Aharpo.149
net.cycle
utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!ARPAVAX:mhtsa!ihnss!cbosg!harpo!ber
Thu Dec 17 00:55:57 1981
helmets
I think SUCK is as approprite for the net as any adjective.
But on the issue of helmets. There is no question that the injuries
sustained to your noodle are lessened (greatly) by wearing a helmet.
Some of these points most everyone agrees with, others are controversial.
Although audio impairment may be no worse than an automobile with the
windows up, a motorcycle rider needs to hear better.
Peripheral vision is impaired.
The fuller the helmet, the greater the fatigue.
They cost $$$.
However my main gripe is not about helmets per se, but about helmet laws.
They are just plain unconstitutional. The state does not have the right
to protect me from myself. I've heard some prettty lame arguments like:
Yeh, but what if you get hit in the head with a rock, become unconscience
and lose control and wipe out a school bus, huh. Well what if I get
hit with skylab and ....
It may seem base, yet it is cheaper for everyone concerned if you die
than if you're severley injured. I've had two friends go veggie WITH
helmets. If they had been riding without them, they'ld be dead.
Is that an argument NOT to wear helmets? Graveyards are cheaper
than hospitals for insurance companies.
Admitedly, I've never hit my head in an accident. I've had
One serious accident (hospital) and a dozen minor ones ranging from
leaning my bike as I flip down the kick stand and missing the
kickstand to narrowly missing the asshole that pulled out in front of me
as I slide down a snow covered road on my sidecover. Every time I go
down, my first instinctive reaction is to get the f*cking helmet off.
Then I try to wiggle my toes.
But I LIKE my hair blowing in the wind. I even like convertibles
without roll bars. I like to turn my head without the chinstrap
chaffing me. I like to hear sirens and horns.
If I had a death wish, I'ld be dead. Personnally I feel that 'most'
if not 99% of motorcycle accidents are the fault of the cyclist because
they weren't conscience of what they were doing, riding a bike.
If more of the turkey's on two wheelers bounced on their keppies, the
law of natural selection would bring those insurance premiums way down.
As it is they just get up and return to the road and do it again.
Sometimes I like to wear my helmet and sometimes I don't.
Living in Tucson has reaffirmed my hatred for hardhats.
I was in court fighting the helmet law the day it was repeled.
If anyone else feels the same way, I have a little gimic that has kept
me out of court since. I wear a bicycle helmet. I haven't been stopped yet
and you can hardly tell it's on your head. It's the next best thing
I've found so far.
brian
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