As person that has been riding bikes since I was a little kid, I just have to shake my head at the morons that don't wear a helmet. Especially the old biker chicks wearing the halter tops. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43624650/ns/us_news-life/ NY motorcyclist dies on ride protesting helmet law Troopers say man would have likely survived if he had been wearing a helmet ONONDAGA, N.Y. — A motorcyclist participating in a protest ride against helmet laws went over his handlebars, hit his head on the pavement and was killed, police said Sunday. The motorcyclist, 55-year-old Philip A. Contos, likely would have survived the accident if he'd been wearing a helmet, state troopers said. The accident happened Saturday afternoon in Onondaga, a town in central New York near Syracuse. Contos was driving a 1983 Harley-Davidson on a helmet protest ride organized by the Onondaga chapter of American Bikers Aimed Towards Education, or ABATE, troopers said. The organization states that it encourages the voluntary use of helmets but opposes mandatory helmet laws. Contos, of Parish, hit his brakes, and his motorcycle fishtailed and went out of control, flipping him over the handlebars, police said. He was pronounced dead at a hospital. New York is one of 20 states that require all motorcycle riders to wear helmets. Lobbying by motorcyclist groups has led some states to repeal helmet laws. A helmet that meets federal standards reduces the wearer's chances of being killed in an accident by more than 40 percent, said safety consultant Jim Hedlund, of the Governors Highway Safety Association.
I'm against seat belt laws for adults. I don't think it is the government's job to protect me from myself.
The government and the rest of society has to pay higher bills when you are disabled in a car accident, both in health coverage and disability benefits.
Would love to see/hear comments and reactions by other protestors after this accident. Any other link(s)?
When someone dies it can leave an economic domino affect on the surviving family and creditors. So I am all for enforcing seat belt laws on r****ds.
We take care of you, so we own you, cradle to grave. Sad state of affairs when a man can't decide what to wear on his head. What's the threshold for risky behavior that can't be prohibited?
Good question and prob for DD. My take: Risky behavior that doesn't put others at risk shouldn't be legislated. Driving drunk = Federal/State Law Driving w/out helmet = Darwin's Law
I don't mind them taking a risk if they could sign waiver that says the government doesn't have to take care of them or their family if something should happen. As a lifelong bike rider, I know that its not a matter of if you are going to crash, but when. I've seen enough mangled helmets to know that people are just playing Russian roulette.
The public has to bear the WHOLE cost of healthcare. Insurance itself is just socialism for profit. But bad choices (such as people over eating) drives up the cost for all. socialism. As for the helmet law: “You can't legislate intelligence and common sense into people” -Will Rogers IMO, we need to spend more on education and less on enforcement.
I feel bad for the guy's family, but come on. If I were King for a day I think the first thing I would do is ban all those loud obnoxious Harley-type cycles. There's no reason for them to be so damn loud and the outlaw image has been co-opted by a bunch of rich/middle class losers who never did anything exciting with their lives except maybe get their jollies from wearing leather and pretending their leather-pantsed women are as wild in bed as their fantasies imagine biker chicks to be... until they predictably get hit with reality when she comes to bed. They have to pretend to be doing something exciting even though it's not, even though it's annoying to the rest of us, and even though it's stupid. My hell would be Sturgis... a bunch of loud, preening assholes with no appreciation of the history or importance of where they're at... a perfect symbol for the selfishness and runaway personal gratification of modern American culture. (While I'm at it, I'd ban tattoos on any attractive chick.)
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