Your day could be worse...

[Bearly Flying]

So who pays for all the unhelmeted Pedestrians????

 

[Wicked Webby]

Well,

I always were a helmet, no matter what, even though we do not have a helmet law here in MN..... BUT trust me it is coming! I do find it odd that we have a seatbelt law(its not a primary offense yet) here but no helmet law... Don't get me wrong, I think people should be able to choose if they want a lid or not but it is just odd. My opinion: A squid on a motorcycle needs that helmet WAY MORE than a new teenage driver needs that seatbelt. Though, they both should be used.

WW

 

[SmokeWagon]

Bet he was doing the MotoMan break-in. ( Git it ta 12G every gear in first 2min. ya own it ) Then again wearing a helmet - he was probably stunting it for some college babe walking down the sidewalk then WHAM! a pickup truck. Didn't even get to do first oil change . Guess all you can tell'em is Experience is a tough teacher She gives the test first then the lesson. :graduated:

 

[burninrice]

I don't even know if that 500 would get the front wheel off the ground, at least within red line. It's probably been 10 years since I rode a Ninja 500. I've forgotten what kind of "snort" (probably the wrong word) those 'lil puppies have.

 

[Pjturbo]

The goverment should NOT do for people what they can do for themselves.

Like THINK.

Ya suppose?

Phil

 

[rnees]

Who pay's for the individual wearing a helmet that barely survives when otherwise they would have been dead and buried?

Two sides to that argument.

A law requiring a passing grade in a Rider training course would accomplish way more. And good chance the Rider would wear the Helmet voluntarily.

OK, but could we then get a training course that actually trains folks in real life situations, or mayhaps even a graduated lic. system (kinda like they have in YURP)--I know this has been beaten to death, but having a kid take the class on a 250, in a parking lot, and then jump on a their much bigger bike makes no sense.

--And yes, I'm an instructor. A little is better than nothing. At least there is some training available (and free, in IL)...

 

[Jazzzzz]

I don't even know if that 500 would get the front wheel off the ground, at least within red line. It's probably been 10 years since I rode a Ninja 500. I've forgotten what kind of "snort" (probably the wrong word) those 'lil puppies have.

I'm gonna stay out of the helmet debate, but I can speak to whether or not a GS500 will get the front wheel up: it won't, unless you clutch it up. If that was the kid's first bike fresh off the showroom floor, I doubt he could do it. He probably dumped it overcooking a corner or washed out the front end in some sand, as you said earlier.

 

[burninrice]

There's actually a YouTube vid of a Ninja 500 wheelie. LOL Pretty funny because you can tell he's clutching it because it stays up in the air about half a second.

How would you go about designing a safety course that deals with "real world" situations? Sounds like a great idea, I just don't know how you'd do it. I agree that the "250 in the parking lot" is better than nothing.

 

[krashdragon]

Good point. I actually thought her learning to ride was something we could experience together, but I forget that teenagers aren't exactly into that sappy, togetherness bit. I could see where that could cause her some stress being in a class with her dad.

My son and I took the MSF course together... He didn't' know how to ride, I rode before but learned how to ride... we both took it for the license.

There were enuf peeps there that we weren't watching each other. No biggie. About 15 folks. I have never before been in a class where everyone was concentrating so hard. Everyone passed.

Mary

 

[HotRodZilla]

My first year in college, 1990, crotch rockets were all the craze. I picked up a Honda Hurricane CBR 750 and my best friend rode a smoking fast (for the time) GSXR 750. One of our friends who had more money than brains decided he would out do us with a Kawa Ninja 1000. With .3 miles on the odo, he did a wheelie out of the dealer's parking lot.

6.5 miles later, an ambulance took him to the hospital and a tow truck took the bike to the yard. He was wearing a helmet, so survived with a broken arm and some good roadrash. The bike was not so lucky. It had less than 7 miles on the odo. After his get-off, I began wearing my helmet more often. While riding to Houston a semi dumped a bunch of rocks the size of baseballs. The one that hit my bike and me took me down at about 75mph. Dislocated both shoulders, ground the helmet to the second layer of foam, and cracked it almost all the way through. After seeing that, I wear mine religiously.

I have seen enough heads splattered on pavement, cars, walls etc, and enough ejected bodies to know that helmets and seatbelts do their intended job most of the time. But, it is your ass. If you wanna have to re-learn how to tie your shoes or have a nurse change your diaper, I say have at it.

 

[CigarGuy]

The motorcycle safety courses are the best things that could be offered to a new rider or one who has been off for a while. The familiarity with a motorcycle that you gain in these classes will definitely better equip the rider to handle situations better that they will encounter on the road. I can not say enough about these classes. I recommend them to everyone that talks to me about riding. All this said, there was a woman who catapulted her bike on top of three other students in the class that I was in. Needless to say, she went home early. Another success story for the class weeding her out before she got on the road and seriously hurt herself or someone else.

 

[sl_1300]

"But, it is your ass. If you wanna have to re-learn how to tie your shoes or have a nurse change your diaper, I say have at it."

That about sums it up.

 

[burninrice]

After I sold my dealership, I worked for a short time as an insurance adjuster for a big-name insurance company and we used to receive "confidential" crash scene photos from our crash investigators of motorcycle fatalities, a good chunk of them involving sport bikes. My god, how anyone could look at those and not find at least one good reason for wearing a helmet is beyond me. As if trying to protect yourself to see your kids grow up, etc is not enough. I couldn't imagine putting one of my family members throught the trauma of having to ID me after a helmetless crash and it's probably a gift that a lot of these people died, because as HotRodZilla put it so well, these head injury victims basically have to start from scratch, in some cases, if they ever get that lucky.

But, people need to see the value in something and that's why I think helmet laws are just a bandaid for uneducated people and/or morons who don't have the brains to protect themselves and may soon not have any brains at all when they are splattered all over an Interstate somewhere.