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Helmets are law again in Louisiana

24898 Views 235 Replies 46 Participants Last post by kjam68, Aug 28, 2004

39220

Discussion Starter · Aug 25, 2004

Well, maybe here is a good one to start with. Because Illinois does not have a helmet law states can be gathered on deaths with helmets and death without helmets.

Scroll down to the bottom of the page and look at the motorcycle death stats (three links at the top of the page will give you numbers for 2000, 2001, and 2002):

Illinois helmet and non helmet motorcycle deaths 2000-2002

I don't know what happened in 2002 but riders seemed to learn something. An anomaly maybe? Kind of strange.

I for one can tell you I am in the overwhelming minority in this state wearing a helmet. I'm not even going to get in to the number of people I see riding in flip-flops. I just think about my little piggys getting caught in the spokes, having 500 lbs of motorcycle fall and slide on them, or slipping off the peg and grinding on the asphalt and I literally cringe.

21 - 40 of 236 Posts

21684

· #21 · Aug 25, 2004

Re: Screw 'em!

Liberal by definition has nothing to do with closed minded politics. Have you noticed that an intersection can be accident free and in the middle of the desert and some fool will walk out in front of a vehicle and get killed. Then the next thing you know a traffic light will get installed just to ease all the fear-everything people. These are the same types that Asscroft, Ridge and Bush like to keep on edge with all their well timed "Terror Alerts".

ChicagoCruiser

· #22 · Aug 25, 2004

This seems pretty simple to me - a helmet (or any decent protective gear for that matter) is only going to improve your chances of surviving an incident or at the very least - minimize the damage to you. So as we think about risk management as an intregal component of the way we approach the enjoyment of our sport, let us not forget that wearing the right gear is as important as what we ride, how we ride, when we ride and where we ride. Being selective about these things means that we'll probably live to enjoy the sport once again another day.

Ride to live.

21684

· #23 · Aug 25, 2004

Freedom

I imagine that most cops don't like to enforce freedom robbing laws and skid lids give them enough of an excuse to look the other way. Like Longhauler wrote, people die for every reason imaginable. We all got to go sometime and if you hadn't noticed, none of us leave this world alive.

mps165

· #24 · Aug 25, 2004

I wish every state made wearing a helmet a choice. Why do you ask? There will be less Harley Davidsons on the road since deaths will escalate. Most people that ride sportbikes are smart enough to wear helmets. We need to even it out a little.

mile_eater

· #25 · Aug 25, 2004

Re: Screw 'em!

Oh.. I've got no love for Bush...

This country no longer has a two-party system. It's has a single bi-factional ruling party.

30874

· #26 · Aug 25, 2004

Discovery Channel

I saw a special on the "Discovery Channel" and it showed a biker that had just come in for emergency surgery.

All of his mouth and jaw were gone, just a hole in his head with blood ozing out. He was conscious and responding to verbal commands from the nurses. Must have been in shock though.

They said that he had been in a motorcycle wreck and was not wearing a helmet. He hit the back of a truck, which took off his mouth and nose.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that if the blow was severe enough to take his mouth and nose off but he survived, that if he had a full face helmet on he probably would still have a mouth and nose.

39220

Discussion Starter · #27 · Aug 25, 2004

Good point. All those numbers really tell you is the number of deaths and if they had a helmet on or not, excluding the 16 unknowns. They really don't prove or say much of anything beyond that. If it could be put in a percentage then it would be a little more telling. Interpreting stats can easily be misleading if extra thought is not put in to it.

13630

· #28 · Aug 25, 2004

ANOTHER helmet law argument???? This horse is dead and buried. Don't exhume it for another beating.

longride

· #29 · Aug 25, 2004

Helmet laws, like KPaul, always need another beating.

36967

· #30 · Aug 25, 2004

Have you ever witnessed one of these accidents, I have. Watching a husband holding his wifes bodyand telling the EMT to please save her is pretty rough. I never heard him say to her I respect your decision to not wear a helmet.

longride

· #31 · Aug 25, 2004

Did you ever hear him say to her you should have taken the car?

46457

· #32 · Aug 25, 2004

I spent some time in Indianapolis a few years ago, and they apparently don't or didn't have a helmet law back then. I can't tell you how many sport bike riders I saw with no helmets (and flip flops), and a girl in a bikini on the back with no helmet, and no shoes.

The only time I can remember seeing anyone with a helmet was an older couple on a Wing with a trailer, and they were probably from out of state on a long drive.

Given the opportunity, all types of riders will go without helmets. My guess is that you are right regarding sport riders who actually go to the track and have advanced training.

That being said, I ride both a sport bike (FJ1200) and a small cruiser (Vulcan 750) and always wear a helmet, but don't think that there should be a law about.

I DO think that if you get in an accident with me, and you're not wearing a helmet that you (or more likely your family) shouldn't be able to sue me for your resulting brain damage.

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ofreen

· #33 · Aug 25, 2004

Re: Seatbelts

Another point about seatbelts. That is a seatbelt keeps your butt in the seat at the controls of the car. I got in a fishtailing situation in my old '62 Impala without seatbelts years ago. My control of the car was minimal because all I could do was basically hold on to the steering wheel to stay behind it. Fine control was not an option.

dnlwthrn

· #34 · Aug 25, 2004

"Most people that ride sportbikes are smart enough to wear helmets."

That's where you're wrong, my friend. I'm not sure where you're from, but here in the wonderful world of Illinois, the vast majority of sportbike riders do NOT wear helmets. On my daily commute, I never see more than one or two bikers wearing helmets. Some people have them on the backs of their bikes, and choose not to wear them, but most do not even carry one.

ofreen

· #35 · Aug 25, 2004

It has always seemed to me that the arguments commonly used to support mandatory helmet usage could just as easily be turned around to justify banning riding motorcycles altogether. The fact is motorcycle crashes are dangerous whether you are wearing a helmet or not. It is just a matter of degree. A prudent person will minimize their exposure to risk of serious injury, but again where do you draw the line? There are plenty who will tell you the line should be at not allowing others to ride motorcycles or engage in any other risky activity (anything they don't want to do themselves.)

As far as the debate on helmet laws vs. seatbelt laws, any argument used to justify mandatory helmet usage for motorcyclists could just as easily be applied to cage drivers with their high rate of head injuries. Try getting a mandatory helmet law for cage drivers passed!

kpaul

· #36 · Aug 25, 2004

Where did you go to school?

How did you figure 0.046% difference? Tell me please. If you simply took the death rate / register bikers for each year and look at the difference youd be wrong. That doesn't tell you a thing about statistical significance. By the way I am not an AI programmer, I don't know where you got that..... If you want to get into the statistical analysis go ahead bring it on.

You tell me how you figured it and I'll rip you up.

kpaul

· #37 · Aug 25, 2004

Faulty logic

As a supposed firefighter I am apalled at your attitude. You ever heard of minimizing risk of injury?

1747

· #38 · Aug 25, 2004

y know, LR, guys who go around espousing your view are Responsible for who knows how many brain injuries. Impressionable youths might listen to you and decide you're 100% right, and right there decide not to wear a stupid helmet. I am behind your decision not to wear a helmet, but please stop telling people they're no safer with a helmet than without one. Whatever the statistics can be made to say, it's obvious to any halfway sentient being that a helmet makes sense anytime speed and human heads are combined. You are right, we're all gonna die, but I don't want you buying my kid Marlboros and 6-packs just because of it. Same damn thing.

kpaul

· #39 · Aug 25, 2004

Oh please your arguement is total off base. Minimizing risk of injury. Did you see Two Wheel Tuesday last night?

ofreen

· #40 · Aug 25, 2004

Respectfully, I must disagree. The debate concerning how far the government should be allowed to intrude into citizens' lives and how much it can dictate their behavior is an eternal one.

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