helmet laws

[coxew]

I voted no even though I've never, nor do I ever plan to ride my bike without a helmet. If helmets are required, government is then going to need to start regulating what types of helmets are required. I personally have two different helmets, one 3/4 shell with an open fact that I wear when I'm just cruising around on a nice day. In a similar accident as Ben, I probably would have the same results even though I was wearing a helmet. I have another helmet with a full shell, chin guard and shield that I wear on the highway.

 

[Zurp]

for 'em or against 'em?

Personally, I find it incredibly hypocritical of our government to say I have to wear my seatbelt while riding in the front seat of my car, but that I do not have to wear a helmet when on a motorcycle. If seatbelts are required (and they should be), helmets should also be required.

I agree that requiring helmets and seatbelts should go hand-in-hand. For a long time I thought that both laws were bad. If I choose to not wear a seatbelt, I should be allowed to have an increased chance to die in an accident (if we believe the stats we're force-fed). Same thing with the motorcycle helmet deal.

However, if I don't wear my seatbelt, and I take an adventure through the windshield, and I make a bloody mess out of a 40-foot section of the highway, who cleans that mess up? Not me, of course. It's going to be some guy I don't know. And who's paying that guy to do that? I don't know. Maybe my tax dollars. If my wearing a seatbelt will save that guy from having to clean up my goopy mess, then we should all have to wear a seatbelt.

 

[AJHawkfan]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/06/18/helmet.law.ap/index.html

Report faults repeal of motorcycle helmet law
Study: 'Unhelmeted' deaths have soared in Florida

Monday, June 19, 2006; Posted: 4:46 a.m. EDT (08:46 GMT)

MELBOURNE, Florida (AP) -- Motorcycle fatalities involving riders without helmets have soared in the nearly six years since Gov. Jeb Bush repealed the state's mandatory helmet law, a newspaper reported Sunday.

A Florida Today analysis of federal motorcycle crash statistics found "unhelmeted" deaths in Florida rose from 22 in 1998 and 1999, the years before the helmet law repeal, to 250 in 2004, the most recent year of available data.

Total motorcycle deaths in the state have increased 67 percent, from 259 in 2000 to 432 in 2004, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statistics.

Records, though, also show motorcycle registrations have increased 87 percent in Florida since Bush signed the helmet law repeal July 1, 2000.

The debate over motorcycle helmet safety resurfaced last week when Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, an advocate of helmet-free riding, broke his jaw, nose and several teeth in an accident. He underwent seven hours of surgery.

Physicians and insurance companies say helmets are crucial safety gear.

But Merritt Island motorcyclist and helmet law opponent Dave Carroll said the helmet law debate is misguided.

"What causes most of the crashes is cars," he said. "Usually, it's the car driver turning left at an intersection and causing an accident because they didn't see us coming."

 

[FKAGobucks877]

Ok, I will say that Dave Carroll is correct. I'd venture to say that cars are at-fault in well over 50% of car vs. motorcycle crashes (I'd actually guess at closer to 75% - 80%). But, what does that have to do with wearing a helmet? I mean, isn't that actually more of a reason to wear one?