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Okay... I know that everyone is talking about there right to chose and all... but I'm just curious... how many of you who ride without helmets wear your seatbelts?? Why???



And, how is that relevent? Seatbelts and helmet laws are about as similar as apples and dildoes. Being strapped into a big steel box (or small tin one if you favour cheap imports) is an entirely different situation.
As was mentioned earlier, the stats for deaths "caused" by not having a helmet on are often misleading. When Joe Nutso crashes at 180 MPH on his banzai special, the helmet nazis will list cause of death to be massive head injuries and never mention that he bled to death through having been ripped in half or that his rib cage was completely flattened by a passing truck.
anicdotal "data" is also useless. The nooby that fell off his bike whilst parking and the scratches on his lid "proves" that it saved his life is not evidence. It is quite likely that, without the added weight of the helmet, his head would never have touched the ground.
For each of these, there is an equally unlikely situation where a helmet proved to cause more harm than good. For example, some years ago, a rider with a fullface helmet decided to bend down anf pick up a newspaper without getting off his bike. He'd done it dozens of times, but this time, he lost his balance. He fell over, the bike fell on him, and he was still bent in a way that he couldn't get out from under it. Also, the end of the hendlebar went inside his lid and pulled the chinstrap so tight that it strangled him. Had he been lidless, he would probably have survived with little more than scrapes and bruises and a sore back, but this is more a case for thinking about what you are doing than for never wearing a helmet.

Let's hope there's intelligent life somewhere in space 'cause it's buggar all down here. -- Monte Python