N12 Turbo Forums

Kimmo wrote:
I'll tell you what's fucking ghey; being told I must wear a helmet.

They're for pussies who are scared of traffic. Pissant pollies act like cycling isn't seven times safer than travelling in a car (in terms of deaths per million hours). Go fuck yourselves with your on-the-spotters, you stinking fucks.

The hide, to interfere with such pure freedom...

Well, thats one point of view. Fair 'nuff.
Heres one from a long time motorcyclist and racer.

As a matter of interest, my father is an orthapaedic surgeon.
Many of his weekends when i was a lot younger were taken up with being endlessly on-call for the ED up that Sutherland Hospital. Indeed back then I really detested that fucking hospital and the time it took from my father..... neway, I digress!
I cannot even hazard a guess at how many times he came home bent out of shape over having to piece together some poor kid or other biker dude who faceplanted himself into a gutter or the side of a car and ended up as a veggie due to brain damage from a fall and clouting his scone!
despite being an eminent physician, he still suffered over his patients when a fair whack of them would have not been brain injured at all if they had been wearing a bash-hat.

The cavalier stance on the (not) wearing of helmets by both the push and motorcycle brigade bleating personal freedom and so-on, altho laudable and understandable, palls considerably against the ongoing cost to society, in labour, resources and increasingly moreso, monetary terms to keep the helmetless dudes alive with acute and irreversible brain damage from a seemingly insignificant fall....

Of course, those brain dead dudes dont give a shit anymore as they dont think about anything more complex than adding 1 and 2 together or remembering to take the next breath, but what about everybody else starting with their families, carerers, medics and so-on charged with looking after them.
The collateral damage after the event in close to incalculable on every level.

A fair percentage of there victims could still be contributing to society instead of languishing in close to a vegetative state in some public home or at best, capable of only a menial task such as sorting out rags into various types at a sheltered workshop.
Indeed a close m8 of mine from primary school became a violent cunt of a thing, medicated for life due to significant brain damage after a seemingly light thump into the side of a car reversing out a driveway while he was tooling down the footpath on his trusty treadly.
No blood. No broken bones, hardly even a bruise but irreversibly scarred for life.

Given the above, the loss of personal freedom and liberty to the bikers of both powered and pushed variety is a small price to pay for "pissant pollies" insisting that all of use wear a helmet and loose some of our cherished personal freedom if it saves even just a couple of dudes from irreversible brain damage and useful function each year.

Another point of view.

L8r
E

its a fair point our heads dont take much of a knock before it hurts the squishy thing on the inside of it, and please dont think Im all for all their laws I break most of them but helmet is one I stick to, plus I ride a lot at night even though Im lit up like a fat assed christmas tree there have been some close ass calls lol

On the Day of its Christening lol

The risk of not wearing helmets is exaggerated by pollies like Carl Scully, who is a perfect example of how full of shit these dickheads are.

But it's an easy way to press buttons, and look like you're bothering to do a good thing.

The fact is, the level of risk, statistically speaking, is negligible.

And as an adult, I'm prepared to take that risk.

If anyone thinks this provably negligible level of risk is too much for me to face without forcing me to comply to an unnecessary law, I've got the finger for em.

Most of us do riskier things all the time without being told how to do it on pain of fines. Experienced cyclists who don't like helmets are scapegoated as dangerous.

My response: fuck off with that whimpering.

Thats fair the ones who dont wear helmets should be allowed not to and sign a waiver stating that paramedics and doctors shoudlnt bother saving them when some old man in a commodore mistakes the accelerator for the brakes.

In saying that i dont know a racer down here that would consider not wearing a helmet lol

I'd wear a helmet if I was racing.

I think we just all agree to disagree on this one lol

Go live in Holland Kimmo. You will fit right in with those cunts. No helmets. And if a car hits you regardless of who is in the wrong, the car driver is fucked. Just don't expect my Tax dollars if you turn into soup only cripple. I do agree with you there are some way more fucked up things we do without batting an eyelid. While were on topic. Recently, a client from my gym I work at was run over by a garbage truck. He followed all the road rules. However his leg was run over and tibia and fibula bone was scattered over the road. He is pinned up like robocop and has lost an inch of length in his affected leg. Looking at a lazy years rehab to even think about doing normal shit. However you look at it, helmet or no helmet keep your fuckin eyes peeled when riding.

Chris

Primary safety's where it's really at.

I'm good enough at it to ignore the tiny risk of it failing. I'm also pretty good at only losing skin when I come off a bike. I figure it's my call.

But I should've worn a helmet when I used to hang onto trucks, cause that shit was seriously dodgy. Definitely wouldn't try it without a helmet these days...

Kimmo wrote:Primary safety's where it's really at.

I'm good enough at it to ignore the tiny risk of it failing. I'm also pretty good at only losing skin when I come off a bike. I figure it's my call.

But I should've worn a helmet when I used to hang onto trucks, cause that shit was seriously dodgy. Definitely wouldn't try it without a helmet these days...

In my experience it's not how good you are, but how bad they are.

Helmets now are simple light and easy, so why not....

C

...A major part of it is how bad you expect them to be.

Why not? They fuck up my hearing slightly; I find it harder to tell the direction of a sound with one on. That reason alone is enough to make me refuse one.

And the type of brain injury that most often causes the most damage to cyclists isn't from direct impact but are the type that result from the brain rotating inside the skull.

Helmets actually increase the risk of such an injury, by making your head bigger so it's much more likely to cop such a glancing blow, and plus they multiply the leverage.

Do not want. They're for kids on skateboards.

The reason I'd use one hanging off a truck, is that as speed increases, so does the risk and potential severity of a direct impact to the skull.

BTW, given my injury-free history, I'm either incredibly lucky, or I'm not talking shit when I claim I'm perfectly capable of managing my own risk levels, thanks very much.

Fair its your choice Im going to continue to wear my helmet though feels wrong without it lol plus I ride a lot of single track and rocky trails a little harder than the road to stay on lol.

Surely you think kids should wear helmets when riding though?

i'm with kimmo. helmets impair the senses you trust, same as when i used to skateboard i'd only wear clothing that didn't restrict the way i'd move. if you know you're gonna eat shit you compensate. still eat shit but in the best possible way. if a bus takes you out then you are day dreaming and at fault lol

lol sorry benny I dont have any senses I terribly need in the back of my head haha If the bus knocks me down they better make sure they do a good job lol bikes arent cheap cash or blood people pay somehow

thats ok man i just value my life a lil and don't trust other potential morons with my life. if i just let loose whenever i wanted yeah i'd a have a lot more fun but the risk factor increases 10,000%

if there's a certain charity i should donate to, to help your cause i'll direct my allocated funds that way