I [used to] know people who died of massive head injuries sustained in car wrecks. [whilst buckled up, of course]
In a perfect world, we'd not only wear seatbelts, we'd wear racing restraints and helmets while driving our cars, too.
I've seen race cars literally disintegrate at hundreds of mph yet the driver gets out of the wreckage, smiles and walks away.
Why should the rest of us not have that kind of "protection"?
The obvious answer is to educate -car- drivers about motorcyclists.
The certainly take great pains to educate *us* about *them*.
WV just passed a law that gives a mandatory "six months" jail time to any car driver who kills a biker by hitting him/failure to yield right of way/reckless driving.
They're very proud of this new law.
Think of that.
A whole six months.
That's what a biker's life is worth.
[the same victim, if killed while driving a car, will get you a *lot* more jail time]
My state will never repeal our helmet *or* seatbelt laws and even if they did, I'd still wear mine.
Why?
Because I *choose* to.
I agree that people should get to decide for themselves whether to wear helmets, seatbelts, etc. I also agree that car drivers need better education about sharing the road with bikers, bicyclists, etc.
However, in most cases I don't think this is about biker persecution. I ride a bicycle on roads and city streets, and I experience the same problems -- drivers pulling out into my path or running me off the road, parked drivers opening their doors as I'm passing them, etc. I honestly think most drivers just don't pay attention, and don't even see other cars much less smaller vehicles such as motercycles and bicycles.
PS: I'm on the thread not because of motorcycles, but because I'm a Steelers fan.