Ducati Monster Forum

So this past weekend people were getting pulled over for not wearing their seatbelts!!! What I don't wanna wear one. What's next, wearing a helmet will be required? How can we look good with a helmet on. Soon we'll be wearing an ironman suit to go grocery shopping.








[popcorn]
 ;D

is that why you were a wanted man? I thought you would have learned your lesson by now.
click or ticket, baby!

its the liberals and their big brother laws.  can't smoke in parks, gotta wear a seat belt, licence cats, they gotta make money and fish for dwi's some how. [bacon]

that was for a late fee for my expired tabs that I didn't know about  :(

did u just say license cats ????

He meant to say, get a license for hunting cats.

 [clap]

Thanks for making me LOL at work.

Nah, you can hunt them all you want. You only need the license when you catch one and want to kill it.

I'm all for seatbelts but why should they care if someone doesn't care for their own safty?  Its all about the money

There are always going to people that feel they know better how to care for you than you do. The only reason there is no helmet law in minnesota and there is a seatbelt law is abate. having a strong lobbying effert in this state that watches and works for no mandatory helmet laws pays off. If there was an organized effert to remove the seatbelt law it would go away. There is no rationale that says one must wear seatbelt but not helmets; they are analogous.

Wisconsin says you can shoot feral cats on sight.... now there is a law we can all get behind.

Good thing Mo keeps his on a leash.

Life sure is hard when you're forced to buckle up. The 5 seconds it takes to reach over your shoulder, pull the belt down and click it are insufferable. All the hardship. The pain. The suffering. Why? Why, dear God do we have to suffer so much inconvenience? When will this inconvenience end?

I never drive with out a seatbelt.. even back when you didn't get pulled over for it..  its easy to put and may save your life 5% of the time, other times when your better off being thrown from the car which I've read about on my forum..  I just don't think the state should get paid off for it like a lot of other things..  let Darwinism take care of the rest..

I'm all for seatbelts. I think the reason they're enforcing a lot moreately is the death of a dozen teens over the course of 2 weeks. None of them wore seatbelts and i think the drivers were drunk. I say bring on the helmet law too, it'll sure take care of the squids. Why ride if u can't show ur face  8). Nobody wants to hear about people dying cause they didn't take the extra 5 secs to put a belt on.

And I'm gonna keep my cat away from u guys, and Troopers. I hear Kitties are dangerous  [beer]

[laugh]  [laugh]  [laugh]

I agree.

It is interesting, though, that seat belts are legally required while motorcycle helmets are not.  Where is the logic there?

If you're going to force people to wear seat belts, you should force them to wear helmets, too.  They don't make Arai-branded mullets for a reason.

I'm all for the Darwinism argument, but at least be consistent.

Then again, maybe I'm the crazy one asking for logic in our legal system?

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Life sure is hard when you're forced to buckle up. The 5 seconds it takes to reach over your shoulder, pull the belt down and click it are insufferable. All the hardship. The pain. The suffering. Why? Why, dear God do we have to suffer so much inconvenience? When will this inconvenience end?

you are right; the government should make every discision for me in my life.  weather to buckle the seat belt in my car if I should wear a helmet if the knifes in my kitchen are too sharp if my kid should wear a helmet when walking down stairs if my grass is too long weather I can smoke or drink if I have too many rights if I'm wrong because I only speek english.  I'm investing in knee/elbow pads because by 2040 cryogenically frozen president Oprah will have it mandatory for everyone to wear a full body of armor to insure against anyone scraping their knee.  I'm not retarded and I have a Mom, I don't need one elected for me. [bacon]

there are an estimated 2+ million feral cats in WI according to their DNR.  It was in the paper a few months ago.  Thats alot.  Good thing I always wear my seatbelt when driving through WI.  Otherwise I might hit one lose control and be flung into nothing effecting nothing but me.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7475469/ (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7475469/)

I love the photo [bacon]

what is this thing?- [drool]

Isn't it difficult to drive while wearing a sombrero?

That looks like drooling.

Only if I'm wearing a seatbelt.  It looks like a face puking a thunder storm cloud. [bacon]

I'm all for wearing seatbelts, helmets, protective gear, etc. Just don't think I need someone telling me to do it, its my choice as long as I'm not endangering someone else.

But that's where it gets sticky. They make all kinds of arguments around how not wearing your seatbelt endangers someone else in the car, or how not wearing a helmet and getting smacked in the head by a big bug will cause you to lose control and wipeout, then the car behind you swerves to avoid you, then they hit another car where they weren't wearing seatbelts, then (well you get the idea). Obviously you could make these arguments all day long, and that's what legislators do. They love to go on and on and on about things. Just watch them make an argument in session when they televise them, I've never seen such bad actors in my life.

I could never be a politician, because I wouldn't sugar coat or grandstand anything. Me telling the public something would last all of 2 minutes, because it would be short and to the point, end of story.

seat belts vs helmets is a completely different argument.  Contrary to what othes may say.

Seat belts keep the driver at the controls of their vehicle and therefore increases the chances the driver will still be able to control their vehicle post-accident and prevent further accidents.  Which mean seat belts are for public safety, not primarily for the drivers safety.

Helmets, on the other hand, do absolutely nothing to keep the rider in control of his bike.  Helmets protect only the driver.  They do nothing to protect other motorists on the road. 

Helmets protect me from the massive expense of your 30 years of skilled nursing care after you break your brain because you weren't wearing a helmet.

No - you're not allowed to make arguments about how doctors or hospitals should be able to choose not to resuscitate or provide long-term care to people who made poor choices. That's not how our system (nor anyone else's) works, and it's not how it's ever going to work. It's got nothing to do with how things "should" be. It's simply that nobody's ever going to say, "Wait, he wasn't wearing a helmet. Let 'im die."

My riding a motorcycle is, essentially, an involuntary tax on the rest of society, or at least a significant risk of that. It's reasonable for the rest of society to make demands that I minimize the chances that they'll have to pay to wipe my butt for decades.

There are many things that are involuntary taxes on society. If you are worried about head injuries, almost anything that transports you past 10 mph should require a helmet. Obesity, heart disease and diabetes are all taxing on society; Should we mandate only healthy food be sold in resteraunts and groceries? If I eat red meat and have a heart attack should a doctor not treat me? Or if you are in the warehouse district late at night you are assuming some risk to be shot so therefore you are at fault and the police should just say that they won't investigate?


The fact is you can only demand or expect so much anti-risk behavior. Society has only so much responsibility to monitor behavior.

By the way, if you are worried about someone paying to "wipe your butt" don't wear a helmet. You are more likely to live paralyzed wearing a helmet then you are without it. The helmet saves your life, not riding saves your spinal cord.


or maybe not

Whether you or I agree with the premise, this is, in fact, the reasoning behind helmet laws.

I agree with the premise. Anyone who argues that the risk of traumatic brain injury is somehow comparable between motorcycle riders and automobile occupants is incapable of interpreting basic statistics. I realize you're making an anti-helmet-law argument, but you'll have to come up with some other activity that carries comparable risks. Eating steak doesn't cut it. For one thing, diet-related long term expensive medical problems take enough time to develop that they typically don't affect those with life expectancies measured in many decades, unlike traumatic brain injury which disproportionately affects the young. Obesity, ASCVD, etc. significantly reduce life expectancy while TBI does so to a significantly lesser degree. Shorter life expectancy typically means less cost. Finally, costs in TBI are extremely high. My patients typically require a 24/7 attendant, which means 3.5 FTE's. The more mobile and capable of independent action a patient is, the more supervision they require. Very few cardiac or endocrine patients require anywhere near that level of staffing.

You totally missed my point about withholding medical care from those injured through their own efforts. A common, and specious, argument is along the lines of "Let me do what I want. Nobody else will be affected. If I become seriously injured, that's my own damned fault and I'm not asking anyone to pay for my care." That's just B.S.

I'm not worried about someone paying to wipe my butt. I'm worried about paying someone to wipe yours. I don't believe I mentioned paralysis or spinal cord injury at all.

I certainly wasn't trying to turn this into an argument. But as one who is incapable of interpreting basic statistics I am sure you understand my complete inability to comprehend any point you could make.

I do believe TBI is tragic and it's cost to society is great. I do find a health care provider that is more concerned with 3.5 FTE's than the cost to the patient's life and loved ones equally tragic and I hope if it ever comes to wiping ones ass you and I are not involved.

Ride safely

That's what happens when you start claiming that riding without helmets is comparable to walking down dark alleys or eating red meat.

The cost of healthcare is not a concern to you? If you someday need all those personnel, where are they going to come from? Are you expecting them to work for you for free?

I'm very concerned about the human costs of TBI. That's why I'm in favor of helmet laws. The reasons legislatures are in favor of them is considerably more finance-based.

I think I got a TBI just by reading these last few posts.

how about shooting squirrels?  I shoot every one that sets foot
in my backyard. Every. One.


I wear a seatbelt.

Lol. I wish I had squirells in my yard. I think they are cute. I like them. I wouldn't shoot them. And Jackie (my cat) would have something to play with  [evil]

I just discovered that I have a flying squirrel in my birdhouse. For some reason I'm cool with this but not cool with the non gliders [bacon]

squirrels are nothing but rats with cuter outfits.

wait until they nest in your garage and then move into your house.
or until they chew through your phone/cable/wifi wire and you have to
wait for the cable guy (yes, the cable guy) to come out a week later
to repair it. Or your cat thinks it's friendly and she/he gets bit or clawed.


need squirrels exterminated? call me. I've got it down. just me and my
880 pump Daisy with pointed pellets.   :-*   one shot to the head usually works.

Amateur,

I've got a gamo 1200fps breakbarrel air rifle. Literally blows limbs off squirrels.

I'm a freelance mercenary, I travel the world hunting squirrels.

dude, you're my hero!


it's more challenging to use the pump Daisy though.
Kinda like "I still miss my ex, but my aim is improving".

I shoot them from inside my kitchen with the sliding door open just
a crack. Don;t want to alert the neighbors!

winchester makes one called the "whisper"  I think it shoots 1500fps they are around $350 if I remember right.  this time of year I have no problem letting a well aimed quick shot from my 10-22 go from my 2nd floor.  The ground is soft enough to suck up the round and there are so many fireworks bang going it just blends in.  Otherwise I have a pump pistol that works great and is just louder that a can of pop opening.  the evil rats ate through my screen on my kitchen window and ripped appart my cubbard.  they will pay.  My dog and I declaired war on them and we're winning.  My dog thinks I'm god when I can get one to fall out of a tree for him.  But the flying one is pretty cool though [bacon]

I think we need to have a squirrel shooting party. My .22 with Colibri
ammo is pretty quiet.

yeah, my dog thinks it's pretty cool when I shoot one in a tree and
it falls from the sky too!

I'd have to agree on the flying one, it has some cool points, but
it's still a squirrel.

its on double secret probation.  one slip up and I'm shaking the house yellin' pull. [bacon]

call me when that happens, I want to see this!

Good to see I am among other hardened squirrel killing veterans.

A standard 22 rifle with subsonic ammunition is quieter than a beer can being opened and gets the job done. LOTS of bullet drop though.

IMHO 20gr Aguila Colibri in a .22 revolver FTW

Whoa! I haven't been on here for a while and you guys are talking about a subject near and dear to my heart...I hate squirrels with a passion. I too have been down the .22 extermination path. I found that they reproduce so fast that it doesn't matter how many you shoot because they just keep multiplying.
Bastards have chewed through my mower gas cap, daughter's bicycle seat, gas grill line, built a nest in my gas vent coming through the chimney to name a few. We just had our trees trimmed and that got rid of a bunch of them but there are always more. >:(

seriously, they're nothing more than tree rats.

After shooting about 3 dz this past winter, the population in my backyard
is way down. But the sneaky little fckrs have such acute hearing I really
have to use stealth mode when I open a window to poke out a barrel.

I'm always fixing cable wires cuz of them..  and this is in the city.. the burbs must be 70timmes worse..

I'm in the city and so is atomic410...actually I think the city is worse. The city tree rats are very aggressive.

This is true. I'm in the woods and they spook much more easily. You have to be a real ninja to sneak up on them.

They multiply faster than you can kill them.  Not really worth it in the city unless it is your full time job.  We have just taken steps to minimize the damage and we live with them.  Knock down the nest's and trim your trees back.  Put aluminum foil on everything they chew they don't like it.  Just whatever you do don't put poison out it will kill other wildlife.

I am in favor of extermination but just don't let your kids see bloody snow, or you will have some explaining to do.