Missouri considers repealing motorcycle helmet law

[greminn]

Was reading this on Autoblog.com, but thought.. hmm that would be an interesing poll. Would you, given NZ removed the need for helmets, still wear one?

I feel that i would feel very wrong without one on.

Article Content: Put out of its Missouri: State Legislature considers repealing motorcycle helmet law

Few issues out on the open road are as divisive as helmet laws for motorcycle riders. On the one hand, you have individual liberty advocates – many motorcyclists among them – insisting that the government can't tell riders what's best for them. On the other are safety advocates, armed with evidence of increased fatalities where helmets aren't mandatory. Now the Missouri state legislature has sent a bill to the governor that would, if signed into law, repeal the state's mandatory helmet regulations. Autoblog.com (http://www.autoblog.com/2009/05/17/put-out-of-its-missouri-state-legislature-considers-repealing-m/)

[p.dath]

There mad! I value my lifew too much not to wear a helmet. So they are they also going to make sucicide legal as well?

[The Pastor]

sigh.


i'd wear a helment when i warrent it fit to do so, and i'd ride with out one when i want to.

[ManDownUnder]

Everything else aside... have you guys ever had a large bug (bumblebee for example) fly into your face?

That's reason enough for me to wear a full face. Safety stuff's a bonus.

[Tone165]

sigh.


i'd wear a helment when i warrent it fit to do so, and i'd ride with out one when i want to.


I already do this.

very few places that I ride where I don't feel a helmet is worthwhile, another factor is that helmet is less likely to get scratched on my head as opposed to hanging off the side of my seat.

But sometimes I admit that riding sedately along the waterfront sans helmet is pretty damn nice!

[Slyer]

As much as I love stupid people dying because they didn't wear a helmet, the chance of them getting a head injury and being a even bigger drain on society is too great.

[Finn]

I would love to see more laws like this scrapped and welcome personal responsibility.

Mind you, I'd also like to see Government bureaucrats reduced by at least 60% but that ain't gonna happen without a coup. Self serving nazi's.

However, to answer your question, yes, I would normally wear a helmet but would like the option of not wearing one.

[Magua]

I would love to see more laws like this scrapped and welcome personal responsibility.

However, to answer your question, yes, I would normally wear a helmet but would like the option of not wearing one.

As would I.

[Slyer]

I would love to see more laws like this scrapped and welcome personal responsibility.

Mind you, I'd also like to see Government bureaucrats reduced by at least 60% but that ain't gonna happen without a coup. Self serving nazi's.

However, to answer your question, yes, I would normally wear a helmet but would like the option of not wearing one.
Agree.
By not wearing a helmet you endanger only yourself.

Although, if you crash without a helmet and get a head injury or something, you shouldn't get shit from the government. Can't pay for it? Too bad.

[Hitcher]

The irony about most US States that don't have mandatory helmet laws for motorcyclists is that almost without exception they have mandatory helmet laws for treadly riders. What's all that about then?

I'll tell you what it's about, it's about spineless legislators and well resourced lobby groups who vehemently argue personal responsibility and pro choice matters.

Don't forget that the USA doesn't have an ACC equivalent. If through your own actions you turn yourself into a vegetable, you're on your own: the taxpayer is not impacted. Where the taxpayer ends up paying for the repair and rehabilitation costs of motorcycle accidents, they should have a say in laws designed to protect motorcyclists from themselves and other road users.

[ManDownUnder]

Don't forget that the USA doesn't have an ACC equivalent. If through your own actions you turn yourself into a vegetable, you're on your own: the taxpayer is not impacted.

No - but it seems the 'responsible party" is... i.e. anyone in the chain of events, no matter how remotely connected, that has the biggest source of funds to be tapped.

So they sue the bike manufacturer for not making the vehicle safe enough, or the person that planted the tree they hit... it was clearly in the wrong place... etc. The expertise of the ambulance chasers in the US just fascinates me, along with the natural dichotomy of
1) Freedom of choice
2) An apparent total lack of personal responsibility
3) Money solves everything... all we need to do is find someone with some...

It's a wonderful place. God defend New Zealand from such a pathetic approach

[Finn]

Although, if you crash without a helmet and get a head injury or something, you shouldn't get shit from the government. Can't pay for it? Too bad.

I'm fine with that. User pays. Like it a lot.

[slofox]

Given the average intelligence level of the typical amerikan citizen, I doubt that a rash of head injuries would even be noticeable...:whistle:

[MisterD]

I would love to see more laws like this scrapped and welcome personal responsibility.

Mind you, I'd also like to see Government bureaucrats reduced by at least 60% but that ain't gonna happen without a coup. Self serving nazi's.

However, to answer your question, yes, I would normally wear a helmet but would like the option of not wearing one.

I agree on all fronts, but even if the government says I don't have to wear a helmet, the missus says I do...

[allycatz]

Helmets to bikes like seatbelts to cars....you can do both without but useful in an accident

[Swoop]

:rofl:

The thought of NZ's safety-nazi OSH morons, actually doing something against the grain...
:rofl:

Bahahahaha!!! Personal choice and personal responsibility? In NZ? :thud:

[skidMark]

ridden without one for jaunts around the block once upon a time....great feeling wind in your hair etc...

but fuck coming off without one.

[2wheelsofjustice]

Right - wind in your hair is fun.. wind whipping across the top of your exposed frontal-lobe is less fun.. or so I'm told.

Having to pilot a venice-style gondola through a sea of biker brains any time I wanted to cross a road would get tiresome pretty quick..

Edit: hmm first post.. so.. HI I'm seb :)

[GaZBur]

If I didn't wear a helmet.
I would be dead at aged 17.
I would have probably died again at about 24.
I would have had serious head injuries but not possibly be dead at age 32.
I smashed a helmet at the track 18 months ago - it would have been serious without a helmet but was nothing because I was wearing one.
I am 50 and quite willing to smash up another few helmets before I give up - but I am not willing to smash up my brain.

Your choice though - don't let me influence you. The fact that I am here to make smarmy posts when I would otherwise have been dead for 33 years already says it all to me.

[skidMark]

If I didn't wear a helmet.
I would be dead at aged 17.
I would have probably died again at about 24.
I would have had serious head injuries but not possibly be dead at age 32.
I smashed a helmet at the track 18 months ago - it would have been serious without a helmet but was nothing because I was wearing one.
I am 50 and quite willing to smash up another few helmets before I give up - but I am not willing to smash up my brain.

Your choice though - don't let me influence you. The fact that I am here to make smarmy posts when I would otherwise have been dead for 33 years already says it all to me.


i think i have gone through about 8 helmets...

only got one noggin...

if it was a perfect world where an accident was only ever your fault then some people would go yeah no helmet...

but when retards pull u turns infront of ya.... is it really worth being killed for not wearing a lid when you come off at only 20-30kph?

[The Stranger]

Everything else aside... have you guys ever had a large bug (bumblebee for example) fly into your face?

That's reason enough for me to wear a full face. Safety stuff's a bonus.

This is why it is compulsory to wear eye protection in California.
But of course helmets are optional.

Presumably eyes are more important than brains in California.

[greminn]

I'm fine with that. User pays. Like it a lot.

And take the warning labels off everything!!

I know its HOT COFFEE damm it!

[Swoop]

This is why it is compulsory to wear eye protection in California.
But of course helmets are optional.

Presumably eyes are more important than brains in California.
The American OSHA has a reverse attitude to ours. They put less emphasis on hearing protection but more on eye protection.
The logic being that one can put in a hearing aid and still be able to hear, but an artificial eye cannot see for you.
Brains, on the other hand...

[Laxi]

missoura red necks bounce

[Hitcher]

This is why it is compulsory to wear eye protection in California.
But of course helmets are optional.

Not true. California is one of the few helmet-mandatory states in the US of A. At least it was as recently as last August.

[slofox]

When I first had a bike I had no helmet (wasn't compulsory then).
Me Mum insisted I buy one. She paid. I bought it one morning. That afternoon some loon drove into me across an intersection. I went over the bars and on to the road. On my head. Without the helmet I would have copped a major head injury looking at what happened to the helmet. Mind you, given my crazed loon state, it might not have made that much of a difference to my life anyway...

[The Stranger]

Not true. California is one of the few helmet-mandatory states in the US of A. At least it was as recently as last August.

Correct - sorry it was Colorado was mentioned on the American forum, and several other states too when you look at the list (http://www.biker-rally-pics.com/statelaws.php).

Still seems kind of dumb to me.
Sure it may prevent an accident, thus mitigating the need for a helmet, but if you got the right to choose brain damage, why not the right to choose impaired vision?

[rachprice]

I do love head

[Blackshear]

I do love head

Lol, subtlety, dearest, subtlety.


Also, on my totally fucking fruitless job hunting today...
Bee down jacket but not stung, YUS.
2 bugs hit my visor, one was a pretty big guy. Bumblebee? Sounded like a air rifle shot in my helmet.

And last but not least, some pedestrian did a friendly wave to me, and when confronted in order to inspect whom waved, didn't wanna talk to me :(

[rachprice]

Lol, subtlety, dearest, subtlety.


ahahhaha whats the point in that?

[Blackshear]

ahahhaha whats the point in that?

Heads don't really kinda sorta have a point either, I fail to see your problem :bleh:

Edit: Yeah that was a lot funnier in my head...

[rachprice]

Heads don't really kinda sorta have a point either, I fail to see your problem :bleh:

You were the one that had the problem with my lack of subtlety, I dont have a problem at all, except maybe not enough head

[Ixion]

I wore a helmet before they were compulsory, so I guess i'd wear one now if they weren't. Mostly. But I've never agreed with making them mandatory. Nor seat belts.

[awayatc]

There mad! I value my lifew too much not to wear a helmet.

Relax......It is not that they want to make it illegal to wear a helmet........


So they are they also going to make sucicide legal as well?

I suppose you mean suicide....?
And what are they gonna do if somebody commits "illegal"suicide?
Give Them a ticket?.......

[Strike]

Id totally wear a helmet regardless of Law, its kinda of a no brainer for riding in aucks traffic..... riding without i may very well end up a no brainer....

[popelli]

poorly worded poll designed to scew results towards nanny state helmet laws

would vote if it had more appropriately worded options

[Blackshear]

I suppose you mean suicide....?
And what are they gonna do if somebody commits "illegal"suicide?
Give Them a ticket?.......

Bring them back and lockem up for life in a bubble-wrap room :Police:

[Ixion]

I suppose you mean suicide....?
And what are they gonna do if somebody commits "illegal"suicide?
Give Them a ticket?.......

Well, I would expect a conscientious cop, like our Mr Scumdog, to go after them and arrest them.

[6ft5]

Id totally wear a helmet regardless of Law, its kinda of a no brainer for riding in aucks traffic..... riding without i may very well end up a no brainer....

So agree with you Strike apart from the on "aucks traffic" bit, should really read "nz traffic".

[The Stranger]

I do love head

Giving?
Receiving?
Both?

[rachprice]

Giving?
Receiving?
Both?

yes.

dam 10 characters

[dpex]

Everything else aside... have you guys ever had a large bug (bumblebee for example) fly into your face?

That's reason enough for me to wear a full face. Safety stuff's a bonus.

Yeah, I'm with MDU on this one. Over the Christmas break I was able to ride free on forestry roads without a helmet. Frankly, the bugs were a bit of a pain, but what really annoyed me was the velocity of air-movement, above about 70Ks which caused my eyes to water, constantly.

However, that's just me relating a particular circumstance.

On the one hand there was a personal requirement to revert to using my helmet, for no other reason than personal comfort. On the other hand society has no authority to compel me to protect myself.

Successive governments, world-wide, have sought to impose their will on the freedom of the individual. As John Stuart Mill asserted, '...Over his own mind and body, the rights of the individual are sovereign.'

If you are of a mind to pollute your mind with the nature of freedom visit http://www.bartleby.com/130/ I take no responsibility for any life-changes which may occur after you have visited this site.

[dipshit]

BRONZ were opposing the compulsory helmet law in the 80's as well.

[jim.cox]

Reccon most of the time I'd continue to wear the bash hat

But it would be nice to have the choice...

[awayatc]

all new houses shall be wired up for 12 volts power.
since 220 volts can kill ya.....

Also no more multistory dwellings,
since falling of stairs can kill you to....

It shall also become illegal to spend any time in a bed,
since that's where 93.0789% of the population died last year......
(according to a coleman mustard poll..)

[popelli]

BRONZ were opposing the compulsory helmet law in the 80's as well.

not for very long, they had a vote and the few that could be bothered to vote voted to support helmet laws

I went to a few of the early BRONZ meetings, they started out with good intentions but lost their way very quickly