Bonneville America Forums Forums Rider Safety Forums Helmets and Gear Helmets,read & reply

Philswill,

(my hand sheepishly raised)
Then man, I apologize. I guess in my hurry to knock you about another subject, I didn't read what you were really TRYING to say.(cryptic though it was)

Dwight
(leapin' lizards!!!....er....Okay!....Say hello to Daddy Warbucks for me, alright?!)

(for you kids out there, you see there was this comic strip.......)

Excuse me Phil, exactly what the fu*k are you trying to say ? If you think I am brainless just say so and let it be.

Enough of this already. Helmets are a matter of rider choice and state laws. Come on Phil, tell how you really feel !

I always wear my helmet (flip up full face) and I always wear my seat belt. Bugs, rocks, wind and jerks on the road are the reasons for the helmet and jerks on the road and better control of my car are the reasons for the seat belt. Ten years ago I was a state legislator here in Iowa when the helmet law came up for a vote. Being of libertartian bent I voted against it. My opinion is that although wearing a helmet is a good and smart thing to do, giving the government the authority to control our lives any more than it already does is not.

Bud, don't wear a helmet every chance you get, and what does fu*k mean?

BUT, your saved life was offset by a friend of mine who was decapitated when her helmet caught as she slid under a guardrail. Had she not worn her lid, she would probably still be alive today. There have been thousands of lives saved by helmets. There have been a few hundred more than that taken by helmets.

Now, the same doesn't apply to cagers. A properly belted occupant in a car can easily sustain serious head injuries that would be reduced by a helmet. At the same time, most of the conditions tht can make helmet use more dangerous than safe don't exist in a cage, so it is an all-win situation. Yet, not only are there no laws requiring helmets in cars, there are some that prohibit it.
I still say that, whatever is the real motivation for helmet laws, it is nothing to do with safety or they would be required in/on all vehicles.

Really GB? Let's see Hmmm..seat belts....air bags...big metal box..ridin in the wind, no mass in comparison, lotsa asphalt RIGHTTHERE...People who don't wear helmets please start young, it's good for the gene pool.

In hot weather ill wear a shorty. for the very first time ever i road for a bout 2 hours w/out a shirt on cause it was so hot (and i wanted to even my tan ). I have gone down twice w. once a shorty and once a full face. I will not ride w/ out one. I have heard both sides of the arguement, personally ill take a mild concussion over a split skull. if I crack my helmet and my noggin, then i deserve what i got cause 50% chance I was screwing off.

I allway's wear my helmet because it's the law here. But more importantly I cut through the wind better. You see I have really big ears and with out a helmet I'v found that I tend to get airborne and lift off the seat a bit. And I hate picking all them critters out of my beard. But mostly It's the wind resistance thing.

Oh and I forgot. The wind noise as someone alluded to earlier. Having suffered some hearing loss from years of listening to music to loud, I find that the wind noise tends of give me a headache and seems to bother my friends when I keep asking huh, whatya say. I'v tried ear plugs but then I feel like im in a cage. Better to keep the gigantic ears saftly out of site and out of the wind.

well,,,

this is a good topic.So let me give you my views..I am a paramedic,I got to many motorcycle/car mc/tree mc/anything calls a year.I have seen people killed with them and with out them.I feel they do more harm then good.

Ok lets say you come off the bike land on your head and have a frecture of your neck.Well soon as your rolled over by Mr helpfull bystander,your neck is way out of line and that sharp bone end just severd your spinal cord(have seen it)..Why beacuse the back of the helmet forces your head to sit up much higher in the supine postion.That or it forces the chin to go down blocking off the airway in a patient that has been knocked out..First thing I do on any mc call is remove the helmet.
Lets face it,if your in a hich speed accident(60 or better) your chances of making it out alive are 5% at best.At that speed your body turns into a rag doll on impact..
Around town is where i see many of the mc accidents.Most being cuased by the ridder not paying attn. Do I wear one? Yes and no,I have a total of 5 bikes,2 being sport bikes.I usualy wear one when i ride one of them.Why? Beacuse I know I run more of a risk of pushing it to the limit on one of them thenI ever will on my crusiers.Hows a helmet gonna help that? It might it might not.Buts thats a gamble "I" am wiling to take..Ad for ridding on the freeway,man of you ever see me on the freeway,pul me over and give me directions,cause i am lost.The idiots here cant drive at 45,I aint gonna get in with them at 75..

All in all it is a choice thing,here in SC,you have to wear one no if ands or butts untill your 21.After 21 its by choice.But you cant get out of the state with out one on your head.But then again we dont require turn signals on bikes either.

Last nasty MC accident i went to was a young kid maybe 21 or 22,no helmet never ridden befor in his life,tryign to learn on his buddies GSXR750 sport bike..Everyone said he would have been alive today had he had one on..Well all thye saw was his head split open,they never saw the corners report where C1 through C4 were nothing but shatterd pieces of bone in his neck.

sorry for the spelling,its 2:30 am and i just walked in the door form work..

It's called living and learning. Those that do, survive. Those who don't, don't.
Safety laws are all reactionary. Some make sense, others just make money....

Ride without a helmet everytime you get a chance GB

I have been for over 50 years now, and I have survived quite well. It is with great sorrow that I can't say the same for many of my helmeted friends. But, if the law would allow it, I would always wear one in a cage where it would do some good.

Guys:

IS THIS A GREAT FORUM OR WHAT??

Now that this helmet debate has been decided - how about leathers, kevlar jeans, boots, gloves, etc.?

Bud, this post might be around until Labor Day!!!

Palmer

Since I don't have much hair, I always have something on my head to protect it from the sun or the cold. I find my half shell works great for this protection. I didn't wear a helmet for 20 years, except for dirt bike riding, until my son was old enugh to ride on the street. I told him then that he had to take a course and get the right equipment including a helmet. He asked why he needed a helmet since my wife and I never wore them when riding on the street. Well, I then bought a full face helmet, which I hated - to confining. I have worn the half shell style now for about 10 years. It doesn't fly off like my hats used too! I probably wear my helmet 75% of the time.

The reason I don't agree with the helmet laws is that the feds are making sure they protect us from ourselves. Then they blackmail the states into passing these laws by cutting off federal funds if the states don't go along with their ideas. It should be a state issue.

Then there is the argument that the taxpayer is footing the hospital bill for helmetless riders. Hey, no kidding? The taxpayer pays for everything. I bet the money spent on helmetless riders is a drop in the bucket compared to auto accidents, bathroom accidents and horseback riding.

One thing about Colorado: they always seem to buck the feds on this blackmailing. We lost a lot of highway funds last time the feds forced a helmet law on us. I can't remember Colorado ever having a helmet law.

Message to government - get your priorities in order, take care of business, do something good for America and leave us alone.

Bob

No helmet law in MN, but I wear one 100% of the time anyway. I like it, and feel better with it on there. It also protects my shaved head from the sun. It's just a halfie, but I see it as better than nothing. I wear my jacket about 95% of the time and jeans, boots, gloves, and Panoptx shades 100% of the time. I have a full helmet, but haven't worn it once since I got the half.

I don't have a wind screen, but I don't really mind bugs and wind.

To each their own.

Bobbie,

I wear my lid 95% of the time. Do we need laws to tell us to wear a helmet? NO. Each of us can figure it out for ourselves. Helmets are only part of the choice we make every time we throw a leg over our motorsickle.

I hear all the pros and cons of lids, yet when I talk about it, it is my head after all and my call. In States that force the issue, well, it is simple. But in Florida ya have to think about the consequences. Like sunburn, bugs, rain, rocks, face asphalt rash. Well the same goes for the bod. If I never thought I was going to high or low side, I would wear shorts, t shirt and loads of sunscreen, oh yeah, and no helmet. BUT I do wear protective gear. Even for short rides. Jackets too. My wife thinks that way of thinking is seriously morbid. But hey, we are on two wheels and as Biker said we are on an open air vehicle and sheet does happen.

I love to ride without a lid, but I like to ride with protection too. What good is it to wear a helmet when wearing shorts and tennis shoes? On the other hand, what good is it to ride without a lid and wear boots, pants and at least a long sleeve shirt and gloves? If we are concerned about road rash, lets cover the whole bod not just our appendages. That goes for the face as well.

This topic you have brought up is not one to really have an answer to. We might as well try to argue the chicken/egg paradigm. Let’s not judge our brothers and sisters based upon their decisions regarding helmet use. In fact we should commend them for having the nads to make a decision that others disagree with.

So you want to ride with me? Wear what you like, all I care about my friend is that you know HOW to ride and that you get off on the wind as much as I do.

"people ride sans brain-bucket because of some ego/vanity/I'm a "real man"/"the hell with my loved ones"/misplaced ideas about "freedom"/"it doesn't look cool"

Ya know Dwight, funny you should say that. I ride with my helmet 100% of the time (OK, fine, 99.3% of the time), and never give it much thought, until I go to Bike Night, then I get all self-conscious about it, because the only other ones there wearing helmets are the kids on sport bikes. It's a funny thing, because, if I were riding a SpeedTriple or even a standard T100 or Thruxton, I would feel perfectly at home ANYWHERE I went wearing that helmet. But because I'm on a "Cruiser" suddenly, it's not "cool" to wear a helmet. I still wear it, but I feel so self conscious. There are a couple folks at Bike Night riding HD's that wear half-helmets, and i've even considered getting one just for bike night, but realize that a) it's ****** silly, b)i'd then have to get goggles so I could still see above 45mph when my eyes got all watery and full of grit/dust, so what the hell is the point. I hate a windshield on my bike, it (to me) destroys the lines of the bike. I like the long, low-slung look of the bike and like to maximize that effect when I put stuff on the bike. But I don't like bugs/rocks/sand/crap from cars, so I wear a flip-up full face helmet, which I love. It's comfy, keeps the garbage out of my eyes, and cuts down some on the noise.

To all of those who drag up the arguments about how unsafe helmets are, that they restrict vision, or cause further injuries, hogwash. IF that were the case, then why does EVERY motorsport, car, motorcycle, airplane, etc... require helmets. Are not the Isle of Man TT riders not the manliest of men, yet they wear them. GP riders, seem pretty manly to me, and they ride WAY above the 17.5mph thrown out elsewhere in this post, why not just wear good goggles to protect the eyes, after all, the helmet is just so much added weight and it isn't safe, right? I don't think the Federal Government mandates that GP riders wear helmets, and pretty sure medical insurance won't touch them, so really no reason to wear the foolish things. In the auto industry, when we have a failure part at the customer, we have to do a "Five Why's" analysis. In other words, a series of simple questions and simple answers to get to the bottom of a problem. For each answer given, you ask "Why" (like a 3 year old!!) until you have the actual root cause. I think if most people took off all blinders, personal biases, political motivations, and really honestly did this with accidents where people were killed while wearing a helmet (where the helmet "was to blame") the end result would be that there was some factor that was not obvious to the casual bystander or is missed when someone hears about the accident second-hand. "The guy died when they removed his helmet, so the helmet is to blame" would actually be "the guy died when they removed his helmet because his vertebrae (below the helmet) was fractured, and the person removed it without being cautious or knowing how to do it properly, and cause the fracture to sever the spine" As to the helmet getting soft while sliding down the street and building up friction, I'm thinking even warm and soft, the helmet has MUCH less friction than my scalp and scull!!! Not to mention, that is assuming that the person is sliding down the street with the same contact patch being pushed down on the pavement the whole way. I think in 99% of sliding accidents, you'll see that the persons head is going to be moving around due to the various forces, bouncing up and down due to the irregularties in the street surface (anyone here live in a town with glass-flat perfect streets?!), not to mention the body is also going to roll and tumble most likely, so that single contact point will never exist in reality. No thanks, but I'll drag my head down a street in a helmet ANY day over dragging it bare!!!!

Just in case anybody cares ... heres my 2 cents.

Helmets are a great idea.
Seatbelts are a great idea.
Laws that force adults to wear them are not.

Make laws to protect children, let adults look after themselves.

They tell me I live in a free country ... you would think I could do as I please as long as I wasn't bothering anyone.
Unfortunately this is not the case.
Once they've taken away your rights to take a few risks here and there, what have you got left?
Would you call it freedom?
I wouldn't.

Scrap the helmet laws.
Scrap the seatbelt laws.
I'll still wear them because I think they're a good idea.
But give the people who don't like them the freedom to make thier own decisions.

Slug.

I wear helmets 95% of the time but just hate having the government tell me I have to wear one. Glad they don't in Ohio.

I think it's unique to wear one so that is why I don't feel self-concious around other riders who don't. Kinda like when I was a teenager and decided not to continue smoking cause all my buddies did and I wanted to be different.

A few other reasons; (1) grew up motocrossing so got used to it, (2) saved my head 4 years ago when my hand got caught in my front bicycle spoke (19mph) and pile drove my head into the ground. Bike helmet was cracked 2 directions, head saw stars by I survived, (3) 3 days ago my friend got hit on his bicycle at 10mph by an auto and his head broke the windshield. Unconcious for 5+ minutes but he survived and was at work today. Figure if it works on my roadbike it certainly has value on my TBA.

I wear mine, whenever I take the bike on the road. Even if it's near 100 degrees and my hair is soaking wet when I arrive. But I think every rider should have the right to choose.

Hi,
I don't usually jump in, but, In 1986 I was running down a straightaway on the Nassau/Queens border, Langdale Ave. for anyone familiar. At the time there were no stop signs or lights for about a one mile run. I was going much to fast(my part)..She backs out of a blind driveway..(her part). I tried to lean and scoot around her but when she looked and saw me her instinct was to stop..no blame on her. The police officer ( that I did not realize was chasing me) said I hit her car..<front quarter panel> doing 72 miles per hour. I was launched 40 feet through the air, broke a knee cap, some fingers, twisted my back slightly out of alignment permanently. And in my helmet
{DOT approved} was a 4 inch gash, 1/2 inch deep.
SAVED MY HEAD,LIFE,******,ARSE,,,whatever you want to call it.
I did not own a bike for a long time after that, still rode friends bikes ocassionally, mainly because my girlfriend at the time became my wife. But when I saw the TBA a few years ago I said I gotta have it, that and the fact that hopefully I'm a little wiser, sober, and not as wild. These days the wife and I go out for rides, I get in as much time as I can on her, [the bike I mean]...So I always wear a helmet. I've shared my tale of woe, that being said I still RESPECT EVERYONES RIGHT TO CHOOSE Choose Wisely !

Wear one all the time. Wear a seat belt too (nope not on the bike ). Anything to help slow me down beside my skin.

Sorry ditch, but the conclusion you make is not statistically backed up and It's not any more accurate than someone saying "If he hadn't been wearing a seat belt, he would have lived".

In my own experience in the field I can't make any claims one way or the other (and I believe everyone should wear lids) because there are too many variables for each accident. It's all about physics and chance. Chance you can't do anything about physics, you can sometimes soften it's affect or control the energies acted upon you to some degree lessening the direct assault to your body (don't forget about kinematics).

Hyper flexion of the cervical spine, occurs whether there is a helmet helping or not, the helmet doesn't cause it, a sudden unsupported rapid deceleration does or maybe direct axial loading in conjunction impact but those same forces would likely take that cervical spine out in either case.

Biker, you too are correct, but as ditch may also agree the best person to take a helmet off may not necessarily be in the hospital, often the rely on the grunts from the field. Anyone worth his salt knows how to handle a helmet, and that is often delayed to the hospital unless there is an airway issue just to be on the safe side unless the helmet itself compromises stabilization.

But here is one element I don't think any one has tagged about the "issue" related to choice. If wearing a helmet reduces the risk of head injury (assumption here that physics plays into it, something absorbs initial energies acted upon your skull) And head injuries are one of the most costly injuries in terms of initial health care and for many, long term convalesent care. Someone's "choice" then affects us all. Should not then it be an issue for the whole as well as the individual since it does affect us all?

ed

I always have and always will wear my helmet. The laws mean nothing to me since I wear them regardless.
But, I do believe one should have the choice to wear or not to wear one.

I have to wear mine here on the left coast. I didn't wear a helmet for years and lived to tell the tale. It's all about choice and freedom. I just resent having the damned lawmakers tell me what I can and can't do everytime I turn around. Don't protect me from myself. I might actually wear a bucket without being told I have to. In cold weather it can be a plus. At other times I'd give my eye teeth to ditch the lid.

I always ride with one. A helmet saved me from death, or at least a vegetative state, waaaaay back when I was in college. Some guy clipped me, totalling my '74 Bonneville. I flipped and flopped on the asphalt, with the back of my head squarely impacting the street. Helmet kept me alive and awake. I was awake enough to realize I hurt all over! This all happened in the middle of summer, in Auburn, Alabama. For our friends not familiar with southern U.S. geography, that's about 1.5 hours from the Alabama-Florida border (way south, way hot and way humid!). I'm glad I'm still here!

Used to wear a helmet 99% of the time. On one of those 1% rides, it was a cool evening ride around a small lake. I was going a little to fast. I'd been around that curve many times 40 or 45 mph, but somebody in nearby gravel parking had lot had spun the wheels on their car throwing gravel on the curve. I hit it while doing 45 to 50 mph when I hit gravel and laid down the bike. I would have just skinned the bike and me but the front wheel hit one of those wooden ballard post (ballards to keep cars off grass and in gravel parking lot). The front wheel hit the ballard, my forehead hit handle bar and the mirror ripped into forehear requiring 270 stitches. No permanent damage to my head, just an ugly scar. Now I wear my full face helmet 101% of the time. PS My crotch and legs totaled the gas tank. I was black and blue for weeks in places that shouldn't be black or blue.