Natural Selection

Classic.

NY motorcyclist dies on ride protesting helmet law | General Headlines | Comcast.net







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I remember in the mid 70's Wisconsin had a helmet law. We rode RD's and always wore helmets being it was the lawful thing to do, but being college students we resented the government telling us that we had to do something.

There were massive protests. We went to one in Madison at a large park on the edge of town. Everyone removed our helmets and we rode in mass on closed roads into the capitol square. I believe that the ride was only 10-15 minutes long but it is clear in my memory today. It was a neat introduction to pushing the government to do the right thing.

Years later I still choose to ride with a helmet on. But it my decision not the decision of government trying to protect me. Well unless we are at home in Missouri. Missouri does have it right about our own protection and follows the US Constitution about the right to protect ones self. I always carry handgun or two. For some reason they let the helmet law infringe on our rights.

Bad deal that someone got killed riding a motorcycle. Nothing to laugh about.

 

Aside from the fact that someone is telling you to do it? That's a great answer, if you're like 2 years old.

I say don't wear one, feel that freedom, and demonstrate your personal right by wiping your grey matter all over the asphalt. Just one more person that won't be coming across the double yellow into my lane.






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It was a shame that rider was killed don't you agree. It was perhaps due to his choice but I am not my brothers keeper.

I personally believe that I have been saved some type of head or face injury more than once when my motorcycle helmet was gouged up. I have also been down hard without touching my helmet.

There are many types of accidents that not wearing a helmet and crushing the head would not make any difference in the outcome. Just make you a better looking corpse in the casket.

In the 60s there was a law that required the Wisconsin state highway patrol officers to wear helmets in their car. I can remember seeing the bobble heads in the patrol cars. Not sure if you drive a truck or car but if you do, you should consider wearing your helmet and require your passengers to have one? It might double your chance at survival in a severe accident. By all means do what you think you should do. Wear one 0-100% of the time.

I believe if we let the rule makers tell us what we should wear, pretty soon they will be telling us how powerful of a motorcycle we can ride and eventually just outlaw the riding of motorcycles as they are "too dangerous" for the public to have.

 

The age old 'Gov'mint ain't gonna tell me what to do" speech is getting old with the helmet laws or abscebce of nowadays. Camo, the goverment tells you to do or not do shit everyday (ie.e speed limits, seat belts, stop signs, when or when you cannot carry a firearm) and when we roll true constititonal rights into these percieved constitutial rights all it does is blaspheme the constitution of this great country. I have started to ask the non helmet wearing shitheads in DE if they also have had the airbags, seatbelts and crumple zones removed from their 4 wheeled vehicles sinc ethe government has forced that upon them? Blank stares is the response...The whole helmet debate and loud pipes save lives crowd are huriting our beloved hobby more than any fucking liter bike and the top speed it produces.

BZ

 

What's the story of how the guy went over the bars? I didn't know Harley brakes were that powerful. I didn't read that he hit something.

 

You guys are a hard group. No sympathy for a dead motorcyclist. I am reading between the lines and "it's all about me and F everyone else"

 

Ok, I read another article that said he got a bootlace caught in a chain*, looked down to check it out, looked back up to see traffic slowed down in front of him. He jammed on the brakes and fishtailed, which means he probably didn't use, or didn't have, his front brake.

*what chain would that have been?

 

you miss the point to a degree. some of us agree that its his own doing causing his fate, an easily avoided end, but he made the choice that day as probably every, not to wear a helmet.

frankly, it SHOULD be common sense, I know mine has saved me at the minimum from more than one broken jaw or facial abraision on asphalt, more than one friend from an early ending. etc. ultimately, as much as you or I dislike that not everyone realizes this, its not yours or mine to make that choice.

I DO agree this debate andthe loud pipes morons are what really hurt our beloved hobby, but literbikes in the hands of young people with no experience are JUST as harmful to all of us. I'm all for tiered licensing as a whole, simply because it would infact vastly improve rider skill. argue against it all you want, its proven. small displacement allows skills to develop far quicker, and better than big bikes where a rider is intimidated by the bike, thus not willing to lean as far, or twist the throttle a little in a corner.

 

No your quote belongs to the attitiude carried by the group the biker was rding with when he died. Nowhere in my post did I state I was glas the rider was dead, got what he deserved, etc. I do not wish such tragedy on anybody. However, Norcal posted this thread as it totally points to the idiocy of not wearing a helmet. The fact the guy wasn't wearing one during a ralley and went down at lower speeds as indicated by the article just turns this into a tragedy that is comical in a dark sort of way. Its a comedy of errors so to speak. In addition, his buddies were still promoting not wearing a helmet AFTER the death of a friend????

Where is the logic?

BZ

 

One of my favorite quotes from Thomas Jefferson;

"The government that governs least governs best, because the people discipline themselves."

If more people disciplined themselves, there wouldn't be... nearly as many problems as there are now, period, helmet laws included.

Regardless, we are fortunate enough to have a public forum in which we can exchange conflicting opinions. We are also free to choose the style in which we express ourselves.

Happy Independence Day to all! :smile:

 

Sympathy is undeserved in most situations. Reading between the lines is imagining something that doesn't really exist...






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Klassic...Deth sux wut kan u doo? Not ride? Nope, not here. Funny thing is when you walk around the salvage yard, all the HD wrecks you see are front end shots, where the forks are pushed all the way up to the frame rails. Front brakes on those bikes dont work well and u gota use the rear ones too.

Did the dude that went ova dah bars have decent mc skills? Who knows, I aint the defender of our faith or anyone elses! I know that some mother, father, children, cousins dont have their loved one anymore. How he died is kind of irrevelant, unless he was robbing the local convenient store of course.

My wife has a joke about helmet laws here in sunny south FL. She says, "its an intelligence test."

Side note: saw a couple yesterday out on their HD touring bike. They both looked cool as chit, and they both were wearing brain buckets. So it is possible to still look glamorous on your HOG and wear a skid lid. I gota get off the soap box now, I gotsta cramp in my shin :smile:

 

I remember watching Jerry Sienfeld many years ago, he said something along the lines of - "Why pass a law to protect a brain that is too stupid to protect itself".

 

Lots of points being missed. Plenty of anti-gov sentiment. I think the situation and irony is where the humor is not to mention comments like natural selection and Intelligence test. We are also known to the the general public as organ doners.

I think when we lose so many fellow bikers each day, month and year that were doing nothing other than riding their vehicle (Two were lost this week. One from this board one by my office who was hit by a driver not paying attention.) Then you get some clod up in new york putting himself in danger and finding out the hard way how dangerouse it is and...Oh and how necessary a helmet is BTW, it is hard feel sympithetic to his cause. Sympathy for his family, friends and loved ones and yes even his stupid ass isn't lost on the croud here.

 

I was at a large moto gathering yesterday. I saw a man and a woman carefully put those little half-helmet brain buckets on their little boy and little girl, put the kiddies on the back of their HDs with them, and happily ride away. The kiddies were wearing sneakers, shorts, and t-shirts. But at least they were obeying the helmet law (the little helmets had DOT on the back)!

I couldn't get the picture out of my mind of what a horrible mess and terrible tragedy it would be if they all went down in a wreck on the highway.

Mandating helmets isn't the answer, because you just cannot regulate stupidity.

 

Have you ever noticed in the US, it's the people that need the laws to protect them from themselves that think the government is bad and out to get them!

It's hard to govern stupid people that think they don't need governing! :crazy:

I say to mountain bikers I see on the trail with no helmet on. "Wow, you must be awesome to know you're not going to crash!" Other motorcyclists I say nothing, they're not even worth it!


Good luck out there, be safe!

 

You can't save 'em all....just try not to live next door when they go off..-----Dennis Miller

 

I can't speak for the rest of the VFRworld group but I have no sympathy for this guy. He didn't want to wear a helmet and he paid the price for not wearing one. It's not the government's place to protect individuals from their own stupidity.

I do feel sorry for this guy's family and friends. They lost a loved one because he didn't respect them enough to wear proper riding gear. I've been down twice and it was only because of the Shift suit, gloves, boots, and helmet that I walked away without a scratch both times. I wear the gear not only for myself but also for my family and friends because I know that (for some reason) they want me around for years to come. Ride often but ride safe!
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