Stupid people on motorcycles.

I live on a fairly major road which happens to be frequented by a lot of motorcycles on the weekends. Maybe one in ten of these people is wearing a helmet. Almost none of them are wearing chaps, gauntlet gloves, and a proper leather jacket or motorcycle jacket.

What the hell are these idiots thinking? Motorcycles are dangerous enough when you have a proper helmet and the full set of reccomended armor. If the guy on the half tonne Harley wearing a pair of shorts, some sneakers, and sunglasses so much as tips over he's going to need a bloody skin graft.

It pisses me off to see such idiotic recklessness, especially when it's so easy to just go out and buy a damned helmet.

it's gods way of weeding out the idiots.

And damn is it effective.

Population control my friend, population control!

Humans actually evolved from lemmings!

In Texas, wearing a helmet is optional if you've taken a motorcycle safety course. I personally am fine with the concept of personal choice. The liberterian in me is also fine with the idea of people who don't wear helmets being required to carry additional insurance so that society doesn't have to pay for my medical costs should my choice potentially have an impact on society.

That being said, when I ride it's with full gear and helmet.... and stone cold sober.

same here. I don't know if people think it makes them look cool and invincible or if it's just that they find comfort to be more important than safety.

I might ride to the grocery store in the same parking lot as my apartments without the jacket, but I won't turn the key until I have my helmet and gloves and boots on.

and definitly sober.


also Archi, you have to have the MSF course and at least $10,000 dollars in injury protection on your motorcycle insurance. I guess they figure as long as you can do it without making yourself a burden on the health care industry, you're free to crack yer noggin open as you like.

At least here in California theres a mandatory helmet law, which makes the most sense in my opinion. A good portion of people who get killed on bikes would survive if they had a helmet on.

The thing I dont understand is these people on high powered sportbikes wearing shorts and a t-shirt doing stand up wheelies at 100+mph on the freeway.

One mistake and you are going to be in a world of hurt.

you think a skid lid and chaps will prevent injuries in a collision? helmets dont save lives. theres nothing reckless about not wearing a helmet. your just as likely to get hit by a car crossing a busy street. should pedestrian wear chaps and a helmet? reckless pedestrians!

Can you point to any reputable source to show that helmets do not save lives? Just one link, that's all I want.

pedastrians don't run down the sidewalk at 80 mph hour either.

in a severe enough crash, it's true that a helmet probably won't make much difference, but at surface street speeds it most certainly can. and as for the rest it's a matter of not wanting all your skin torn off...or just not caring if it is.

I don't think chaps are strictly necessery, but since most injuries sustained from bikes are to the lower extremeties (lowsiding and sliding or rolling), wearing a pair of board shorts and sneakers is just silly.

http://www.thumpertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=268703

If the photobucket bandwidth ever gets under limit there are some *amazing* pictures on this site. The bike is inside the car. Scary.

Let those who ride, decide! It's really no different then someone purposly jumping out of an airplane, rock climbing without ropes, or any other "dangerous" sport, except for every biker on the road without a helmet there are ten idiots who shouldn't be driving a car

chaps

no dem_z, i dont have a link handy. im just speaking from experience. i knew a few people who have died in motorcycle accidents...all were wearing helmets. stupid people are reckless, not all people who choose not to wear a helmet. i always wear a helmet. i think we should have a choice.

Why exactly are you making this ridiculous claim? Did you get run over in the crosswalk and hit your head? I've gotten hit by a car going freeway speed and thrown from by bike. There is no way I would be typing this right now if I wasn't wearing a helmet that day.

let the stupid fucks do what they want, make a drinking game out of it, for every guy you see or dont see in proper garb, take a shot

If you're in the St. Louis area you have to deal with the "streetfighters" and all the other douchebag street bike crews who do wheelies on the highway.

what?

OK ...
I have been hit on the freeway @50-60mph while riding my motorcycle.
I flew from my bike and smashed my fucking head into the pavement.
If I didn't have a helmet on I would be dead (thus not able to type this).
In my opinion you saying that helmets don't save lives was a ridiculous and irresponsible statement.
Dig?

i dig. helmets are a good idea. i just think i/you should have a choice wether or not i/you wear one. i should have said, helmets dont always save lives. just like seatbelts. your point is kinda my point. you were not reckless, the driver that hit you was reckless. wearing a helmet may have saved your life. if you chose not to wear a helmet doesnt mean you were reckless...the other driver was.

and my comment, "ridiculous and irresponsible"? come on, you sound like tom cruise... and i think irresponsible implies that the people on this site cant think for themselves.

True, riding is not particularly like any number of extreme sports. It is, however, a lot like driving a car, and we have a whole bunch of laws and regulations intended to limit the injuries and public health costs incurred in car accidents. Curiously, I haven't heard a lot of calls for "Let those who drive, decide!" I wonder why.

that's kind of ignorant really, it's basic physics.

helmets reduce the kinetic energy on your skull and brain while leather clothing reduces roadburn and other nasty things happening to your skin.

it simply helps a lot, ofcourse helmets won't let you walk away from a serious crash but it's pretty much all that stands between having your brain splattered over the curb and just a serious concussion.

also if you get nasty roadburn while wearing leather, what do you think would have happened without the leather.

Is it really mean and awful of me to want to gently knudge these people with my car and watch them fly off their bikes and watch their heads explode all over the concrete?

I feel the same way about people who don't have their kids buckled up or in car seats. I just want a huge semi to come and rear end them.

God, I'm mean.

i wasnt talking about roadrash. i was talking about a collision.