Bicycle helmet laws

[Momz]

I'm quite sure the "average" Valkyrie rider rode bicycles as kids.
How many of us were injured or died as a result of not having a hard shell on our noggins?

As a motorcyclist, you should have the freedom to choose to protect your cranium. Of course as a rider you are on surface streets, expressways, and other truely dangerous situations. And I'm definately in favor of choice.

But now the feds want a mandatory helmet law for bicyclists. This is an outrage to any person that believes in the constitution.

NHTSA states that 47,000 bicyclists have died since 1932. they also state that helmet laws could reduce head injuries from 39,000 to 55,000 injuries per year. It seems that their figures don't seem to add up.

Read this article and think about how many lawmakers/experts have lied to us. This trend started long before our current federal administration.

http://www.bikeleague.org/media/facts/pdf/BicycleHelmetUseLaws.pdf

[old2soon]

If i punched the figures in correctly-that is like 522.22222 deaths a year since 1932. Leave it to the feds or the pools to spin it ant way THEY want. I'm guessing as a high school drop out and what they consider one of their fine Americans(have i got news fer dem)i shouldn't be capable of simple math.  Just double checked the figures and i'll stand by my post.  RIDE SAFE,

[dreamaker]

Boy this is a tuff call!! I am a motorcyclist and a bicyclist.  I ride my mountain bike between 20 to 30 miles a day depending how I feel, probably over a 1000 mi. this season.  My feeling is that bicycling is far more dangerous then motorcycles.  I try not to ride in the streets but ride the Mich. trails and still I almost get wacked by vehicles.  Some people have no respect for bicyclist, they try to see how close they can get to you and the worst is people on cell phones.  I can see their point but I don't know if the Hemet really does much good with vehicles.  About a month ago I went through some gravel and before I could think the bike wiped out from under me and I was on the ground.  Now if a car was coming the helmet would have been useless.  I would have been road kill.  Body armor would make more sense.  The so called helmet is only Styrofoam with a little thin plastic on top.  They cost as much as our helmets, what a rip.  So far as forcing us to wear one, they can bit me.  It funny that allot of the people that try and pass these laws are not cyclist.   Interesting thought though!!!  Now that they are trying to go so called green and the gas going up maybe they predict people will be riding bicycles more and there is a market on these helmets.  These helmets amount to big Styrofoam waffle balls and priced like the Hope Diamond.

[fudgie]

I have not been injured or killed on a bike as a kid. I have racked myself numerous time tho. 

[NITRO]

There is a difference between injuries and deaths, I would believe that to explain the discrepancy you're referring to.

I ride bikes and cycles, wear a helmet on both. I never wore a helmet on my bicycle, but since my son started to ride in a trailer behind me, I want to set a good example for him. However, I would not expect everyone else to wear helmets just because it seems like a good idea to me.

While we are on the topic, why doesn't the government require us to wear helmets 24/7, surely that would prevent some injuries too!

[BF]

I hurt the boys one time on that upper frame tube on my chromed-out Schwinn when my feet slipped off of the pedels once when I was a kid.  

Are they going to mandate cups too?  

[GotValk]

Put us in bubbles! , Nut cup make more sense on a bicycle.

[flcjr]

The fed wont be happy until everyone killed in a car or bike wreck is wearing a seat belt, helmet and HANS device. Then the sue airbag company for the death not the drunk texting s.o.b. at fault!! 

[Momz]

Helmets don't prevent accidents.
In some cases they may only reduce the severity of cranial trauma.

Why don't the feds require bicyclists to wrap themselves in "bubble wrap"?

[OKIERYDER]

I'm quite sure the "average" Valkyrie rider rode bicycles as kids.
How many of us were injured or died as a result of not having a hard shell on our noggins?

As a motorcyclist, you should have the freedom to choose to protect your cranium. Of course as a rider you are on surface streets, expressways, and other truely dangerous situations. And I'm definately in favor of choice.

But now the feds want a mandatory helmet law for bicyclists. This is an outrage to any person that believes in the constitution.

NHTSA states that 47,000 bicyclists have died since 1932. they also state that helmet laws could reduce head injuries from 39,000 to 55,000 injuries per year. It seems that their figures don't seem to add up.

Read this article and think about how many lawmakers/experts have lied to us. This trend started long before our current federal administration.

http://www.bikeleague.org/media/facts/pdf/BicycleHelmetUseLaws.pdf

      The ones that died ain't gonna reply.

[alph]

i use to ride cycle like a maniac when i was younger.  use to down hill ski through the woods.  done the roller blade thing, along with roller skates, even hooked a tow rope up behind a snowmobile and got pulled on a pair of skies going 40+ mph, never once wearing a helmet. 

after sunny bonno wacked his mellon on a tree in colorado, there were ding dongs all over saying i should wear a helmet while skiing.  oh bite me!  not going to happen~~! 

now, on a cycle, almost always wear a helmet.  just feel more comfort in one.  don't care if you don't wear one, but then again, when i am forced to pay for your medical insurance (thanks obamma) then i'd probably want you to wear one.......  (don't blame me  )

[Romeo]

Yea, and what's with traffic lights, and speed limits. I am certainly smart enough to know I can't pull out in front of traffic. Or ride 120 mph through the middle of town.

[Hoser]

There is a difference between injuries and deaths, I would believe that to explain the discrepancy you're referring to.

I ride bikes and cycles, wear a helmet on both. I never wore a helmet on my bicycle, but since my son started to ride in a trailer behind me, I want to set a good example for him. However, I would not expect everyone else to wear helmets just because it seems like a good idea to me.

While we are on the topic, why doesn't the government require us to wear helmets 24/7, surely that would prevent some injuries too!

I'd do that, but it probly would be hard to get to sleep.     Hoser

[GreenLantern57]

  Never wore a helmet riding my bycyles. Did not requre my sons to either. I have to say we are mostly alright! 

Taught my brothers how to jump off a roof without having their legs go into thier stomaches. Always wore a helmet on dirt bikes. Still like to have the wind in my hair occasionally.  Yes, the sons are alright.

[R J]

Never rode with a helmet on my bicycles.     1st started riding a motor, I didn't use a helmet.      Got on the CHP force and helmets were required.    Got used to a helmet and I still use it today to ride the motor.      The Trike I don't wear a helmet. Never have and have never been stopped for no helmet, and it has been in all the lower 48 states at least once.

[FryeVRCCDS0067]

A bud and I kept an old stingray bike tied to a tree next to a strip pit embankment when we were kids. We'd push the bike up the hill, then ride it off the embankment and into the strip pit. Then pull it out of the water with the rope and do it again.  Would today's safety Nazis require us to wear an aqualung or put us in jail for defacing a tree? Sounds like just one more load of crap to me.

I'm sure, one way or another, this is about the helmet manufactures creating customers who are legally required to buy their products. The helmet manufactures, the lawmakers and probably the insurance companies will somehow make money off this. The money they make will be the money that's being stolen from us. Pretty typical, disappointing and disgusting behavior from our government.

[doubletee]

i use to ride cycle like a maniac when i was younger.  use to down hill ski through the woods.  done the roller blade thing, along with roller skates, even hooked a tow rope up behind a snowmobile and got pulled on a pair of skies going 40+ mph, never once wearing a helmet.  

after sunny bonno wacked his mellon on a tree in colorado, there were ding dongs all over saying i should wear a helmet while skiing.  oh bite me!  not going to happen~~!  

now, on a cycle, almost always wear a helmet.  just feel more comfort in one.  don't care if you don't wear one, but then again, when i am forced to pay for your medical insurance (thanks obamma) then i'd probably want you to wear one.......  (don't blame me  )

This isn't directed at you Alph, just something I think of whenever I hear the argument about paying for someone else's medical bills or paying higher insurance rates because people wreck without a helmet and incur injuries:  I would think the chances of a person dying from injuries in a motorcycle accident are higher when they AREN'T wearing a helmet than when they are wearing one. There are obviously no medical bills if someone dies from a motorcycle accident in which they are pronounced dead at the scene.

On the other hand, the claim is that helmets save lives. Let's say for argument's sake that's true. If one crashes while wearing a helmet and survives, most likely there are still going to be medical bills, and associated insurance payouts which reportedly result in higher insurance rates for all of us.

If the goal is to ensure others' crashes don't impact my insurance rates, wouldn't it make more sense to wish people didn't wear helmets so there'd be more chance of them dying at the scene and, thus, not racking up medical bills? Seems the cost of medical insurance could then be lowered, since the chances of needing the insurance to pay for medical bills would be reduced because the chances of not surviving the crash go up. Yes, I know there might be life insurance payouts, but that's a different story. We're talking medical insurance.

I have no idea how my mind comes up with this stuff.  

[Gryphon Rider]

I'm not sure whether it's a city bylaw or a provincial law, but here children are required to wear helmets while riding bicycles.  As a parent, I'm glad to have the law in place, because there is no arguing about friends not having to wear helmets.  I wear one to be a proper example.

When my brother was 17-20ish, we were hanging out in the garage.  He was wearing one of my dad's old motorcycle helmets on impulse, then started to fool around with his old BMX freestyle bike.  While attempting a trick, the bike shot out from under him, and he fell on his back, bouncing his helmeted head quite dramatically off the concrete floor.  His eyes went wide as he said, "Owwww...I sure am glad I had the helmet on, cause it STILL hurt my head!"  Without the helmet, I'm sure it would have at minimum been an ambulance call.

[vanagon40]

I'm with you doubletree.

If the only concern is reducing medical costs (although obviously it is not), it would seem that the goal would be to make sure everyone is killed as quickly and efficiently as possible.  Therefore, we should do away with helmets, seat belts, air bags, etc.

If you factor in social security, survivors' benefits, etc., that may change the equation.

But I too question assumptions such as helmets reduce medical expenses.

(And no, I did not forget about this thread from January).

[elpaso jo]

Picture this,
You fall of your bike, bang your noggin hard off the road, ,,,eg kinda messy looking head after that, however, on the other hand, you have a helmet on, your noggin swells up inside it eh, like --imagine a rescue med. with an angle grinder cutting the helmet away from your head and your kinda conscious and hoping the med guy has a steady hand. a kinda like been between a rock and a hard place!!
Sorry for giving a gory description.

[cookiedough]

should be personal choice in both bicycle and motorcycle period.

Common sense should prevail here but the when dealing with the govt., common sense rarely applies. 

The day I wear and need a bicycle helmet going 10-15 mph as required by a stupid law is the time I sell my bicycles and never ride again. 

Here in WI, there are talks in the legislature and other areas of interest about outlawing 2-up riding on single use ATV's and when that day comes, I am selling all 3 of my ATV's and getting out of that as well.  I have been riding a bicycle without a helmet for 39 years no problems and riding 2-up on a single stock ATV for 6 years not one issue whatsoever.  I use common sense while riding bicycle, ATV, and motorcycle.  However, I prefer to wear a helmet while on a motorcycle but that is MY choice, not mandated on me and it should never be.

I'm so sick of govt. overstepping their boundaries and wasting taxpayer money discussing such foolish notions and invading my families personal choices.  I have even went to the WI ATV rep. in my area and discussed several youth ATV laws to get them changed so they make common sense.  I gave up after our district rep. claims they talked to other ATV areas, but never heard back from him after several talks to his sidekick in the office and even 1 on 1 contact with him personally.  Unfortunately, I have given up on politics entirely since they all talk a good talk, but NONE walk the walk. 

[Karen]

Fifteen - twenty years ago, I was an avid on and off road cyclist. Rode a couple of centuries, and was a member of the Granite State Wheelmen. We all wore helmets and spandex (go figure). I agree that bicycling is more dangerous than motorcycling, just due to the disparity in size between cars and bicycles, and the previously mentioned hostile automobiles. One road ride, one of the women got her front wheel wedged between two sections of pavement; the crack was just wide enough for a skinny tire, but narrowed, trapping the front wheel, stopping the bike and throwing her headfirst to the pavement, she was doing 20 -25 mph, accelerating from a traffic light. They took her to the hospital, where she was asked if she was an organ donor, and she proudly showed her card. It wasn't till much later that she realized all the implications of that question. It took her a long time to recover, but she and the medical staff agree that she would not have survived if she had not been wearing a helmet. Motorcycle or bicycle, it's the same thickness of Styrofoam that collapses to keep your brain from hitting your skull with the same impact that your head hits whatever object that gets in the way. I'm for freedom of choice, we don't have that in Massachusetts, but I choose to ride any type of bike with a helmet. I rode as a kid, survived it all, but I'm a wee bit more fragile now...

[Titan]

I wear a helmet when I ride, law or no law. My choice. Back in '99 or 2000, I was on my mountain bike going through a subdivision and peddling pretty fast down a hill. Last time I looked at the speedometer it was showing 31 mph. A big red dog ran from a yard and right in front of me. I t-boned him. The bike stopped and I didn't. I went over the handlebars and hit the pavement. I distinctly remembered hearing my helmet cracking as it bounced on the road and I felt like my head weighed 800 pounds as I kept flopping along the road completely out of control. My helmet was busted and I lost a little skin off both shoulders, elbows, and knees. In my mind, that silly little stupid looking bicycle helmet saved me from a head injury that would have been serious. I was thankful I was wearing it. Before that, I sometimes rode motorcycles without a helmet. I don't do that anymore because I don't take a defeatist attitude of "if it happens, it happens". I don't want to be dead or live out life as a vegetable.

[WamegoRob]

Last time I looked at the speedometer it was showing 31 mph.

I did some crazy stuff on (and sometimes subsequently off) my bike (and skateboard) as a kid and don't recall once ever thinking about a helmet.
But considering the fact that you did think about and decide to wear one, do you think maybe you wouldn't have been going that fast with reckless blissful abandon had you chosen NOT to wear it?

I'm not judging, I'm all for blasting down a hill; I'm sure I was just one of the lucky ones.
Regardless, I'm for choice and parenting over regulation every time.

[Titan]

Last time I looked at the speedometer it was showing 31 mph.

I did some crazy stuff on (and sometimes subsequently off) my bike (and skateboard) as a kid and don't recall once ever thinking about a helmet.
But considering the fact that you did think about and decide to wear one, do you think maybe you wouldn't have been going that fast with reckless blissful abandon had you chosen NOT to wear it?

I'm not judging, I'm all for blasting down a hill; I'm sure I was just one of the lucky ones.
Regardless, I'm for choice and parenting over regulation every time.

Good question... But heck yeah! I would have ridden the same way. I've ridden bikes all my life and never worried about my fat head. Have been on motorcycles running 150 mph without a helmet too in my younger days, when I was completely invincible. I have to admit that I never was a real stickler for wearing a helmet when I ride until that little incident on the bicycle. Add to that the fact that I'm really old now and wouldn't heal very well and I try to take a few more precautions to stay out of the hospital, or a long term care facility!