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 ...
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.
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.
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.
Statists are frauds. Enemies of the Constitution.
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
I hear you Thermo! And I agree.
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.
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.
Very well said.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
That sounds EXACTLY like Moochelle Obama's argument against my freedom to eat a cheeseburger.
For Sale
1983 Harley Davidson may have Darwin hex
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.
You’re wasting your time arguing with a commie.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.