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The American Culture of Motorcycle Safety

12K views 29 replies 15 participants last post by  The_AirHawk 
#1 ·
Original Article:
The American Culture of Motorcycle Safety

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#2 ·
Perhaps the points been missed

I would suggest that the point is: motorcycling without safety equipment is in it's self a social response by riders to our cultures obsession with making every aspect of the human condition without risk, pain, social cost, or even emotion.
I can't help but see the '60's picture of a Cowboy after OSHA. He literally can't do his job for all of the safety equipment.
So, in short for many you can't really ride a motorcycle and have the "motorcycle" experience and be 'geared up' for safety. Doing the one negates the actual experience and therefore negates the reason for riding.
Humans keep finding new ways to take risks and get the high associated with that risk. Your Brain chemistry insertion says it all. So the question becomes...Why ask Why?
As for society paying for someone who crashes and can no longer take care of themselves - our "take from the haves and give to the havnots" government has already decided to do that for everyone else. Why point a finger at bikers and say you can't ride as you choose because it may cost society. If I fall down a flight of stairs and can't work or take care of myself any longer society will see that I am taken care of. I could have used the elevator, stayed in and avoided the risk of the stairs, or even have everything delivered. But I risked the stairs.
So in conclusion, unless you require everyone to stay home and never risk a single crash, fall, or what-have-you, life is a risk at some level and always will be. Unless you wish to remove ALL risks don't pick and choose which risks some can and cannot take.
As to the point of logic and safety wear. It's not logical to place oneself on a giant roman candle and get shot into space just to find out what's there, and it sure isn't logical to place oneself in harms way for others that would limit someone else in their personal freedom.
By the way, I always wear full gear and a full face helmet. I hate the pain of skin grafts, and I want to leave a smiling face for the casket.
 
#3 ·
This whole article talks about clothing and helmets. What about the bike itself? If safety and responsibility are really the issues, then why would anyone need a 175 horsepower bike that can top 190 mph? How about making sure each bike only has about 50 horsepower, which is more than enough, and speed limited to 100 mph? I bet that proposal won't go over big!
 
#4 ·
All I can think of is Bertrand Russell, "One should respect public opinion in so far as is necessary to avoid starvation and to keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny, and is likely to interfere with happiness in all kinds of ways."

Mind your own business.
 
#5 ·
The article talked about a plan to spend $3 to $5 million for another "Hurt" type motorcycle safety study, but they realized the funding really needed to be more than double that to achieve a meaningful result.

If you want to achieve motorcycle safety and get the best bang for your bucks, spend your money on training. A well trained rider is going to:

A) make better decisions on what to wear safety wise
B) make a better decision on which bike to get
C) avoid a lot of the stupid "noob" accidents that make up the majority of bike accidents
D) influence the people they ride with in a positive way

Because we like freedom and we have 50 states, each with their own laws, rider training gives everyone a baseline to start from without having to enforce intrusive legislation, either on the riders or the manufacturers. I'd like to be able to choose to pull my helmet off on A1A early Sunday am., and put it back on for the ride back down the coast on I-95 later in the day. Likewise it would be nice to have a RR bike to ride to the track for the occasional high speed ride and something more practical for the commute.

You can't bolt on skill, and there is no substitute for experience, but you can move people along on both fronts with quality training.
 
#6 ·
"If you want to achieve motorcycle safety and get the best bang for your bucks, spend your money on training. A well trained rider is going to:"

Not fall down and not hit things. After that, it doesn't matter what they wear. Safety is between the ears.
 
#8 ·
Those are few and far between examples. I could slip and fall and kill myself getting out of bed, but it just doesn't happen that often, so I don't wear my helmet to bed. I look at it this way, if you are really worried about geting hurt, take up golf. Don't ride a motorcycle. Complete safety is nowhere to be found if I use your examples, because there are thousands of dead guys that got killed with full gear on, so I guess it really doesn't matter what you wear after all.
 
#10 ·
I think wearing the gear is a great idea. I just don't think it's anyone else's business. Not yours. Not the Govt's. Not Trent's. Not anybody's. These "studies"are always just excuses to interfere in your life.
 
#9 ·
I think you pays yer money and you takes yer chances. It's not like the old days when the only safety gear was a jean jacket and helmet, there's a plethora of choices now from armored mesh gear to full leather racing suits custom made to fit you available. It's up to the individual rider to chose the level of protection he or she is comfortable with.

My own choice is more weather driven than anything else and I prefer to ride geared up as much as possible, however if I'm going to be sweating like a horse to go for a nice ride around it takes away the fun, in those situations I'll wear jeans or even shorts and a shirt.

Not the safest choice? no I suppose it isn't. I always wear a helmet boots and gloves though, a good knock on the head could turn me into a cabbage, road rash on the palms of your hands means you can even wipe your own back side and your feet have a jillion tiny bones that all have to work together or you're a gimp. Yes road rash hurts, sweat is easier to wash off than blood and most accidents occure close to home....very well, on those occasions I chose not to gear up that's a risk I'll take. Around here the weather is cool enough most of the year that it's no problem to ride ATGATT, for the few short months it's not, well I just hope for the best and rely on my skill, my bikes braking and handleing and the grace of the goddess to keep me out of trouble
 
#13 ·
As one who's been nailed from behind by a speeding suv, and paid the price, there are levels of safety you can achieve on a bike, but for the most part luck plays a big role.

I should have been dead or maimed long before it happened, from my obsession with 2 wheels and a motor. It just took a little longer to catch up with me.

You can wear a suit of inflateable armor, with proximinty devices and car seeking radar, but when you're number's up. That's it.

Cars hurt.
 
#15 ·
U know, when its your time to go that is it. On the other hand their are some basic things u can do that will help u out in a event of a minor get off.

I see a lot of flip flop wearing down here in FLA. I seen girls in skimpy bikinis running around on 600's before. I just cringe when i think about what could happen if they had a get off.

I guess because i grew up riding dirt bikes. I wrecked so much in my formative years that i have a healthy respect for what can happen if u don't have proper gear. Hell i ran into car's,tree's, even had a head on with another rider. All that before i was 10 :)

Each his own i guess.
 
#18 ·
You know, as an Australian, this is a very interesting debate to observe.

In Australia, we have mandatory safety equipment, that is you have to wear a helmet. Further, we have limits on the power to weight ratio allowed in the early years of riding.

Seriously, I assure you we have not fallen apart and gone communist over it, it's just common sense. Like it or not, decisions regarding safety have an impact in terms of insurance premiums, hospital waiting times, emergency response time, all sorts of things. To me the need to wear at least a helmet sounds like a good compromise between saftey nuts and freedom nuts; wearing an open face helmet surely isn't going to suddenly ruin your ability to enjoy a motorcycle is it?
 
#19 ·
"Seriously, I assure you we have not fallen apart and gone communist over it, it's just common sense."

Seriously, yes you have gone communist and a bit stupid as well. When the government of any country starts to make laws 'for your own good', then it has gone the way of the nanny state. I don't need anyone to tell me what is good for me. If you do, then stay in Australia where you can be ruled by many more 'common sense' laws.
 
#21 ·
Hi Guys,

I totally agree about helmets, safety gear mandated by a government, and especially about encroachments on the 2nd Amendment....however. (You knew there's a "however", didn't you?)

However, if we are Americans, we have no business lecturing Australians about how to run their country, any more than they would have the right to tell us how to run ours. (As if we got to run ours....)

Nor, I believe, is it polite to call fellow riders "stupid" simply because they disagree with us. "Stupid" is subjective: people call me stupid because I'm a grandmother and ride bikes. I think privately that they are stupid because they *don't* ride bikes...:D

Anyway, I think we have plenty to worry about right here at home....I guess that's my point. (Other than the top of my head, and if I fix my hair differently, you won't see that....)
 
#22 ·
I didn't call him stupid. I called their government stupid, as a collective. I did not mean him personally. I did it because when 'common sense' laws start appearing, it IS stupid. People only like laws they personally agree with, and never figure out that the wonderful Gov will get around to making laws you don't agree with.
 
#24 · (Edited)
I stand by Bertrand Russell. "Friendly" tyranny is still tyranny. The nannies never stop until they regulate everything. But apparently you aren't allowed to call someone a tyrant when they put on a big public show of doing it for your own good. It's considered impolite.

Since the govt can walk into your house and take your kids from you without provable cause or warrant we have already gone waaaay past the point of "common sense" laws. I am not making this up. The Child Agencies of almost all US States have the power to take your kids from you at the whim of a case worker. No evidence or warrant needed. Is this "common sense"?

Go back to sleep, slaves. Or watch "American Idol". Or vote republicrat. There is no difference between those three conditions.
 
#23 ·
Agreed. *All* governments are stupid. A classic example of a good idea ruined by a bureaucracy who's only agenda is to grow larger. Thanks for the clarification.
 
#26 ·
Again---agreed. The only other thing is that when they *should* remove a child from an abusive home, they don't. Seems to be a case of always getting it wrong.....

Yet another reason I'm a Libertarian....
 
#27 · (Edited)
In 2010 I was riding highway 20 in eastern Washington at a spirited clip, when a deer jumped a fence and collided with the side of my bike in mid-air. I saw it for perhaps 1/2 a second before impact, as there was thick forest on the other side of the fence. Wasn't even sure it was a deer. I was knocked to the ground hard at 60ish, and slid about a hundred feet. 1/4" was gouged out of my helmet, had I not been wearing it and full gear I wouldn't have been able to duct tape my bike back together and ride 550 miles home. Not saying it anything about the law, am saying that there are accidents you can't avoid, and wearing full gear can make them much better.
 
#30 ·
Barbara quit because she could no-longer logon to her account. She may even still lurk-about here now, I have not heard from her in a few years.

Hope you're doin' OK Barb, if you're reading this!
 
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