Motorcycle Safety or Why are some people stupid?

[netherspirit]

I thought I had a thread on this, but its gone...hmmmm

I've had my '87 BMW K75S for about 4 years now (I haven't put nearly enough miles on it in that time) and everytime I get on it, I wear my riding jacket, long pants, my boots (or tuck the laces of my tennis shoes in), and my helmet. Every time. Even if I am just going down the street or around the block, full safety gear.

When I bought I didn't have the money to pay for it so the people that I worked for at the (www.cyclegadgets.com) loaned me the money to get it, interest free with 1 stipulation. That I take a Motorcycle Saftey Class. They are really tough to get into sometimes the waiting list is a year long, but they knew some people and we got to be alternates at a session and the instructor let us take the class. Its a great class and I learned a lot about saftey and how to ride. If you ride a motorcyle, even if you have been riding for year, go take a class on safety (http://www.msf-usa.org/). I remember this older guy in the class who said he takes the course every couple of years. I need to try and get into another one soon...

There was this guy in the class, he had the balls to ride to his first saftey class wearing no helmet. He passed the class with flying colors, he was a good, if a bit cocky, rider. I found out a few weeks after the class he had a big accident and he wasn't wearing a helmet. He ended up breaking most of the bones in his body and got some brain damage, all so he could feel the wind in his hair....

That's the Why are some people stupid part.

On my way home from work tonight, I saw 10 bikes, 2 with passangers for a total of 12 people (I'm jealous my battery is dead!) One of the bikes with a passanger both people were wearing shorts and tshirts with no helmets. The other one both people were at least wearing helmets. Out of the other 8 bikes I saw 6 of the riders were not wearing helmets, 1 of them wasn't even wearing a SHIRT! No more skin if he goes down...

Why would you gamble with your life like that? Why would anyone put their lives at risk like that? Why would anyone put a passangers life at risk? If you go down and you aren't wearing a helmet, your head hits ground, even at 30 miles an hour thats gonna hurt, A LOT. You can be the best rider in the world, but if an accident does happen, and you go down, your head hits the asphalt just as hard as everyone elses...There is a reason they are called accidents after all...

People in cars often don't see motorcycles. We are small and fit into blind spots easily. Cars are bigger than motocycles and will win in a fight everytime.

Every state should have a helmet law, just like seat belts.

Okay, rant over, sorry just had to get that off my chest, seeing people riding motorcycles without helmets really bugs me...

Hopefully I can come up with some money soon and get a new battery for my bike. Its so freaking nice out here it saddens me to be cooped up in a car!

Ride Safe.

[johnny139]

My uncle used to not wear a helmet on his cycle 'cause he wanted to feel the wind in his hair. But then he went bald, and he wears one to cover up his hairlessness. Irony? Yes, yes it is.

[Cavalier]

I hear you nether! My brother in law is an EMT. He has horror stories beyond belief about motorcycle accidents.

He says they can always tell when the accident was a rider and/or passenger without gear by the shear amount of blood on the scene.

[kenjib]

I can't believe people ride like that. Almost every motorcycle rider I know has been involved in a horrible accident which easily could have killed them with a bit of slightly worse luck.

[CupidsArt]

I have many friends that ride, ALL of them wear a helmet of some type. Nate just finished a motorcycle class last month and Brad is taking his in a few months, so not everyone is a tard when it comes to bikes.

[brickman1444]

My brother said to me Helmets protect your brain. People that don't wear helmets don't have anything to protect.

[Firemaster]

This reminds me of a story of my own.

One day when I was around 10, I was going to ride my bike without a helmet. I had figured that since nothing had happened to my head up to that point, nothing is likely going to happen now(Plus I was too lazy to walk inside and grab it).

So I was about to hop on my bike and ride away when my Mom stops me and insists that I wear my helmet. I argue for a couple minutes, but I begrudgedly put on my helmet and ride away. After a few minutes of riding around, my back wheel hits a patch of gravel, and my bike falls and my head smacks off the ground really hard. But, because my Mom caught me in time and made me wear my helmet, my head remained undamaged. Had she not caught me in time and made sure I wore my helmet, or had I continued to be stubborn, then there is a good chance that today I would be lying on a hospital bed in a coma, or walking around with scrambled brains, rather than posting here on Heroscapers.

[netherspirit]

Originally Posted by CupidsArt

I have many friends that ride, ALL of them wear a helmet of some type. Nate just finished a motorcycle class last month and Brad is taking his in a few months, so not everyone is a tard when it comes to bikes.

Thankfully you are right, not everyone is a tard when riding a bike, it astonished me that 2/3 of the people that I saw today were not wearing helmets. Thats a lot. Maybe it has to do with the fact that its a university campus or something...but then again I see a lot of older riders that are set in their ways, they've been riding for years and nothing bad has happened to them, why start wearing a helmet now?

I remember this kid from one of my speech classes (the only thing good about this class was the TA was hott!) crashed and slid down a big hill by the stadium. He came back to class a few days later telling everyone how his helmet and jacket saved his life. He hit his head so hard that his helmet cracked, which is better than having you skull crack open. He only a got a concussion instead of getting dead.

[Dennys]

In my (now retired) military career, I had the fortune of having the same driver safety instructor from Ft. Dix, NJ. Mr Gulick about 4 times. If you arrived at his class 5 minutes late, you had to re-enroll.

He had binders and powerpoint presentations of photos of some very gruesome accidents. And after showing each one, and explaining why the driver ignored proper safety rules, he would pull out the class sign in sheet with the driver's name highlighted, saying "And HE took my class"

I never want my name to be highlighted.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by netherspirit

People in cars often don't see motorcycles. We are small and fit into blind spots easily. Cars are bigger than motocycles and will win in a fight everytime.

Nether's a talking bike-admin?!?!? COOOOL Ride on Nether!!!

I completely agree with you Nether, it's like I always say with nukes, It doesn't matter how nice we are, if we're nuked, we're nuked. Plus nukes also fill in blind spots, and non-blind spots. And spots you didn't even know existed.

[Rodriquez]

ok I've ridden a bike for about 4 yrs now or so.
I've got a '03 750 nighthawk..I learned on a '71 honda 350 scrambler(this and a old suz. 550l cruiser).

aye I had my 'hawk when I took the safety course, the course is a great lil class if yer not sure if ye wanna get a bike or not, it teaches the basics and they provide lil 250 bikes(oh it was lotsa fun riding the 250 'hawk they had). they say to take the safety course every 3-5 yrs, for couple reason, 1st most ins. will give discount as long as yer current on it(depends on ins) and 2)it's a good refresher....howerver there's also 2 other courses ye can take(or one depending where ye live) the intermediate class, which ye bring yer own bike and they teach ye more about how to keep it up and cornering and such. and an advanced class which once again ye bring yer own bike and they teach ye more about how to do hard cornering, etc(this one Ive seen is more towards the crotch rockets, racers)



even though I can go w/o a helmet according to state law(all it requires is a tag and med insurance) I've hardly ever ridding w/o one, and the few times I'd gone w/o a helmet was basically the 1/5 mile to the store for a drink/snack or few times I had to pick my son up and he wore the helmet(before I got him one of his own).

I know bunch of guys here who'll ride on hwy's and such w/o a helmet and I can't see doing that myself.


as to a battery, have ye checked walmart nether? heheh I got one there for my old scrambler for like 20 bucks. Though when I replaced the "hawks battery I got a nice one from sears(but guy hooked me up there and gave me a good discount).

cheers
Rod

[deadeyedan42]

* looks at honda dirt bike, freashly used*

* looks at helet, havn't used since summer.*

* wonders why.*




Stupid Stupid Stupid!