Why dont some motorcyclists and bicyclists wear helmets?

I just don't care if I die so I don't wear a helmet.

It's a ploy by the insurance companies to save money.

You see, after a motorcycle crash, it is a helluva lot cheaper for them to bury a helmet-less dipsh*t than it is to keep a helmet wearing vegetable alive.

I am in a questioning mood today - What is up with motorcyclists doing that stupid downward wave to bikers going the other direction? It looks like they want to give them an examination for a hernia!!

drsmrtypnts wrote:

I cycle a lot and can't imagine NOT wearing my helmet.

I've never worn a helmet (on a bicycle) and probably never will. It seems to be overkill to me. The likelihood of crash landing on my noggin is miniscule. I fall more often when I'm trail running. I guess you'll want runners to be wearing helmets too. Come to think of it, maybe they should be worn in the bathroom as that's where most home accidents occur.

I'll take my chances.[/quote]

You have no idea what you are talking about. If you look at the statistics, MOST bike accidents damage the head. You are a moron.

Riiiiighht wrote:

drsmrtypnts wrote:

I cycle a lot and can't imagine NOT wearing my helmet.

I've never worn a helmet (on a bicycle) and probably never will. It seems to be overkill to me. The likelihood of crash landing on my noggin is miniscule. I fall more often when I'm trail running. I guess you'll want runners to be wearing helmets too. Come to think of it, maybe they should be worn in the bathroom as that's where most home accidents occur.

I'll take my chances.

You have no idea what you are talking about. If you look at the statistics, MOST bike accidents damage the head. You are a moron.[/quote]

No kidding, when you run are you ever going over 30mph or faster down a hill?

Some people think they'll never crash, so they go without a helmet. If they do crash and hit there head without a helmet chances are they will die. It is pretty stupid of them, no question about it. So is not wearing a seat belt or smoking but dumbasses still do it and die every day, go figure.

In simplest terms- if you don't wear a helmet, you have a death wish. In running, a similar situation is if run w/traffic at your back. You wear a helmet and run facing traffic to protect yourself against accidents. I'd say 99.9% of all my career run miles have been spent facing traffic & 99% of all bike miles have been while wearing a brain bucket. Both numbers would be 100% except I was young and invulnerable once.

There's a guy that rides w/us on a Tues nites who's known for going helmet-less. I feel very uncomfortable around him. He's cut from a different bolt of fabric, for sure. They call them accidents because you don't know when, where or why they'll happen. I've gone down several times and in at least one instance, the helmet probably saved my life and/or others the expense of tending to my every need the rest of my days.

Those who don't wear helmets are vain & selfish. I'd throw in stupid but that's a given.

To compete in any kind of cycling contest, a helmet is required. I haven't heard of a tour yet that also didn't require all to put on a skid lid. Safety is huge.

sunburned wrote:

I am in a questioning mood today - What is up with motorcyclists doing that stupid downward wave to bikers going the other direction? It looks like they want to give them an examination for a hernia!!

Not to be a dick, but I thought this deserved a response. The downward wave is all about maintaining control of the bike while waving. Stick your hand out the window of a moving car at highway speed. The wind is pretty strong. By waving downward you keep your hand in the slipstream of your bikes fairings, and stay lower over your handlebars. You are better able to maintain control of your bike. Of course, at slow speeds its just to look cool/fit in, but the downward wave did come about for a practical reason.

There should be a new law which exempts taxpayers from paying for the medical bills and life insurance of idiots who don't wear helmets while riding bicycle and motorcycles, those who have high-risk jobs like firemen, cab drivers, convenience store clerks, fuel truck drivers, and police, and those trailer park trash and ghetto rats that join the military. I'm tired of paying for stupid people when they get jacked up and they knew it would happen !

This is one of those arguments where people who have reason and logic on their side vainly try to push the "I'm right and you're wrong so therefore I'm smart and you're an idiot" mantra.This would work if life was comprised of nothing more than reason and logic. Obviously there's more to life than reason and logic. There's also; passion, risk taking, art, intuition, exertion, uncertainty, looking death eye to eye for no apparent reason, etc., etc.People are different for good reason. Some are more comfortable taking more risks than others and some are better at handling risks than others. You probably wouldn't want to live my life and I probably couldn't live the way you do. It's ok to just leave it at that. BTW - I've ridden motorcycles for the past 32 years alternating between riding with and without a helmet. I'm mostly helmeted these days. I've had 3 major wrecks in those 30 plus years (I should say that I've been involved in about 5 pretty good car crashes of all these wrecks only 2 were my fault); 2 with a helmet on and 1 without a helmet. One time the helmet most definitely saved my life, the other times I managed to get off the road and suffer bruises and grass burns. So the act of riding a motorcycle, with or without a helmet, is most definitely not a death wish. It is possible to ride a motorcycle for the pure enjoyment and adrenaline rush of it without the desire to kill oneself. But, like you say, accidents can and do happen so it would behoove oneself to ascertain ones appetite and aptitude for risk taking before becoming a Hell's Angel...

scotth wrote:

In simplest terms- if you don't wear a helmet, you have a death wish.

Those who don't wear helmets are vain & selfish. I'd throw in stupid but that's a given.

Friend, this is an 'argument' worth pushing. You make my argument-a helmet saved your life. Riding w/out a helmet IS a death wish, especially on a motorcycle.

I don't see what you're getting at saying it's possible to ride a motorcycle for the pure enjoyment w/out the desire to kill oneself. Did you leave out the 'minus a helmet' part? If you intended to include that part, having a desire to kill oneself and leaving oneself wide open for same are two different things.

Was it Batliner who was riding down the mountain on a bike helmetless from the cabin in running with the buffalos and wrecked his bicycle and died?

How does Wetmore feel about helmets?

good point, but i think it was Chris Severy, not batliner

scotth wrote:

I don't see what you're getting at saying it's possible to ride a motorcycle for the pure enjoyment w/out the desire to kill oneself. Did you leave out the 'minus a helmet' part? If you intended to include that part, having a desire to kill oneself and leaving oneself wide open for same are two different things.

Scott, you're missing a core point. The person in question had multiple accidents in about every mode of transportation known to man. His driving sucks. My guess is like me you're no spring chicken and you can likely count on one hand all the accidents you've had and not use all the fingers.

When I was in my late teens no one wore a helmet. When I was in my 20's only the dorks and kids did. Today I wear a helmet every time I strap up, including measuring courses where you're setting no land speed records. I will say measuring courses is the most dangerous riding I do. The crashes in my youth, while spectacular, involved a concern of getting the drop leg out of the strap and on top of the bike before you buffed all the skin off your leg more than a head injury. Luck perhaps, but it wasn't on my radar.

In any case when I was in my teens I didn't have a death wish. Hell in those days I couldn't find a helmet in my size. I also wasn't suicidal in the early 80's when I bike commuted to work without a helmet because that 75 cent gas was tough on the newlywed budget. In the late 80's in my "adult onset biking" days people were wearing helmets, so I purchased on with a new bike and wore it (much to the dismay of my riding partners) well into the 21st century until it met an untimely death by being left on the trunk lid as I pulled out of a group ride parking lot.

While nowadays I'm this "conscientious" middle aged man that wears his helmet because he's got a wife and a mortgage I can certainly understand those that go lidless not because they have a death wish, but because they don't have a death comprehension. No obligation, no apprehension, no lid.

Anyone with brains knows that riding sans helmet, being a cab driver, cop, gasoline trucker, fireman, joining the Army is a death wish. They should legislate it so that taxpayers don't have to foot the medical expenses and life insurance benefits when the dumbasses die in those jobs, and they should just triage the idiot off to meet Jesus. I'm sick of paying taxes so that someone dweeb can soak me for their own stupidity.

Keith Stone wrote:

While nowadays I'm this "conscientious" middle aged man that wears his helmet because he's got a wife and a mortgage I can certainly understand those that go lidless not because they have a death wish, but because they don't have a death comprehension. No obligation, no apprehension, no lid.

Death wish, death comprehension...semantics Keith. I know the point you're making but, look, bottom line, if you're 22 and reading this, you can die tomorrow as quickly as I can at 55 if we don't wear a helmet while cycling. You want comprehension- that oil slick around the next turn doesn't care how old you are. It'll take you down in .05 seconds w/no time to protect any part of your body. That second deer you didn't see can bolt from the underbrush and take you out like a rag doll.

Yes, it wasn't that long ago in pro cycling that the fellas didn't wear helmets. Bad things happened and all agreed it was time to be safe, not sorry. There's a variety of ways to make the case but all are variations on the safety theme. Here's a plea: please, wear a helmet. It's the smart thing to do...and your loved ones thank you!

What a bunch of sanctimonious blow holes.

I'd be willing to bet the whole lot of you never had a helmet on riding a bike till you were 25 at the earliest.

I wear a helmet when on my weekend rides, but not for my commute. I guess I just feel like the accident I'll have on the weekends will be self-inflicted and survivable, but the accident I'll have on my commute will leave me a stain on the road.

Riiiiighht wrote:

You have no idea what you are talking about. If you look at the statistics, MOST bike accidents damage the head. You are a moron.

Please link us to the statistics you mention. I've searched and simply found no evidence to support your contention. Prove to me that I'm the moron here and not you.

Falling down stairs is very likely to produce head trauma. Shall we require helmets for anyone using stairs?