmet.
I have many stories over the years of friends, acquittance's and just stories in the paper that were killed or saved by helmets. Most recent, a Miami Heat dancer killed without a bucket on by a idiot in a Benz. It was a under the speed limit collision in a busy part of town. She would have limped away with a bucket on, now this smokin babe is worm food. It was her choice but the woman that hit her shouldn't be deionized, fault lies on both sides of the fender. Another friend splattered himself on a wall at a buck twenty, nothing would have saved him but he was wearing a Shoi. Road rash heals, broken bones hurt when the weather changes, dead is a long cold nap that there is no repeal from and it can happen just as easy at 15 mph as it can at 75.
It's a choice we all have to make but I'll not ride my bike anywhere without a quality helmet on and I'll replace it every 2 years. It's the reason I have a GS, I repossessed it from one of my sons because he refused to wear his helmet. That was part of the hand shake when we bought it, he must wear his gear everytime he got on the bike. He didn't, I gave him ample chances, after about 20 warnings and a new motor I took it back. Now if he wants a bike he can get one himself, the same deal applies to my other sons and they are all wearing their gear. Nothing like a example and having your name on the title to make the others fall in line.

Quote from: Twism86 on September 22, 2010, 06:04:02 AM
I like the feeling a good fitting/ secure helmet. Ive ridden around my appt complex w/o one when i need to "test" something and it just feels weird. Im the same about driving, i like having a seatbelt on and dont feel comfortable w/o one.

In my opinion, your parent(s) raised you correctly. Same goes for me: if I'm going to the store in a car, I wear a seat belt. If I'm riding around the block, I wear a helmet

Quote from: lilwoody on September 22, 2010, 01:45:42 PM
Road rash heals, broken bones hurt when the weather changes, dead is a long cold nap that there is no repeal from and it can happen just as easy at 15 mph as it can at 75.

So true.

I'm a new rider.  Well, I rode a dirt bike in high school, but I'm 53 now so as good as a new rider.  I never ride - and have never ridden without my full coverage helmet, gloves and jacket. 

I've had large bugs hit my face shield at 60mph.  I can't imagine what that would have done to my face or my concentration and ability to control the bike.

Still, I think it's a personal choice.