Biker dies helmet-less during helmet law protest ride

[Ddan]

On a different note, is that the beautiful Ms. Bacall in your avatar?

It is  

[fastwin]

Nice taste!

[dropstharockalot]

This hit the news feeds around here shortly after I got back from my Sunday AM ride.

I probably scraped about forty dead insects off the faceshield when I got home and parked, any of which could have been intended for my eyes at 80+ mph without my little layer of clear Lexan.  I also found two nice new divots from road debris... one about an inch long and maybe 1/8 of an inch deep.  Those are just the ones that hit hard enough to stick or leave a mark, so I have no idea how many bugs bounced off to perish elsewhere or about any of the other crap my bucket made contact with.

Never mind the issue of life preservation in a crash - how the hell do helmetless guys enjoy the ride with all that shit pelting them in the face?

[ducatiz]

This hit the news feeds around here shortly after I got back from my Sunday AM ride.

I probably scraped about forty dead insects off the faceshield when I got home and parked, any of which could have been intended for my eyes at 80+ mph without my little layer of clear Lexan.  I also found two nice new divots from road debris... one about an inch long and maybe 1/8 of an inch deep.  Those are just the ones that hit hard enough to stick or leave a mark, so I have no idea how many bugs bounced off to perish elsewhere or about any of the other crap my bucket made contact with.

Never mind the issue of life preservation in a crash - how the hell do helmetless guys enjoy the ride with all that shit pelting them in the face?

I think it's a certain segment of the population of riders that ride low and slow.  Anyone who is going highway speeds needs something.  The RayBans and a $45 bandanna from the Harley store isn't going to cut it.

[fastwin]

Man, I wonder that every time I see someone riding on the highway with no helmet and NO SUNGLASSES!! OK, forget the helmet/safety issue. What about the 2 pound grasshopper the size of a sparrow that hits you in the eye at 60+mph?? I have had bugs so big hit me so hard in the faceshield that I have had to pull over and clean it just so I could keep riding and see where I was going. How the hell could you handle that impact on the check, forehead, mouth or eye??? No shit, that could put your eye out! Want to trade your vision for looking cool or the freedom of going helmet-less? How about just wearing sunglasses or clear shooting glasses? I just don't get it.

[Goat_Herder]

 

Motorcyclist in Helmet Protest Hits Head, Dies

[Triple J]

You need an endorsement to legally ride, you need insurance and you need to register your bike. Unless all of those are bunk as well, a helmet is perfectly consistent with those other three mandates.

Some are bunk...in WA you don't need insurance (but we are a helmet state).

[duccarlos]

Florida does not require insurance or helmets. It does require that you use eye protection.

[triangleforge]

I think it's a certain segment of the population of riders that ride low and slow.  Anyone who is going highway speeds needs something.  The RayBans and a $45 bandanna from the Harley store isn't going to cut it.

Not necessarily; Arizona is a no-helmet-required state and I routinely see folks out bareheaded at 80mph.  It can't be comfortable, but they choose it anyway. One of the weirdest things I've ever seen was while driving back through the desert from California to Arizona on a holiday weekend, accompanied by 60mph+ winds that were kicking up one of the nastiest sand storms I've ever been in.  I got out of the car on the AZ side pretty certain that there would be no paint left on the upwind side of the vehicle; all around me were big twin cruiser folks who'd pulled over to remove their helmets after crossing the state line & heading back out into the gale. Fashion, freedom, peer pressure -- whatever it was, these folks were deliberately removing a piece of gear that would have made the nasty conditions at least a bit more bearable, not to mention a bit less life threatening when the blowing sand cut highway visibility to zero.

Personally, I wouldn't ride without a helmet & wouldn't want anyone I care about to go without. But I can't say I give a lot of thought beyond that to whether or not the state requires everyone else to do what I do by choice.

[arai_speed]

Very sad irony.

Indeed, this reminds of this story:

http://articles.latimes.com/1999/oct/23/news/mn-25364

[triangleforge]

Indeed, this reminds of this story:

http://articles.latimes.com/1999/oct/23/news/mn-25364

I thought of that incident as well. A very sad loss of life, and pretty much a PR nightmare scenario.

[speedknot]

My wife says I'm always thinking with my dick.  Maybe I should be wearing a jock strap instead.

[MAXdB]

most riders that I've met who argue against helmet laws aren't arguing that it is safer but rather that the choice should be just that.. a choice. it should be one's own choice to ride with or without a helmet.. just like it is our choice to be riding a motorcycle despite the higher risk of injury or death compared to driving a car..

[Vindingo]

most riders that I've met who argue against helmet laws aren't arguing that it is safer but rather that the choice should be just that.. a choice. it should be one's own choice to ride with or without a helmet.. just like it is our choice to be riding a motorcycle despite the higher risk of injury or death compared to driving a car..

Wearing a seatbelt in a car isn't a choice (with NH being the exception), why should wearing a helmet on a motorcycle be a choice?

   

[Ddan]

I guess it depends on your comfort level with authority dictating what you can and can't do.