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NY motorcyclist dies on ride protesting helmet law
AP via YAHOO! News ^ | Sunday, July 3, 2011

Posted on 07/08/2011 10:16:52 PM PDT by Paleo Conservative

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.

State troopers tell The Post-Standard of Syracuse that 55-year-old Philip A. Contos of Parish, N.Y., was driving a 1983 Harley Davidson with a group of bikers who were protesting helmet laws by not wearing helmets.

(Excerpt) Read more at beta.news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Local News
KEYWORDS: helmetlaws; helmets; motorcycles
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To: pandoraou812; All
But I think it is up to each person to decide for themselves if they want to wear a helmet or not.

Do what you want on your own private property. When you use public streets you do what you're told under the law and as a condition of your operator's license.

I refuse to be liable because you refused to wear a helmet. I'm not subsidizing anyone's idiocy but my own. The same goes for fools not wearing seat belts. They are parasitic takers.

It's not like these anti-helmet types have the riches of a Malcolm Forbes to truly pay their own way after an accident.

Their "freedom" stance is a fraud.

21 posted on 07/09/2011 12:20:01 AM PDT by newzjunkey
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To: newzjunkey
It's not like these anti-helmet types have the riches of a Malcolm Forbes to truly pay their own way after an accident.

Oh really? I think you must be a little behind the times...Most Harley owners now are uber rich weekend warriors who have plenty of money to keep the Harley Davidson company afloat. I wear a helmet but I despise people who insist on telling me that I have to do something that really is an option. When did freedom become a fraud? Enjoy your night. And watch out for the big bad biker parasites. They might take issue with your comments.

22 posted on 07/09/2011 12:31:13 AM PDT by pandoraou812 ((You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.))
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To: The Antiyuppie
I'm glad you woke up to the fraud the "personal freedom" claims really are in these vehicle cases.

Those hiding behind "my insurance pays for that" are collectivists. Every damned one of them will be stealing money from the pockets of others, driving up costs and pushing some responsible persons out of coverage affordability for basic necessities.

That's one thing to admire about Limbaugh. He's self-insured. Rehab, drug-caused deafness, obesity-related illness? No problem. He pays out of pocket. No hypocrisy there just real freedom and personable responsibility for his decisions.

Imagine if we lived in a world where everyone could attain that level of independence.

23 posted on 07/09/2011 12:38:05 AM PDT by newzjunkey
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To: newzjunkey

Statists are frauds. Enemies of the Constitution.


24 posted on 07/09/2011 12:40:35 AM PDT by TigersEye (Wranglers not Levis. Levi Strauss is anti-2nd Amendment.)
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To: Paleo Conservative

I call propoganda on this. And if true, it has absolutely NOTHING to do with the fact that the founding father’s never intended gov’t to protect us from ourselves. If this is true, he gambled and lost. RIP.

If you exchange liberty for security, you deserve neither(paraphrased) ~Thomas Jefferson


25 posted on 07/09/2011 12:54:30 AM PDT by rosepetal2010 (The government is NOT your friend)
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To: ThermoNuclearWarrior

I hear you Thermo! And I agree.


26 posted on 07/09/2011 12:57:26 AM PDT by rosepetal2010 (The government is NOT your friend)
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To: pandoraou812
I know some are "uber rich weekend warriors," as Malcolm Forbes could've been described.

Most of these anti-helmet, anti-seatbelt types are not "millionaires and billionaires" with the means to self-insure.

They're frauds: collectivist parasites who would look to you and me as insurance or tax payers because they couldn't afford medical bills or maintaining their existences after a serious accident because they felt entitled to go without a seat belt or helmet falsely in the name of "freedom."

When they can all self-insure, I'll take their "freedom" claims more seriously.

If they aren't picking up the bill, it's not their freedom it's more like their free ride.

27 posted on 07/09/2011 12:59:29 AM PDT by newzjunkey (Freedom doesn't take from others.)
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To: newzjunkey

In my state you must wear a helmet & you must have insurance. I lived a biker lifestyle most of my life & I can tell you that most accidents I lost friends in were not their fault. They were hit by so called fine upstanding people. And by people who prolly thought it was ok to cut that biker off because he or she didn’t conform to their way of thinking. Some of those fine people were so drunk they even dragged their bodies for a few miles. I’ve seen enough & I know the life & resent you calling their freedom a fraud. I resent paying for drunken jerks that kill people & end up in jail etc. Yeah we all have resentments but when we let laws be made that force us to wear helmets, seat belts , not eat certain foods etc, etc then we are losing more of our freedom each day. I see it very clearly. I am old enough to make the choice to decide what is best for me. Just as I am sure you are. FYI most bikers I know are insured. I don’t know what states don’t have mandatory insurance laws. If there are any then they ought to make it mandatory IMO.


28 posted on 07/09/2011 1:14:24 AM PDT by pandoraou812 ((You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.))
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To: pandoraou812

Very well said.


29 posted on 07/09/2011 1:26:07 AM PDT by rosepetal2010 (The government is NOT your friend)
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To: newzjunkey

By the way I have over a million dollars of insurance on my farm just for my horses & dogs. My house is insured separately. Not that I let just anyone ride my horses either. It is for the fools who think they have the right to walk up to MY pasture on MY farm & try to pet or feed my horses. If one of those fools gets bit by my horse I get sued by the sue happy morons. And my horse can be put down for being a dangerous animal. Some of us do make sure we take care of what can happen. And it costs me plenty to protect myself & the stupid morons who think they can walk wherever they please & touch what is not theirs to touch.


30 posted on 07/09/2011 1:40:27 AM PDT by pandoraou812 ((You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.))
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To: pandoraou812
I don't like mandatory anything laws, but I will admit to benefiting from them. My husband used to have a bike until a woman in a minivan sped up, and some how not seeing him, rear ended him causing him to go off the road and crash. His head hit the ground and he was lucky to walk away with only a nasty headache. Yes, it wasn't his fault but that wouldn't have changed the fact that he was dead or seriously injured without that helmet, which he wore in NY but not always in FL. The woman kept hugging him and telling him she was so sorry, her son rides and she just didn't see him in the glare of the sun. But dead would have been dead.

I was riding in a car (without a seat belt on) and witnessed an accident. We stopped and the woman had not been wearing her seat belt. Her head was gashed open, tons of blood, broken jaw and teeth. She permanently has speech issues and deep scars on her face. I don't think she ever went back to work. Like I said, I hate mandatory anything laws. But I've worn my seat belt ever since.

31 posted on 07/09/2011 1:40:27 AM PDT by MacMattico
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To: MacMattico
I wear seat belts too. I just think that the govt is telling us too many things we must do. I don't like it. I've gone down a few times, more then I care to think about. But helmets worn by most bikers are not DOT approved. Helmets can also kill you. I lost a friend where the helmet broke his neck when he crashed. PA has no helmet laws. According to the website I just read ....•Helmets are estimated to be 37% effective in preventing fatal injuries to motorcycle riders and 41% for motorcycle passengers.* I believe in freedom of choice & think people should use common sense. I know I should wear a helmet when riding my horses but I just hate it. I grew up riding without one & just can't get into it. I do however make my daughter wear one.
32 posted on 07/09/2011 1:59:51 AM PDT by pandoraou812 ((You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.))
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To: pandoraou812
I know what you mean, and hit anything hard enough and no helmet or seat belt will help.

My kids wear helmets when they ride (bicycle) bikes. I ride a mountain bike occasionally, nothing to strenuous, but I admit I don't wear one.

33 posted on 07/09/2011 2:13:30 AM PDT by MacMattico
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To: newzjunkey

Your assertion that helmets prevent Traumatic Brain Injury is in error. There is no evidence and in fact if one understands that rotational acceleration is the mechanism you begin to understand why. I can’t understand why “unprejudiced” conservatives assume bikers are knuckledragging hillbillies.


34 posted on 07/09/2011 5:02:03 AM PDT by wastoute (Government cannot redistribute wealth. Government can only redistribute poverty.)
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To: Paleo Conservative

The helmet protest ride is simply the most dangerous “ride” I have ever been on. You have hundreds of riders who all want to ride in their own groups and yet want to be part of this event. I stopped going after a few close calls while on this ride because it was not safe, and certainly not fun.

I still support the cause of: let those who ride decide.


35 posted on 07/09/2011 5:33:27 AM PDT by Ouderkirk (Democrats...the party of Slavery, Segregation, Sodomy, and Sedition)
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To: The Antiyuppie

Nothing worse than a reformed drunk.

It’s funny that a personal incident turned you into a crusader against everyone else’s freedom.

By the way this isone of the most frequently posted articles ever on FR. It has been posted most every day since it happened, a week ago.


36 posted on 07/09/2011 5:44:15 AM PDT by Venturer
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To: newzjunkey
If they aren't picking up the bill, it's not their freedom it's more like their free ride.

That sounds EXACTLY like Moochelle Obama's argument against my freedom to eat a cheeseburger.

37 posted on 07/09/2011 5:53:52 AM PDT by PalmettoMason (Blacks are not inferior, but it is racist to hold them to the same standards as everyone else.)
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To: Paleo Conservative

For Sale
1983 Harley Davidson may have Darwin hex


38 posted on 07/09/2011 7:40:50 AM PDT by Vaduz
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To: pandoraou812

Golly gulp! Didn’t ya no thet yer foot wuz wear thet buckskin wuz gonna be steppin? You probbly tole it to move, huh?

What’s the brace for? Sounds like that leg’s nuttin but trouble. Whyn’t you just cut it off?

>>Funny how I have to wait a week to find out if my foot is broken.<<

You think that’s funny. Today, kids in school can’t carry a Bible or talk to or about God but if they’re in prison they can! Yup, honest! Then folks in Washington is worried about money. haha They can’t figure out what’s important and what’s not.


39 posted on 07/09/2011 8:36:34 AM PDT by B4Ranch (Allowing Islam into America is akin to injecting yourself with AIDS to prove how tolerant you are...)
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To: pandoraou812

You’re wasting your time arguing with a commie.


40 posted on 07/09/2011 10:39:45 AM PDT by TigersEye (Wranglers not Levis. Levi Strauss is anti-2nd Amendment.)
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