Friday Night Soapbox Bitchin' -- Everybody's IN!

I live in a State (Massachusetts), that has a "Mandatory Helmet and Eye Protection Law"

I have NO earthly idea why it's a law and has to be Mandatory!
OK ... how about this amendment. If you are over 21, riding alone, the choice would be yours. Helmet or NO ... but, only if you are riding ALONE!

What make me jump-up on the Soapbox, tonight, is this:

You could be wearing a "Helmet" made of Paper Mache' and eyegear made out of the glass they use in window panes and not get stopped.

But, if you're up on a bile that don't have a windscreen high enough to offer you eye protection, and you're face shield is UP ... you can be ticketed! Absurd!

I see Harley-Boy's wearing "Helmets" that look like Yarmulke's with elastic-band head straps, and shades on neck straps to conveniently get put-on if they see a State Police Car ... and they're OK.

If the face shield on your helmet is so scratched-up you can't see your instrument panel ... you're good-to-go ... so long as it's down.

I bitched!
Your turn.
Let's hear 'em!

 

I'll agree with you with one exception. I think the helmet should be optional even if not riding alone. It's not like your choice not to wear one will impact the passenger. Just be easy on the throttle and brake if passenger is wearing a helmet and you're not, could get bumps on yer noggin.

I wear full face with face shield. I wouldn't have it any other way.

But, it's your head. If you don't want the helmet I don't think you should have to wear one. I also don't think my tax dollars should pay someone to feed you with a straw if you choice turns out to be a poor one.

Did you take a spill without a helmet? That could explain your confusion. Today is Thursday. :wink:

 

P.S. If you do decide to wear a helmet do not wear it like this:

 

i think wearing a helmet and eye wear makes sense. in canada it is mandatory to wear a helmet and it doesnt matter what province you live in, if it wasnt mandatory i would wear one anyway for the simple reason that if your head hits the ground (or anything else) going any speed its like hittng a watermelon with a sledgehammer and thats not a good scene. i have friends that have been in accidents and if they were not wearing a helmet they wouldnt be alive today.....including myself. if i was not wearing a helmet that day this guy ran a stop sign i would have been dead 10 years ago and am thankfull that i got to pick myself up and live to ride another day, and i contribute that to wearing a helmet.

now am i saying that people should not have the right to choose to wear one? or not wear one?......no not at all......am all for the freedom that people have to make there own choices, am just saying that i think it makes sense and i will allways wear one whether am given the choice.

 

HAHA! :lol:

 

After what I went through recently, I don't think I'll ever ride without a fullface helmet. And I gave up on the no eye protection after the first bug in my eye. (I like fullface helmets, but hate those damned face shields; if you see some idiot with a fullface helmet and goggles, that's me...). But I'll be damned if I think it's right to force everyone to do exactly what I do. Besides, if you do exactly like I do, you'll be in debt up to your arse anyway...

 

I don't think we're ever going to come to a consensus about this. It's been discussed here and everywhere else for eons. I really think that this is just a tiny part of a much bigger issue. Just how much control should the government have over our daily lives? I'm sure many of you have seen that New York City is considering a ban on trans fatty acids in all resteraunts. Smoking is now being banned just about everywhere. Seats belts are mandatory everywhere I know of. Etc...Etc...Etc... Helmet laws are just a facet of this.

It seems that it's just not possible to strike a balance between personal and societal freedoms. I can't argue that every one of these issues probably does make me safer on a day to day basis. While they may seem inconvenient to me or even oppressive, I can't deny their affect.

Many of the laws in place to protect people from themselves are so obviosu that no one would ever argue about them. Would anyone honestly say that they think schools should still eb built with asbestos? Should movie theaters be allowed that don't have adequate emergency exits?

Helmet laws are really no different. You will never convince me that riding without a helmet is in any respect safer than riding with one. I've heard all the arguements and I just don't buy them. The plain and simple fact is that in a serious accident, statistically, you are far more likely to survive with a helmet than without one. The woman with the helmet on backwards is probably still safer than she would be bare headed.

You may feel that it's still your decision and I'm not entirely sure that I disagree. My point is that you need to take the individual out of the equation sometimes. The costs to society are often far more than to the individual. We would all agree that some saftey laws must be in place. However, any two of us are likely to set the bar at different places. We elect officials to represent us and set the bar where we think it should be. I think you just have to accept that you're not always going to like the decisions society reaches on issues like this.

Greg

 

What he said ^. Living in Ontario I'm required to wear one - no problem.
My personal version of common sence goes like this -- if I go down, I want something - ANYTHING - between my head and the rather unforgiving pavement. Pretty simple.

 

Well, I'd say you're talking about two different things there, geebake. Take asbestos for example. This was banned to protect people from a toxix substance produced by other people. I'd say even smoking falls into this category, as I've yet to see a smoker that can keep their smoke to themselves. But an attempt to protect one from oneself is pure meddling and nothing more. At least that's how I see it.

 

I'd like to have some of whatever that girl was smokin' ... just before she put on that helmet and stole that bike!

 

regarding wearing a helmet....

this might be a bit long winded, but i hope it gets the point across.

i work i nchild welfare, and one of the mothers whom i had to take her children away has been living on state welfare for many years. why?

she was riding a kawasaki that got plowed by a minivan, and ended up going straight on into the asphalt at 70 mph w/ no helmet.

trust me - when you encounter brain damage in an individual, you encounter brain damage. before the accident, she was reported to be normal, affectionate, caring of her children - after the accident, is the individual i came to encounter.

a woman so mentally disabled that she didn't notice dog and cat feces on the floor of her home, didn't "remember" keeping her 11 year old daughter home to "keep her company" (which subsequently kept the child back 2 grades) and who believed that the horror films we see, were real.

there's something about walking in to a home covered in cat and dog shit with a woman 100 pounds overweight who talks to herself about exorcising you (while eyeing the kitchen knives).

sure, its freedom not to wear a helmet. sure, its your choice to risk it - but i think that there is a fallacy in the biker community about accidents. once it happens - its over. i say that this is not true.

i have had to take children away from an individual who suffered an incredibly terrible and awful motorcycle accident - and that accident kept recurring in her life b/c she didn't wear a helmet to the point that i took her children away and escorted her to a long term (ie- till death) mental health care facility.

ever since meeting her, i have always asked in the back of my mind - "if she'd been wearing a helmet when the accident happened, woudl she be this crazy and f'd up? would i be having to remove her children and placing them w/ strangers b/c sh's so f'd up that she can't take care of them?"

i can't say...but the logistics of hitting anything at 70+ mph head on, w/o a helmet, tells me that if it can leave a person alive but TOTALLY F'D up, it can happen to any of us.

we all know that the majority of bike accidents don't end in death.

its one thing to survive and have to relearn how to use a limb...just imagine if its your mind.

 

Poignant point Z. Had a fella wind up a near vegetable even wearing his helmet in similar conditions. He decided to wind it out going over an overpass, T-boned a turning car on the opposite side. Even with protection, one has to use their brain. As witnessed by yours and many other stories, the outcome effects more than just ourselves but the world around us. Sadly, we still hear about those that just don't get it. Sigh, I'm tired of singing this song, it hurts too much anymore. I hope each and every one of you all out there take the welfare of your loved ones into account when you journey out into the world of cages. They don't care if your head is covered or not, they WILL hurt you if you let them. And don't you LET them!

 

maybe that girl has a low forhead and an extended rear cranium...