Yep. I am. Among the 'In memory of...' patches on my 'rag', which are numerous, are only two who died of natural causes. One died from an act of stupidity, which led to a rollover of her cage. The rest, were t-boned, cut off, or left turned in front of by some nitwit who was not paying attention.
We addressed the visibility problem with day time headlight laws, and the cagers put daytime running lights on their vehicles. Advantage nil.
We ran with loud pipes so if you couldn't see us, maybe your 'Belltones' would pick us up. Cagers didn't like the rackett, and passed a law against that.
More chrome, brighter colors, different colored riding aparrel, even though it is usually inferior to leather for abrasion resistance. Despite all that, people keep 'not seeing' us.
None of that works with drivers who are centered not on driving their vehicle, but on diddling around with something inside the vehicle. And there has been an explosion of geegaws to fiddle with inside vehicles. From the MP3 music thingy to the cell phone to DVD players to navigational computers to stereos with window rattling subwoofers, it is a wonder anyone has time to steer--much less be aware of oher vehicles, no matter how many wheels they have.
Things have changed, including the shape of vehicles. Frontal impact areas are more monolithic than they were even a decade ago, and with the SUV, the profile transition from bumper to grille to hood has become a straight line. No longer is the rider impacted by the bumper, but the entire front of the vehicle.
What really ticks me off, though is the way the purveyors of safety bromides like lid laws patently ignore those who come into your purview (the ER) with massive thoracic trauma and yet claim that a 'helmet' would have saved their life.
The press is complicit in forming the impression, in that if someone was killed with a helmet on we could always tell--because no mention was made of a helmet, on or not, but if one was not on, it usually appeared in the first few lines of the article. Of course, the impression given is that helmeted riders are bulletproof and those without are just corpses looking for a convenient slab.
Orthapaedic injury studies from a couple of decades ago showed the most frequently broken bones were the tibia and fibula, followed by the radius and ulna. The femur, the humerus, and the pelvis followed, with chest trauma pretty far down the list. The skull was way down on the list (tenth, iirc). That may have changed with the shape of the impacting vehicle.
But it is easier to blame the vehicles and riders than other factors, hence, putting a helmet on everyone's head will make them 'safe' and cagers won't kill any ever again, right?
The rhetoric used today to promote helmet laws will be the same as the rhetoric used three decades ago, un-judiciously skirting the primary issue of whether or not the driver of the four-wheeled vehicle which has a better than 65% chance of being the cause of death was paying attention to what they were doing.
The arguments have not changed much on either side.
But instead of trying to find out why people are getting killed, another bromide, one we have tasted before, is being served up as the solution--before the problem has even been diagnosed.
Testy about little cutsie quips like "donorcycles" and "murdercycles"? You bet I am.
I had a recent accident on a bicycle. Serious injuries. The funny thing was, I rode my harley to a location where the bikes were and then crashed on a bicycle. When the Ambulance arrived, they would not let go of the motorcycle idea. They were nearly calling me and my friends liars. They demanded to see the wrecked motorcycle. There wasn’t one. It was very upsetting.
The hospital ended up sending me to different hospital because of differences of opinions. They were threatening to put me under and then treat me as they wish. They were claiming I had 4 broken ribs and a punctured aorta. I knew there was nothing wrong with my chest. I demanded a second opinion but they refused. They scolded me for vomiting blood all over the place. They tried to force a tube down my throat against my will.
The second hospital was much better. It turned out I was right about the broken ribs and punctured aorta. I should’ve sued the F-ing a$$holes for all they were worth, but that’s not my way. I’m healed and thankful there are no lasting disabilities...and back to riding my harley.
No bicycles though. Those things are death traps.