crash helmets;

[billy]

should people be forced to wear them?

a funny thing happened at the rally against motorcycle helmets

[Leanne]

Well now, if that doesn't fall into the category of natural selection I don't know what does. Helmets, just like seatbelts in cars, are not intended to infringe on your personal freedom, they're intended to stop emergency services from having to wash your brains off the road.

[srijantje]

it's up to them to wear one or not,insurance policies could be higher if you don't wear a helmet

[Leanne]

Unfortunately, the cost isn't only in the insurance premium. In civilised countries at least -- the ones with a decent health care system -- the cost of rehabilitation after brain injury is staggering. That's if the victim survives -- although I hesitate to use the word victim, since in a fatal collision caused by the idiocy of a motorcyclist, the victim is more likely the driver of the other vehicle who deals with the guilt for the rest of his life.

[addy]

So... the organization protesting the use of crash helmets is called "American Bikers Aimed for Education"? Go figure. (looked at some of the comments and it was a doozy. One guy said that wearing helmets leads to increased neck injuries... I dunno, but I think if someone breaks their neck in an accident, theoretically it would have broken from the impact with or without the helmet)

For me it's more than reasonable to enforce certain precautions. Cars, because of their speed, are legally required to provide a certain standard of protection to the passenger inside. Bikes do it by proxy via the helmets; because otherwise they are not very "roadworthy" at all.

[srijantje]

i don't agree,if you have a crash on a bike with or without involvement of somebody else ,it doesn't matter for the 3th party if you wear a helmet or not,if you get a head injury clearly because you didn't wear a helmet you might not be covered,does your insurance pay when you drive drunk and have an accident?