A No Brainer. Biking without a helmet. | GTAMotorcycle.com

A No Brainer. Biking without a helmet.

I've never understood why even if legal anyone would climb on any bike not wearing a lid.

Sent from my SM-N900W8 using Tapatalk
 
I have tried riding without a helmet across the border, I wouldn't do it again. Even with goggles (which made me look stupid) the bugs SUCKED.
 
Roomie said:
I've never understood why even if legal anyone would climb on any bike not wearing a lid.

Sent from my SM-N900W8 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Freedom dude

/sarcasm

Sent from my tablet using my paws
 
I have to admit, I laughed at the argument against helmets stating that "more deaths occur because people ride more miles to feel wind in their hair".
 
If we charged the helmetless people for the hospital bills that they rack up if they're in an accident....I say let em go without a helmet (same for people who don't wear seatbelts). Let em have their freedom, but also let them understand that we as a whole pay for their error/accident/idiocy.

Maybe they'll think twice about the financial ruin they can put their families in in order to get their 'wind in the hair' feel. Personally I've never done it. Sometimes I'll ride with my visor up in the city and taking a rock/bug to the face hurts like a ***** anyway. My buddies with their beanie helmets have sometimes come in with small cuts / gashes on their face because the debris on the highway.
 
mimico_polak said:
If we charged the helmetless people for the hospital bills that they rack up if they're in an accident....I say let em go without a helmet (same for people who don't wear seatbelts). Let em have their freedom, but also let them understand that we as a whole pay for their error/accident/idiocy.

Maybe they'll think twice about the financial ruin they can put their families in in order to get their 'wind in the hair' feel. Personally I've never done it. Sometimes I'll ride with my visor up in the city and taking a rock/bug to the face hurts like a ***** anyway. My buddies with their beanie helmets have sometimes come in with small cuts / gashes on their face because the debris on the highway.
Click to expand...

Totally agree with you, want your freedom take the responsibility for it when things go bad.

Going without a full face mask is just nuts. Stones from trucks crack windshields. How would the human skull handle it?
 
mimico_polak said:
If we charged the helmetless people for the hospital bills that they rack up if they're in an accident....I say let em go without a helmet (same for people who don't wear seatbelts). Let em have their freedom, but also let them understand that we as a whole pay for their error/accident/idiocy.

Maybe they'll think twice about the financial ruin they can put their families in in order to get their 'wind in the hair' feel. Personally I've never done it. Sometimes I'll ride with my visor up in the city and taking a rock/bug to the face hurts like a ***** anyway. My buddies with their beanie helmets have sometimes come in with small cuts / gashes on their face because the debris on the highway.
Click to expand...

Donorcyclists.
 
My youngest brother suffered an AVM and a massive stroke and brain injury at the age of 26. It was almost 8 yrs ago now. Luckily, he was found in time, and in a mere few hrs, underwent over a million dollars worth of brain surgery at Vancouver's finest hospital. He had a long hospital stay, then rehab every day for yrs, now he is down to rehab a couple times a week.
He isn't the same person as he used to be. Different personality, temperment, likes, dislikes, even his taste in food is different now. It took him yrs to be able to form a short term memory, even though his childhood memories never left him.
He still needs to sleep almost 2/3 of the day.......15 hrs a day. He cannot be in a crowded or noisy place, or walk along sidewalks on busy streets. Buses, traffoc, people talking, horns honking, trains, etc..... It overloads his senses. His brain lacks the filter we all have, to focus on one person talking, and fade out all the other background noise. It's like putting a tape recorder in a crowded mall, and then hitting playback, and trying to listen to just one person's speech in a sea of noises.

And his is a GOOD case. Many of the people he goes to rehab with are much worse off-some are human paperwights. Many from something as simple as a fall from a skateboard without a helmet, or a slip and fall in the shower.
My folks are retired and live half the yr in a trailer park in Florida, where everyone rides those old-people trikes around with a basket on it for groceries. My dad posted facebook pics of them pedalling around on theirs. My brother lost it, asking them where there helmets were. MY dad's reply was that he didn't need to wear one since the trailer park has a 25 mph speed limit for cars. And my brother retorted " Ahh I see...because you can't fall and get a brain injury at 25 mph can you?"
The people he sees every week drooling and ******** themselves in G.H.Strong Hospital's rehab unit have drastically changed the way he sees safety and prevention....and I am sure to promote it to anyone who will listen. My kids all take it very seriously too. A $25 device can save your life, and it doesn't diminish your enjoyment of the activities you are participating in, so why not wear the helmet?
 
Last edited:
omnivore said:
My youngest brother suffered an AVM and a massive stroke at the age of 26. It was almost 8 yrs ago now. Luckily, he was found in time, and in a mere few hrs, underwent over a million dollars worth of brain surgery at Vancouver's finest hospital. He had a long hospital stay, then rehab every day for yrs, now he is down to rehab a couple times a week.
He isn't the same person as he used to be. Different personality, temperment, likes, dislikes, even his taste in food is different now. It took him yrs to be able to form a short term memory, even though his childhood memories never left him.
He still needs to sleep almost 2/3 of the day.......15 hrs a day. he cannot be in a crowded or noisy place. It overloads his senses. His brain lacks the filter we all have, to focus on one person talking, and fade out all the other background noise. It's like putting a tape recorder in a crowded mall, and then hitting playback, and trying to listen to just one person.

And his is a GOOD case. Many of the people he goes to rehab with are much worse off-some are human paperwights. Many from something as simple as a fall from a skateboard without a helmet.
My folks are retired and live half the yr in a trailer park in Florida, where everyone rides those old-people trikes around with a basket on it for groceries. My dad posted facebook pics of them riding. My brother lost it, asking them where there helmets were. MY dad's reply was that he didn't need to wear one since the trailer park has a 25 mph speed limit for cars. And my brother retorted " Ahh I see...because you can't fall and get a brain injury at 25 mph can you?"
The people he sees drooling and ******** themselves in G.H.Strong Hospital's rehab unit have drastically changed the way he sees safety and prevention....and I am sure to promote it to anyone who will listen. A $25 device can save your life, and it doesn't diminish your enjoyment of the activities you are participating in, so why not wear the helmet?
Click to expand...

I'm sorry about your brother and it sounds like he's making progress.

I agree. A simple $25 helmet can save lives whether on a bicycle or one of the scooters used by your parents. I personally think that they should legislate helmets for all bicyclists because it is dangerous. People don't understand (or refuse to accept) the fact that our brain is covered by an eggshell. One wrong slip/fall/hit and that's it....vegetable for life. Of course there's disagreement saying let's not legislate life to death, but in this case I'm a strong proponent of legislation simply because the costs (social and financial) are staggering.

I always wear my bike helmet on the bicycle, yet my friends and family are always laughing saying I'm too paranoid about what can happen. Sorry but we had an uncle in my family years ago that rode without a helmet, and one slip...vegetable for the last 15 years. Pissing and ******** himself in his own bed. He passed away a few years ago and it was hard on my dad, but they were happy that he didn't have to live like that any longer.

Anyway back to the thread...wear or your helmet or not...just be prepared to pay the consequences of your actions. It doesn't affect just you, it affects your family and society as a whole.
 
Last edited:
matthew said:
http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/sikh-man-fighting-ont-helmet-law-optimistic-1.277445

From 2008
Sikh man fighting Ont. helmet law optimistic
Click to expand...

"Badesha's religion forbids him from putting on anything over his turban while outside his house."

That's cool, I'm going to invent a "religion" that says I can smoke pot whenever I want, and that I get to pay no taxes and that I can skip work whenever I want because a higher order tells me to -- because apparently in this Country you can do whatever you please so long as you fall back on the scapegoat of "OH BUT MY RELIGION TELLS ME TO DO IT, SECTION 2(a), HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS COME TO MY AID, HUMAN RIGHTS CODE ETC.". What a ****ing joke.

I enjoy the multi-cultural mosaic society we have here in Canada, and I appreciate the Charter, in fact I appreciate both things so much that I took two courses on them in university. However, this **** is getting 100 percent absurd. People throwing around terms like "human rights violation" and "discrimination" like it's a god damn baseball on a Sunday morning at a park.

If that guy were to throw a better argument out there aside from "my religion tells me not to", then maybe I'd take him seriously and be a little more open-minded to his side. Guy just seems like he wants attention, and these lawyers jump on human rights "issues" like there's no tomorrow.

To some extent I actually want this guy to wear no helmet so that natural selection can take its course -- however, THANKFULLY I feel like this, oh so malicious, "human rights violation", was not even taken seriously because of s. 1 of the Charter. (I don't know the follow up on the case, and frankly I'm too lazy to read 250 pages of nonsense and whining).
 
mimico_polak said:
If we charged the helmetless people for the hospital bills that they rack up if they're in an accident....I say let em go without a helmet (same for people who don't wear seatbelts). Let em have their freedom, but also let them understand that we as a whole pay for their error/accident/idiocy.

Maybe they'll think twice about the financial ruin they can put their families in in order to get their 'wind in the hair' feel. Personally I've never done it. Sometimes I'll ride with my visor up in the city and taking a rock/bug to the face hurts like a ***** anyway. My buddies with their beanie helmets have sometimes come in with small cuts / gashes on their face because the debris on the highway.
Click to expand...

devil's advocate: you could argue the same for people simply riding a motorcycle, regardless of what gear they wear. where do you draw the line?
 
Chaos said:
devil's advocate: you could argue the same for people simply riding a motorcycle, regardless of what gear they wear. where do you draw the line?
Click to expand...

I agree. Where to draw the line is the issue. This is a fun sport, and a very dangerous one at that. They can say it's too dangerous and ban it outright because it costs a lot of $ to treat people. The again they can say a car with XXX hp and with XXX features cannot be bought / used on the road because it can be dangerous in the wrong hands.

I get the maximum coverage I can get, and then try not to be a dumbass on the road.

Saying that, I'd also be in favour of graduated licensing and class restriction as per the UK...but that's a whole different thread with a lot of opposing and polarizing views.
 
mimico_polak said:
If we charged the helmetless people for the hospital bills that they rack up if they're in an accident....I say let em go without a helmet (same for people who don't wear seatbelts). Let em have their freedom, but also let them understand that we as a whole pay for their error/accident/idiocy.

Maybe they'll think twice about the financial ruin they can put their families in in order to get their 'wind in the hair' feel. Personally I've never done it. Sometimes I'll ride with my visor up in the city and taking a rock/bug to the face hurts like a ***** anyway. My buddies with their beanie helmets have sometimes come in with small cuts / gashes on their face because the debris on the highway.
Click to expand...

That's exactly why we have helmet law here, but not in some states. When you have your own insurance to pay for it, it's a matter of personal choice, harming no one but yourself and your family (still pretty dumb). Here of course, it costs everyone.
 
mimico_polak said:
I agree. Where to draw the line is the issue. This is a fun sport, and a very dangerous one at that. They can say it's too dangerous and ban it outright because it costs a lot of $ to treat people. The again they can say a car with XXX hp and with XXX features cannot be bought / used on the road because it can be dangerous in the wrong hands.

I get the maximum coverage I can get, and then try not to be a dumbass on the road.

Saying that, I'd also be in favour of graduated licensing and class restriction as per the UK...but that's a whole different thread with a lot of opposing and polarizing views.
Click to expand...

The UK is a little different in that, a 250 can get you cross-country in comfort, and you're navigating a LOT more traffic than the majority of north america.

I'd support this with somewhat fewer restrictions. Perhaps a restriction on 600/1000+ bikes. Ain't nothing wrong with an 883 as a first bike, or an old CB 750.
 
I ride bikes a lot: road bikes, mountain bikes and cyclocross bikes.

I had two friends hit the deck really hard during the summer of 2011. Both nearly died. Both were in the ICU for weeks. Neither is back to full capacity and both of them will live with their injuries for the rest of their lives. Both of their stories sound much like the one above.

Both were wearing helmets too and neither crashes involved a vehicle or another bike. They both lost control of their bikes on fast'ish descents and ended up hitting their heads really hard.

Those both changed how I ride. I dont fly down descents at 90km/h plus in the rain anymore. If I have a choice of riding in the woods or on the road, I choose the woods.

Be careful out there on two wheels folks, whether your on a liter bike or pedaling yourself. When things go wrong, they go wrong fast. At least on a motorcycle you can dress for the crash!
 
Helmets are useless. You can't be a true squid wearing one.
 
I wear a helmet cycling and motorcycling. It only takes a fall while standing to die from a head injury, which is why thousands die this way from slips and falls.
However, I do not support mandatory helmet laws on bicycles.

On motorcycles, full face helmets make total sense as windshields and will save you injury in minor impacts, but at highway speeds, they really won't help you, and they really will not help you if you hit your head directly at even low speeds. Half face or beanie helmets are a work-around for the laws, they really do little to protect, and can actually induce torque on the neck because the front edges can catch in a slide.

You need to be really careful when suggesting helmetless riders should show responsibility and not get health coverage, because people can argue that motorcycling is irresponsible and should exclude health coverage (while you're at it, skiing, jogging, tobogganing, skating, walking, or anything outdoors). A helmet isn't going to help the reality that motorcycles are way overpowered today.

Laws are in place to mandate helmets on riders, and they want to put laws for cyclists, but the death number for head injuries are far, far, higher in cars, and the elderly slips and falls. Helmets make sense, but they seem to be arbitrarily legislated. These types of safety laws seem to be a replacement for proper driver training by governments. When any idiot can go out and buy a 150hp rocket, and get surrounded on roads by texting idiots with their airbags and crash cages, even thousands of dollars of safety gear is not going to make a difference.
 
DDean said:
I ride bikes a lot: road bikes, mountain bikes and cyclocross bikes.

I had two friends hit the deck really hard during the summer of 2011. Both nearly died. Both were in the ICU for weeks. Neither is back to full capacity and both of them will live with their injuries for the rest of their lives. Both of their stories sound much like the one above.
Click to expand...

Bicycle racing is far, far more dangerous than motorcycle racing. Tell someone you are entering a bicycle race on the weekend and its, "oh, that's great, have fun!". Tell them you are going to a track for a day, "your crazy, my third cousins boyfriend got killed on a motorcycle..." etc.

We have some hill decents between Hamilton and Niagara where you can hit 120 km/hr, on tires at 110psi, with the contact patch of two nickels.
Forum Sponsor
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom