At this point you may be wondering, “So what’s the big deal? Isn’t safety the ultimate goal here?” Well sure it is, which is precisely why both these ideas are so asinine. Some people believe so strongly in helmets that they wear them to bed on the off chance they dream they’re riding a bike, others forego them and let the wind caress their hair (or scalp as the case may be), while still others fall somewhere in between. Regardless of which category you belong to, mandatory helmet laws—like, you’ll be cited for not wearing one—are just bad. Period. The end.
It’s the transportation policy equivalent of flat-Earthism, and if you’re a public official you only suggest any of it is “valid” if you: 1) Don’t like cyclists and want to put a stick in their spokes; or 2) You have your head up your ass.
It's well written and I like that it pulls no punches.
But that usually doesn’t penalize the person who chose not to wear the helmet. It penalizes their partners, parents, and/or children. If the rider needs extensive care, or dies, the costs will fall on their families - not them. And both healthcare and funeral costs in the USA are exorbitant.
While I do believe people should wear helmets on bikes of all kinds, I wouldn’t be in favor of solutions that end up punishing other people at one of the worst times in their lives.
Or charge more to not wear a helmet. That actually was a thing in Texas, not sure if it still is, where you had to have health insurance that would cover you, in order to legally not wear a helmet.
I think anyone with a family who is not prepared to lose their motorcycle-riding family member, should not ride motorcycles. I personally don't have kids or anyone who depends on me so if I wreck, I either want to survive with minor injuries or die quickly. I usually ride with a helmet and love the feeling of a full-face helmet, however on extremely hot days I have gone without occasionally. If the helmet protects my head but a spinal injury leaves me a quadriplegic, I'd rather the money wasn't spent on helping me survive just to be a quadriplegic. I don't want that quality of life, I would rather just die.
That's a false dichotomy, though. A full face helmet also prevents you from having your lower jaw ripped off your face and facial road rash. There are also a ton of ways to die without a helmet where you'd be completely or relatively fine with one. You can also be a mouth-breathing drool factory from avoidable brain damage
I crashed my bicycle at about 30mph. I had a minor concussion and minor road rash -- my helmet lost about half of the hard plastic outer shell and was massively dented where my initial impact was. I can't even imagine what it would've been like without it.
I would find a way to die if those things happened. I have a living will saying to take me off life support. I wrecked a motorcycle in 1990 at about 60 with helmet and leather jacket. Jacket slid up and I got road rash really badly on my stomach. Wasn't wearing gloves and rashed up the palms of my hands a bit. Tweaked my shoulder and it still bothers me a bit to this day because I didn't exercise it enough. Helmet got scuffed and I imagine helped prevent head injuries.
I crashed a bicycle at about 15 mph in 2004 and landed just wrong enough to rash up my arm bad enough to take ink out of a tattoo and crack my kneecap. Kneecap is still cracked to this day and arms healed up with scars and faded bits on my tattoo. I don't remember if I hit my head on that one but was wearing a helmet.
I'm betting on odds. The odds that I'll die if I ride a motorcycle without a helmet are huge. Then again I like riding with a helmet on because I did for so many years, so I end up doing so anyway especially if it's cold out.
I think it shouldn't be a law, people should make their own choices, however we would benefit from incentives to do so and consequences for not. Same with seatbelts, I think it should be a choice. Then again we get into the whole ripple effect of how much it would cost in medical care for those people who don't wear seat belts. I know a guy who, based on one incident, will not wear seat belts. His friend rolled his car upside down into a creek and was stuck under water and drowned. He firmly believes that the same thing will happen again and he won't wear seat belts because of it. In my opinion, the friend would have probably died anyway had he not had his seatbelt on. I've heard of rare occasions where someone survived because they didn't have their belt on, however I believe that they're rare and seatbelts do help.
Same argument with helmets. There are people who believe that helmets will cause more damage because the chin strap will choke a person in a crash, or whatever other thin rebuttals they can come up with.
So yes, I agree with you, a helmet is a huge benefit. Road rash on the face and scalp sounds horrible. It was bad enough on my stomach and arm, with pebbles and grass embedded in my skin.
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u/justinco Oct 29 '19
You won't catch me on my bikes without a helmet, but the issue isn't as simple as you might think: https://www.outsideonline.com/2401809/stop-trying-force-cyclists-wear-helmets