View Full Version : The world is now a safer place...
And I am $30 poorer, ticketed for no helmet. Lucky it was on the way home from a kick-ass sesh at the skate park or I'd be pretty pissed off right now. As it is, I'm not pissed at all as I got x-up abubaca's today, which I've been working on for weeks :) but it's made me think...
What do people think about the helmet laws anyway, should we as adults be forced to wear helmets by "the man" or should it come down to personal choice.
Personally, I'm a firm believer in the freedom of an adult to do to their body as they wish. As a responsible adult, If I don't want to protect my melon on the 2 minute footpath ride between my house and the skatepark I think it should be my business not theirs. What piece of paper have I ever signed giving the police the right to govern my body and decide whether I'm taking adequate care of it?
Yeah true....i personally choose to wear my helmet on big things but not riding around the streets
your riding on their roads and footpaths so you are their responsibility while your are on their land, public liability insurance and dumb lawsuits effect the government too.
i think also they can sting you a the skatepark too if they really wanted too.
SquarkyD
01-07-2003, 03:44 PM
i take mine off when in the skate park, just feels uncomfortable, however i will ALWAYS have it on when doing dirt jumps, even small ones. no idea why jus feels right that way.
bazza
01-07-2003, 03:48 PM
down with helmet laws. im a rebel. if a car hits me and my head hits the road and i die, well looks like someone can sue the council. we may be able to control our bikes, well most of us, but theres others out there that struggle and if a car pulls out of a driveway and hits them or something else happens and you hit your head on the pavement with some force say hello to the hospital. i smashed my head when for some reason my grip slipped of my 'get around k-mart' bike, so yeah i was grateful of it then. just wear it. just in case. imagine not being able to ride for weeks or months or ever.... if that happened to you, just a stupid accident.
CHEWY
01-07-2003, 03:49 PM
i always wear my helmut, i didnt used to until a miss timed bunnyhop gave me a bad concussion, now try not to go out without it. but whatever its ur body, if u dont mind it getting rogered thats ur buisness.
HELMETS SAVE LIVES
Because everyone's taxes will be paying to keep you on life support if your bingle and land on your head.
tax is a cunt... lets keep it as minimal as we can!
Techno Destructo
01-07-2003, 03:53 PM
Another reason why helmet laws may be enforced is that if you smacked your melon off a curb, and became a vegetable that would leech off the public health care system for another 60 odd years, some people would be annoyed if that kinda expenditure could have been avoided.
But I agree, do watcha like.
Just remember, usually the worst bails happen during the stuff that you would never expect to screw up on. And you'll only need one good crack of your head off something to convince you forever after that it's a small thing to wear your lid. That is, if you can still function after that...
Techno Destructo
01-07-2003, 03:56 PM
Damn you Ivan! Ya beat me by minutes! :)
Ghost
01-07-2003, 03:59 PM
My helmet is probably my most important piece of safety equipment and I won't go downhilling without it. With that said, riding up the street at a casual pace is extremely safe (in comparison) and the need for a helmet is often forgotten. Unfortunately there is no way to govern short street rides with longer ones (how could the police possibly know?) so the same rules have to apply for a 40 minute street ride through the city as a 30 second flex up the street.
I guess you never want to wear a helmet until you're lying in hospital fighting for your life.
Because everyone's taxes will be paying to keep you on life support if your bingle and land on your head.
tax is a cunt... lets keep it as minimal as we can!
I agree totally. If you're not sure about this visit a centre that looks after people with ABI (Aquired Brain Injury) Trust me... the ones that DIE are the lucky ones! ABI = life farked in Biiiiiiiiiig way!
[/quote]Just remember, usually the worst bails happen during the stuff that you would never expect to screw up on.
Oh yeah.... 24 years of racing motorbikes and THE worst injury (read the most painful and long-lasting) happened when I was stuffing around in my driveway.
Quote 1.
"anything that moves can hurt you... whenever the fuck it wants to!"
Quoye 2.
"Murphey was an optimist!"
Cheers
Turley
01-07-2003, 04:13 PM
i always wear my helmet, always have, and always will. I have been riding XC, somehow gone over the bar (still dont' know wtf I hit) and cracked my helmet right at my temple. If I didnt' have my helmet on, I would have pb been dead and this was on a section of track that I would have ridden hundreds of times! And quite often it isn't your actions which you have to worry about, it is the actions of others which you will have to live with.
heard a few stories that make me wear my helmet all the time. i dont understand how people think its cool to not be wearing one?
Techno Destructo
01-07-2003, 04:20 PM
heard a few stories that make me wear my helmet all the time. i dont understand how people think its cool to not be wearing one?
Yeah, I've seen those people! They're the ones being pushed along in the wheelchair, with their head lopped sideways and a long string of drool comin' outta their mouth!
kalem
01-07-2003, 04:27 PM
I think people should do whatever the beep they want as long as they sign a waiver saying "If i crack my skull i don't expect anyone to wipe away the drool running out of my mouth".... that said, i just went for a street ride with no helmet... :oops:
belly_up
01-07-2003, 04:42 PM
Like Ty said, you're on public property, and are thus governed by the rules of the government who owns the path / road / skate park. If you want to ride by other rules, get your own land and ride there.
Also remember that the rules have to accomodate the lowest common denominator. All of us might be able to ride around the streets without crashing, but what about 8 yo kids riding to school, or my mum riding to work, or people riding home pissed cause they're too drunk to drive. These are the people the law is there to protect, and also to protect said people when some drunk driver mounts a kerb and runs them down. Helmets on the street aren't there to protect you from falling off, they're there to stop you being killed by cars.
And remember guys, not everyone is as skilled a rider as you might be. some of the people who drive cars are professional race drivers, but we don't design road rules to suit them, we design them to suit the worst drivers out there, and it's no different with laws concerning bikes.
Belly_Up
Techno Destructo
01-07-2003, 04:44 PM
Hey! That reminds me... riding to work today, while crossing the Darling Habour bridge in Sydney, I saw 3 bike cops hanging about in the middle and one of 'em had stopped a guy on a bike who wasn't wearing a helmet...
Must be a crack-down goin' on...
cops dont care really here.
Just for the record, the ride to the skatepark is pretty much the only time I don't wear a helmet. I do agree with the fact that helmet laws are there to protect the lowest common denominator (note I said responsible adults should have the choice, not 8 year old kids), though technically the streets / footpath aren't "theirs" (the government's) they're "ours" (the peoples). Just wanted to start a bit of a discussion and it worked :) Everything else I said about freedom of choice etc stands though.
Techno Destructo
01-07-2003, 04:50 PM
cops dont care really here.
You have cops there?
I feel naked without a helmet on the bike. Feels weird to me.
Also, you cant control what the person behind the wheel of the car is doing. If they hit you and your helmet saves your ass, then woohoo for the helmet!
cops dont care really here.
You have cops there?
:o :o :o im taking offence to that
Techno Destructo
01-07-2003, 04:57 PM
LOL! Sorry Fuzzy... I wouldn't have made the joke if everybody didn't know that Sydney sucks the worst out of all places to live in Oz. Stupid, stuck-up city. (I'm trapped by forces beyond my control...)
I'd much rather live in Jindabyne...
Or Perth. :)
haha JINDY would rock. Perth is a pretty cool place
Too bad its soo farkin flat here :(, the car trip to the hills is too long too, not happy! It's got some decent urban tho.
Never seen decent DJs round here, lmao!
come to my trails then ;)
lindsay
01-07-2003, 05:56 PM
Perth cant be too bad for dh. Johnny and Sam learnt to ride there and look how fast they are.
Helmets are good. I would have definitely been dead or a vegie quite a few times if it wasn't for my helmet. If i'm anywhere near cars i'll wear one too. I dont trust most drivers out there especially when the odd few swerve at you.
anfon
01-07-2003, 06:09 PM
i'm a badass, I run from the cops when they see I have no helmet on, i've only been chased twice, the seond time they got on the loud speaker from the car and said "oi, you boys, STOP". lol, we had to run/ride through this lads backyard to go hide in the bush
On road i reckon the helmets a must. I've almost been taken out by blind drivers 4 times in the last month or so in the 15 min from uni to home.
granted, it was nightime but i was wearing lights and reflecty backpack and all! DONT TRUST CARS!
ahhh chases... those were the days :D
wombat
01-07-2003, 08:09 PM
I can't believe this is even up for discussion!!! This might piss some people off but that's too bad.
I honestly hoped that people were beyond the "I'm too hardcore for a helmet" stage. More like you're too fucking stupid! I mean for christ's sake, give me one good reason for not wearing a helmet!
"My full face restricts my vision." Fair enough, but at least wear an open face lid when you're on the street or whatever.
"Helmets are too hot/heavy." Get an XC lid, I ride in an exodus and it's barely even noticable, but it (well my last helmet) was still enough to save my head.
"Too expensive." You can get helmets for less than $30!
"They look stupid." GET OVER YOURSELF!
Anyone got another problem?
I hate to hear of other riders getting injured, but if they're not wearing a helmet, then I'll just write it off as natural selection; if we have people who are that dumb reproducing we'll all be stuffed.
[/rant]
looseunit
01-07-2003, 08:34 PM
I can't believe this is even up for discussion!!! This might piss some people off but that's too bad.
I honestly hoped that people were beyond the "I'm too hardcore for a helmet" stage. More like you're too fucking stupid! I mean for christ's sake, give me one good reason for not wearing a helmet!
"My full face restricts my vision." Fair enough, but at least wear an open face lid when you're on the street or whatever.
"Helmets are too hot/heavy." Get an XC lid, I ride in an exodus and it's barely even noticable, but it (well my last helmet) was still enough to save my head.
"Too expensive." You can get helmets for less than $30!
"They look stupid." GET OVER YOURSELF!
Anyone got another problem?
I hate to hear of other riders getting injured, but if they're not wearing a helmet, then I'll just write it off as natural selection; if we have people who are that dumb reproducing we'll all be stuffed.
Cant agree more been thru three helmets in three years and two crashes i did even know I hit my head. The first one was on a track that rode one a weekly basis and the helmet saved my life. I know far to many cyclist that have been saved by helmets even riding down the street. It only takes one crash to really fark you up.
I hate to hear of other riders getting injured, but if they're not wearing a helmet, then I'll just write it off as natural selection; if we have people who are that dumb reproducing we'll all be stuffed.
hahaha that is quote of the day for sure!
fastrider_ben
01-07-2003, 09:48 PM
wear helmets stay safe
potty lids look cool
and full faces look hardcore
but i can understand how people dont wanna wear helmets in skate parks as none of the bmx'rs do
wombat
01-07-2003, 09:53 PM
but i can understand how people dont wanna wear helmets in skate parks as none of the bmx'rs do
I can't. Unless they're that worried about what the bmxers think of them.
MrPlow
01-07-2003, 09:56 PM
Just for interst Australias general bike riding population went down over 20% upon the introduction of helmet laws! They wont tell you this though, I saw it in a documentry while in Germany. Over there everybody rides everywhere! Every (not almost every) road seems to have a bike path beside it, and guess what, NO HELMET LAWS!!! I think they are smart :idea: enough to realise that nobody (especially the testosoronally challenged) are going to brush their hair all pretty and then put a helmet on to ride to work! If our governments were actually serious about reducing traffic conjestion and polution they would follow this model! Admittedly Aus doesn't have the population (and therefor the money) to do this (bike tracks for every road), so shite happens! Wouldn't go MTBing or roadying without my trusty stackhat though, as I know I would be a vegie twice over without my helmets. :shock:
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