NY motorcyclist dies on ride protesting helmet law

Associated Press ^ | July 3, 2011

[Free ThinkerNY]

ONONDAGA, N.Y. (AP) -- 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.

The accident happened Saturday afternoon in the town of Onondaga, in central New York near Syracuse.

[BMWR1200C]

Live free or die. Choice chosen.

[BuckyKat]

Rumor has it that here in Hawaii there are no helmet laws so as to increase the number of donor organs available. Considering the length of the flight from the mainland, it is difficult to get donor organs here when time is so important.

I’m a physical therapist, have seen many motorcycle accident victims whose helmets had saved their lives, and when I rode a motorcycle myself, damn straight I wore a helmet. A good one. I chose one with a wide visual field, and my hearing was no more limited than in a car with the air conditioner on.

[Tupelo]

Maybe someone should tell Ben Spies or Valentino Rossi or James Stewart or Ricky Carmichael or Chris Carr that thoes helmet are “Death Buckets”
Bugs is right again.

[Myrddin]

I’ve laid my bike down in a sandy corner on the street at 45 MPH
and 90 MPH on a dirt flat track (not flat enough that time). The
helmet was helpful both times. In one afternoon of riding my DR650
in the mountains around. Pocatello, I slammed down hard on both left
and right sides. The helmet has scratches where sharp granite might have pierced my skull. I’ll always wear a helmet. Accidents happen. The bad ones are often due to another person’s bad choices.

[eccentric]

If the government is insistent on paying for medical care, they are also going to tell you how to live.

Money talks. Motorcycle riders should have insurance or enough money to cover their own medical care in the event of a accident. Government not needed.

[Tupelo]

As a 50+ year rider, former AMA professional racer, mechanic and dealer I really think Philip A. Contos made three fatal mistakes on his protest ride.
1: riding without a helmet
2: stomping that rear brake (cause “we all know that the front brake will cause the front tire to skid) SARC / major sarc
3: Never taking even the basic motorcycle riders class. (how do I know? see number 2)

[John D]

Actually no, its his god given right to CHOICE not to wear those death buckets. While stats show that yes, your chances of surviving the accident a vegetable are increased, overall, you are more likely to get into the accident in the first place from wearing a death bucket due to lack of periphrial and reduced hearing and line of vision.They are horse blinders forced on us by the uber libs who feel they know whats good for us.Things happen and this guy is a small minority when it comes to the stats of riders in accidents

You are going to get flamed by tons of liberals who have never ridden a real bike, but THINK they know everything.

[John D]

He sure did. Anyone with any sense would wear a helmet. I wouldn’t need no stinkin’ law to make me wear a helmet.

You do not need a law, that is fine. Nobody is trying to take that right away from you. The problem is when others are trying to take my right to see better away from me, and anybody who has ever ridden with any frequency knows a helmet takes away some of your vision. It just might be that car passing in your lane.

[Liberty Valance]

Life's Tough - Get a Helmet

[Zuriel]

There was a 40 something, no helmet rider on his straight pipe (’so ya can hear them com’in’)HD, killed a few years ago near my locale. He was just riding in town, probably doing 35, when an old woman pulled out in front of him from a side street. Fortunately, he didn’t have anyone else with him.

[OldPossum]

At least the world is one less motorcycle quieter.

There's something to be said about that.

One wonders if motorcycles were quiet, how many would be sold? There's something very juvenile in wanting to streak along the highway making a lot of noise.

[unkus]

Okay.

[Peet]

There’s a name for bikers who don’t wear helmets: “Organ donor.”

Peet (wearin’ the brain-bucket since 1970)

[Newtoidaho]

And the bike is a “donor cycle”. Btw, been riding for 35 years,sometimes with a helmet sometimes without. Been on the ground a couple of times. When its your time, its your time. Most of the riders I see make a few common mistakes that I know, given the right set of circumstances, are going to get them killed.

[Amberdawn]

“Loud pipes save lives”. If car drivers weren’t so moronic, I suppose quieter bikes would be in order. As it is, at least I can hear a Harley coming up from behind or beside me and avoid them.

[Amberdawn]

As a rider, I think you mean he stomped on his front brake, which is the only way one can be thrown over the handlebars.

[Vision]

This is why I don’t have a bike.

[60Gunner]

As an ER nurse, I have encountered motorcyclists- both helmeted and unhelmeted- involved in MVCs. While wearing a helmet did not save many of the riders involved in high-velocity crashes (either when they hit an object or another vehicle struck them), it definitely improved the outcomes for those involved in crashes that occurred at highway (read: legal) speeds.

Of course, head injuries are only a small part of the overall trauma picture concerning motorcyclists. There's no crash protection on a motorcycle, so the constellation of injuries is much more vast, and more severe, than if a person involved in the same crash was in a car- any car.

Helmets do help. But they won't cure stupidity. I do recommend the use of helmets, but I also agree that it is a free country, and that government should not mandate helmet use over the age of 18.

What we really need is a law mandating limiters on all street motorcycles that would prevent them from exceeding 80mph. That way, you can still be stupid, but at a more reasonable speed. And while you may have the right to choose whether or not to wear a helmet, you do not have the right to break the law and put others at risk because you choose to be stupid.

[mirkwood]

I wear a full-face helmet after hitting a muffler the car in front of me lost. I almost went over the handlebars. Hopped the bike on the front wheel. Scary.

[PiperShade]

As my eldest might remark: He chose to be an organ donor !

(My eldest is an EMT.) >PS