GRRRRR....
I am so tired of hearing this assinine argument! I used to buy this "individual rights" crap until I thought about the issue for <1 minute.
A simple hypothetical scenario: Suppose I hit you with my car, clearly my fault, and you bust your skull on the asphalt. Now I'm liable for $3M to pay for your brain damage, whereas with a helmet you would have walked away. Ethically, you can't blame the severity of your injuries solely on me, but legally, because you weren't breaking the law, I have no case of "contributory negligence" or the like on your part. I'm stuck with the whole fat bill, including pain & suffering and all the other "damages" lawyers use to get paid.
You do not live in a vacuum, especially in our hyper-litigious age. Also, as you already pointed out, you and I subsidize these organ donors every day through insurance premiums.
Besides, mandating helmets would remove the peer pressure not to wear them. I live in a state (UT) that buys your argument also, and *nobody* here wears a helmet -- I'd guess 1/10 overall, and less than that among sport bike riders. I certainly don't want to be the one full-face geek on the street.
I can't believe there are organizations dedicated to fighting helmets and helmet laws. Assuming they've taken even a cursory look at helmet statistics, I can only infer that their goal must be to (1) raise insurance rates and (2) furnish the world with more fresh, young organ donors.
There is no getting around the fact that society collectively bears the costs of people riding helmetless. Thus, helmet laws are an issue of social responsibility, not individual rights.
I am so tired of hearing this assinine argument! I used to buy this "individual rights" crap until I thought about the issue for <1 minute.
A simple hypothetical scenario: Suppose I hit you with my car, clearly my fault, and you bust your skull on the asphalt. Now I'm liable for $3M to pay for your brain damage, whereas with a helmet you would have walked away. Ethically, you can't blame the severity of your injuries solely on me, but legally, because you weren't breaking the law, I have no case of "contributory negligence" or the like on your part. I'm stuck with the whole fat bill, including pain & suffering and all the other "damages" lawyers use to get paid.
You do not live in a vacuum, especially in our hyper-litigious age. Also, as you already pointed out, you and I subsidize these organ donors every day through insurance premiums.
Besides, mandating helmets would remove the peer pressure not to wear them. I live in a state (UT) that buys your argument also, and *nobody* here wears a helmet -- I'd guess 1/10 overall, and less than that among sport bike riders. I certainly don't want to be the one full-face geek on the street.
I can't believe there are organizations dedicated to fighting helmets and helmet laws. Assuming they've taken even a cursory look at helmet statistics, I can only infer that their goal must be to (1) raise insurance rates and (2) furnish the world with more fresh, young organ donors.
There is no getting around the fact that society collectively bears the costs of people riding helmetless. Thus, helmet laws are an issue of social responsibility, not individual rights.
