"Police say a motorcyclist participating in a protest ride against helmet laws in upstate New York died after he flipped over the bike’s handlebars and hit his head on the pavement."

Story here

Sad loss of life, but that is some solid irony.

Each to their own but I wouldn't ride without wearing a helmet even if some people think its cool to ride without a helmet, just plain crazy.

Sorry to hear about the guy but he may have survived with a helmet on.

I'm on a guitar forum where one of his friends posts.. his account of it is..

 

"What happened was, he had a habit of wearing boots with untied laces - there was a roadkill he went over that was slippery, and his laces got caught on the pegs at the same time - when he looked down to try to free them, people had(unexpectedly) stopped ahead of him - so he locked up his front brake, which caused him to go into the guardrail, and go over the handlebars... the bike then came down on him hard, and was burning him badly before it could be lifted off of him... A 600lb motorcyle coming down on you can cause an awful lot of damage, helmet or not..."

 I'd LOVE to ride without a helmet and envy those bloke you pass on the US highways in T Shirts and no helmets, but I owe it to my family to minimise the risk. It's selfish to say "It's my head so I'll do  what I like".

agreed 100%

In the end it's all about $$

IT COST'S SOCIETY" what a pissant exscuse for not doing something. FUCK OFF NANNA. Do what you want with out hurting anyone else because. LIFE'S SHORT AND NO ONE GETS OUT ALIVE.

Hey buddy no offense to you personally as it sounds like you may have some firsthand experience and if you do you have my empathy for what its worth. But do you ride a bike? if so how much risk are you willing to see as acceptable. Anything you elect to do faster than a human can run increases the risk of injury ,and if you are saying that a helmet lessens that risk then I think you are wrong. Yes I do have family and the scariest time of my life was when my son decided to follow me into riding. But to date he has not had a serious accident and touch wood he never will but to stop him would make me a hypocrite. The number of horrible potential injuries are countless in a bike accident but i accept those risks for myself and dont pretend I have the right to impose my view on others as to what they should do to mitigate those risks. As I said life is short weigh up the risks and take your chances because LIFE IS SHORT AND NO ONE GETS OUT ALIVE>

Hey i was taken out be a cage 2 years ago. If i had no helmet i wouldn't be around today.
As you say life is short so don't shorten it by no Helmets.

Things become hypocryticle when you become emotionaly involved in , its my right , its my duty , its my choice, ect ect ......... But the facts are the dangers are there, and only the STUPID don't relize it , so has far has i'm concerned . there should be 2 laws , the one we have , where its illigal

And the one that permits freedom to ride with no helmit , providing the rider signs a declaration . that all his monies , properties , and future superannuation and inhertances shall go towards his medical bills IF HE LIVES ... Then its his choice , so basicly if he don't give a fuck about his familly and kids and is prepared to take the risk . He should be prepared to PAY

If he don't have any money , house , super , to pay  then  Fuck HIM LAW 1 PREVAILS WHY SHOULD WE PAY

 

I think a lot of people are missing the point.
For many years we have been made to wear a Helmet. For many years people are still bieng killed or are imobilised from terrible injury, while wearing a helmet. The same for Cars, Trucks, Pushbikes, scooters, skateboards, football (yes the yanks wear helmets for the style of football they play) horse riding and a thousand other things that are done daily. The rate of deaths on Motorcycles has increased just like everything else regardless of the safety features implemented.

Football at my old School Maroubra Bay. A classmate was made a quadraplegic, another guy was tradgicaly killed in a footy game.
People are killed or maimed by sharks surfing, a victorian died while doing what he loves, surfing on the gold coast, this was yesterday.

So looking at the bigger picture, we all pay, a private health fund, If your not in one the government takes a lump sum of money from you anyway.
So, no emotion, no macho, no hypocriticle opinions just a choice and nothing more. This is what people should be focused on, the freedom to choose the way you want to live your life without being judged.

Thank christ some people get the point. It's not about the fact that wearing or not wearing a helmet is safer or not safer in the event of a crash. Life is a cruel bitch and one way or another its going to get you. So whether it's riding a bike,driving a car,skydiving,or sitting in your lounge room watching tv and a lump of frozen shit from a plane lands on your house. The out come is the same. So dont tell me if I could elect not to wear a helmet when it suited me I would not be entitled to every benefit given to the fuckwit who smokes I dont /,who drinks I dont / or any other person who does something I find objectionable or stupid. Its about not forcing your opinion on others because opinions are like arseholes we all have them but no one else wants to hear it.If everyone wants to wear a helmet than I say go hard but because I choose differently simply means I am not one of the sheep but have made my own choice knowing there could be consequences for that choice.

I don't want to see people hurt by not wearing a helmet, I wear one because the law says so, I would like to ride around town without one, but the law is the law, I wear a half helmet in town but feel it is not enough for the highway

there is a bit of passion about this topic, with the safety card being played yet it appears that the same laws are dismissed when speed is mentioned, the speed limits are "supposed" to be set with safety in mind, yet to say don't speed is considered "soft"

So if and when the government introduces mandatory fluro /hivis clothing for every bike rider those in the pro authority camp are prepared to accept that its for our own good and willingly don the bright pink or yellow clothes ?. The point is if you dont question the need for others to make all the rules on how we live then you are no more than a sheep.And when bikes are banned altogether you have no one to blame but yourselves because they are dangerous modes of transport, we should all be on the bus.

for fcuk sake this was in the us in australia  it is law to wear a helmet so get a life you guys and stop figthin over some shit that happened to a sheppo

Not arguing just debating. I honestly dont give a fuck one way or another what everyone else does and I wear a helmet because its the law but also because I am half deaf from the wind roar from not wearing one when I was younger. If anyones gotten upset ,my apologies just stirring a bit of shit and seeing who bites.