Only a $50 fine for no helmet?

[SMOKEU]

I say decrease the fine for no helmet to $10

Wearing a helmet should not be mandatory; at least then we can eliminate some more idiots from the gene pool.

[The Pastor]

all you pussies who need helmets and brakes to ride! HA! I can ride my bike with no handlebars.

[scumdog]

all you pussies who need helmets and brakes to ride! HA! I can ride my bike with no handlebars.

Ferk, I just need a bike - no motor involved!

[Big Dave]

I ride my bike like it's got no handlebars.

fixed for 10

[cowboyz]

really??? ppl do know we are talking about a POS AG farm bike that was probably lucky to be doing 40k/hr! I used to whip up to the runoff all teh time on the road with no helmet on. I thought the cop was being a prentenious bitch anyhow.

[Banditbandit]

The scarey thing is John - we are sharing the roads with the above mentioned lackwits and vacuum brains...

Who are you calling a lackwit and a vak .. vacum .. errr .. THAT ??

[Reckless]

Yep - no lid = $50 now... was $150.... but to appease those claiming it was all revenue collecting, one of the new reduced revenue collecting fines......

WTF: They put the ACC levies up and the fines for no helmet DOWN??
Next year we will read head injuries are up and ACC has to go up again!
WTF: There just ain't no sense in this world anymore??

[davereid]

Wearing a helmet should not be mandatory; at least then we can eliminate some more idiots from the gene pool.

The facts sadly don't support you.

In spite of our passionate belief in the effectiveness of helmets, which logic tells us just must make us safer, the evidence is less clear cut.

Getting on a motorcycle made you somewhere between 18 and 25 times more likely to die in a motor accident than a car driver.

So there is no doubt that you have to be an idiot to ride a motorcycle.

But a helmet ?

It makes such a minor difference to survival rates that it can't be clearly seen in NZ data, which actually peaks with the most deaths after helmets were introduced.

(This is caused by the first oil crisis which pushed lots of kiwis onto bikes, rather than any increase caused by helmets.).

And even international data, collected over years, and for the purpose of "proving" helmets are wonderful manages only to credit them with a 0.3 to 0.5 times improvement.

Year - Deaths Motor Cyclist & Pillion
1965-170
1966-162
1967-188
1968-179
1969-179
1970-211
1971-227
1972-225
1973-250
1974-190
1975-170
1976-180
1977-207
1978-176
1979-140
1980-163

So, wear your helmet.

But be very very aware that it is not a panacea.

The laws of physics tell us that your helmet will be very good at preventing abrasion.
And not very good at reducing brain injury.
And possibly implicated in increasing spinal injury.

And also consider that it is not a binary.

A helmet does not necessarily change it from "Dead" to "Uninjured".

There are a lot of people with serious brain and spinal injuries, well and truly alive, and counted in the "helmet saved me" figures.

Its my view that we strap on a helmet, and somehow think we are now "ok" or "safe".

This is a view of the helmet as a magical tool. Its not. Its just 2kg of plastic.

[Banditbandit]

Now let me see .. If helmet laws came in in December, 1973, and helmets are designed to reduce motorcycle accident deahs, then the figures for motorcycle deaths should drop in the number of deaths in 1974 and thereafter ...

So let us look at you figures ......

Oh look ... in 1973 there were 250 motorcycle accident deaths and in 1974 there were 190 ... A 24% drop ... that's statistically significant ... I wonder what occurred to make that drop .... THAT'S RIGHT - HELMETS BECAME COMPULSORY ... and in 1975 and 1976 there was a further drop ... (Maybe we all caught up and bought helmets ...)

Yeah it goes up again ... (lots of people bought small cheap jap crap around that time - cheap commuter transport) so I'd need to comapre it to bikes on the road as well ...

But it certainly looks like an impact to me .. and pretty immediate ...

[davereid]

Now let me see .. If helmet laws came in in December , 1973, and helmets are designed to reduce motorcycle accident deahs, then the figures for motorcycle deaths should drop in the number of deaths in 1974 and thereafter ...

So let us look at you figures ......

Oh look ... in 1973 there were 250 motorcycle accident deaths and in 1974 there were 190 .. I wonder what occured that made that drop .... HELMETS BECAME COMPULSORY ... and in 1975 and 1976 there was a further drop ... (Maybe we all caught up and bought helmets ...)

Yeah it goes up again ... (lots of people bought smal cheap jap crap) so I'd need to comapre it to bikes on the road as well ...

But it certainly looks like an impact to me .. and pretty immediate ...

Hmm I understood helmets became compulsory in 1971 for speeds above 30mph, and fully compulsory in 1973.

I could stand corrected there.

I don't see it as particularly relevant, as the rate returned to pretty similar to the rate for the 60s.

Not the massive change predicted.

[steve_t]

Dave, interesting reading. Have you got access to the total number of motorcycle accidents in each year? Or, slightly less relevant but relevant nonetheless, the total number of motorbikes registered in NZ in each year? I'm amazed nobody's actually done a study. We should hit up some university kids to do one

[gazmascelle]

so..

fine for no helmet on a MC - $50

any old open face helmet might avoid this fine, but will still leave your chin/face/etc all over the road after a bad whoops

even a full face helmet will often serve no purpose other than providing something to scoop your remains from the road after an accident

fine for no helmet on a bicycle - $55! haha


Is everyone running our government fucked in the head? OK so my last helmet saved me from a very sore face last year when my suzuki found itself under a car though.. maybe they're not so bad

[SMOKEU]

I thought the cop was being a prentenious bitch anyhow.

I can't say I blame her after he took that long to stop, even with no brakes.

[Kickaha]

There are a lot of people with seriious brain and spinal injuries, well and truly alive, and counted in the "helmet saved me" figures.

Something you've said on a few occasions but so far you have been unable to provide any figures to back up your claim when asked to

[avgas]

Wearing a helmet should not be mandatory; at least then we can eliminate some more idiots from the gene pool.

Sadly my friend. The fuckers breed faster than they kill themselves according to stats.
This is why the USA seems to get more and more of them as time continues.