See the title. Always wondered this. Im from MA, where its the law. (i think anyhow)

But even if your not from MA, why wouldnt you wear a helmet to ride?

no

The few times Ive ridden I have not wore a helmet...In RI its not required for the driver.


But if I rode everyday/regularly I would wear a helmet. IMO itd be stupid not to.

the helmet i wear now is not dot so no i would not wear one if i didnt have to. its my head, ill do what i want with it. ya people say its stupid not to wear one but those are also the people that dont wear seat belts.

I dont wear a seat belt actually haha....I wouldnt hate on someone who doesnt wear one...just personal preference I guess lol

honestly, the law itself is dumb.... so wait americans have the right to bear arms but no decide if they need a helmet?

I have been in a bike accident that was entirely not my fault and if I didn't have a legit helmet on I would be dead. I think people should, look both ways before they cross the road, wear a seatbelt, and always a helmet when cycling/biking.....think of the people who you would be hurting

even so, why are people required to by law and not their own better judgement



and for the record, my dad wrecked a bike pretty bad and the helmet strap (this prior to me being born so way back) got caught in his chain..... the plastic clip snapped or his helmet would have killed him.

My mother got t-boned in her taurus wagon with my little sister in the passenger seat. If my sister was wearing her seat belt (like my mother instructed) she would be part of the ass hole that hit them's front grill.

Stories for why or why not to can back and forth all day just like ford vs chevy. My only argument is why the hell is there a law that takes away our decision. Its the same as the abortion thing. Just cause your pro-choice doesnt mean your against life. Just means that people should be allowed to decide their own fate

I would wear a helmet and DO even when in RI where I don't have to

I am pretty sure the facts state 63% of people killed are not wearing their seat belts, and only 60% of americans do wear them.....In fact, If 90 percent of Americans buckle up, we will prevent more than 5,500 deaths and 132,000 injuries annually.

A lot of these laws are put into place to protect dumbass's children because their Dad/Mom wants to be a rebel, or protect parents because their kids think it is cool.

As for abortion that is an entirely seperate argument, this post is about safety > stupidity

I like how new hampshire does it. Under 18 buckle up. Over 18 you have a choice.


And like sully said we could go back and forth all day long. From people in my family and first hand I have reasons why I dont buckle up. To me it doesnt matter.

does it effect your safety if I wear my helmet? Nope! So why should you care?


actually scratch that. My first accident I was driving my mothers windstar with the window open. I got t-boned by a kid on his katana. His helmet (that he was forced to wear under NH law) hit me in the head and knocked me out.

Frankly you say its safety vs stupidity, but your letting your choice of good idea or bad idea influence what Im typing. I'm saying there shouldnt be a law making someones mind up. aside from the situation I mentioned, it doesnt endanger other people for the person to make their own decision so it should be left to them. The same thinking that makes those laws ok could also make it ok to make it a law that everyone should be a certain religion. Its the lack of freedom. Freedom to die for their mistakes if need be.

50/50 . its nice riding without a helmet, but there are crazies out there

given, i wear a plastic helmet haha

exactly, case closed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

thats why NH FTMFW

Absolutely. I don't trust people.

I believe people should have the choice, the same with seat belts. But me personally? I don't ride/own a motorcycle, but any other vehicle I've operated as far as ATV's and Snowmobiles I have always worn a helmet. I always wear a seatbelt as well. The seats in the T-bird are pretty plush and hold me in place pretty well, but I like that extra restraint. I've been in enough accidents in friends vehicles to know that when you get popped in an accident, you get tossed around a good bit. Unless you got velcro on your ass, you're moving somewhere. I'll admit there are cases where seatbelts have caused deaths, but the other side of the coin suggests that they do work and in most cases serve the purpose they were designed for: Saving Lives.

Im in RI, and I dont wear a helmet MOST of the time. I DO wear it when I leave RI, cuz I have to. I was IN a bike accident, and the lack of helmet made no difference. Not saying it doesn't help, just saying it didn't hurt me, in that instance.

I think it's absolutely ludicrous to make it THE LAW to require AIR BAGS and SEAT BELTS, in a car that is already pretty protected (as far as having a 'cage' around it) and then saying that you can hop onto a crotch-rocket with no cage, bags, belts, OR HELMET, and do what you want! Whoever thinks THIS shit up needs a fukkin reality check.

But thats okay too.. cuz I dont wear my seatbelt 99% of the time either. Shit now that I think about it, Ive removed the drivers side airbag from both of my vehicles too! Dont worry bout me, I'LL watch over me..

I think safety on that level should be left to the the person to decide. I agree with the under 18 = seatbelts. But at 18, along with all the rest of the decisions we now get to make, I think seatbelts and helmets should be one!



I agree with Sully and Eric on this one.. case fukkin closed. If it bothers you that much, dont look at me..

Motocycle accident statistics


Some people go on personal bias vs statistics. Personal bias against seat belts and helmets are usually the exception, not the rule. The rule is the statistics.


For every exception story, I have a "rule" story.

My own dad was hit by a Jeep down in FL. He wasn't wearing a helmet and he came within inches of dying. He was paralyzed for 6 months, not to mention he is almost completely made of plastic now (not directly involving if he had a helmet or not.) He broke 80% of his bones, including both wings of the pelvis and femurs (he needed a double hip replacement), ribs, his wrists had to be pin together with external metal rods, a cracked skull, etc. The hit on the head cause 1 of his jugular arteries to be completely impassible. He only has 1 working jugular artery and the doctors had no idea how his brain got enough blood. He is now on Coumadin for the rest of his life due to that wrecked artery.

My best friend growing up, her father was killed when he was struck by a drunk driver. He wasn't wearing a helmet, he was killed instantly. The accident was no fault of his own, he wasn't speeding or driving recklessly, but he would have survived if he had been wearing a helmet.

My aunt and cousin were driving home from a sports trip in a van. It was rainy and it suddenly got icy, they weren't speeding. The van hit a patch of ice and flipped 8 times (seen by witnesses.) The windows were all shattered out of the van, all the stuff inside the van was thrown 30 yards away, but every person in that van was safe and secure with their seat belts on. The only injuries were a couple scratches from the shattered glass and some seat belt burns on their necks....but they were all able to walk away from the crash.




Why does it matter what you do with you life and your decision to wear a helmet? Easy. My insurance costs. Auto insurance, motorcycle insurance, health insurance. It all goes up because people think they are too cool to wear proper safety gear.



For every experience that follows the "exception", there are dozens, if not hundreds more, who follow the statistical "rule." Those people aren't here to tell their exception stories, because they are dead or we just ignore their experiences due to our own biases.


In the end, it is your choice if you wear a helmet where it isn't required by law. I do not ride on motorcycles anymore since my dad's near death experience on one, and I've always 100% of the time wear my seat belt in the car.

the interesting thing here is the author of this post never asked if we thought the laws in regards to helmets or seat belts are right ow wrong, he simply asked if you would wear one if the law didn't require you to. it seems that everyone has taken it upon themselves to either agree or disagree with the laws. had that been the question I could understand getting into that. that was not the question.

Once again I will state that I do and will wear a helmet regardless of what ANY law says because personally I have seen what a skull/brain injury can do to someone and I rather not become a vegetable just so I can look cool with no helmet on.

im soooo not getting into this back and forth on this.. lol i did an oral presentation.. stfu... on it with stats and honestly everywhere you look the stats are diff and so is everyone. if they dont wanna wear it, they arent gonna.. you cant scare em with pics of numbers they know the possibilities. so worry about your own head i guess.. unless its someone unsure. . i dunno. but yes i always did do and would. well if uve ever seen my helmet.. i think of it and thank it often. i will post up a pic when i can.. but it saved me from a potential serious problem. plus i would rather be safe. im new.. and well i just would. haha this could go on for days. lol

Of course I would, your stupid if you don't wear a helmet.

OH doesn't have a helmet law but I'm always out there with ALL of my gear. The only time I'm not is if I'm doing a shakedown run in my neighborhood and not going over 25 (because I can ride my bicycle that fast). Even then, I still have a helmet on.

I rode a bike once with no helmet and it was torture. Rocks and bugs don't tickle when they're pelting you in the face, and the wind noise was unbearable. This ride went on for about 2 miles at 50mph.

Recently my "hardcore" HD friend bought his first helmet, it seems he tired of getting bee stings on his face.

i live in RI but i always wear a helmet and usualy a leather jacket too,soon some pants. unless its in the 90's. i usually try to find the curvy roads out in CT an western RI so im usually going pretty fast around the corners and im sure one of these days im going to go down and id like to keep my skin attached to me for the most part. but its def the riders choice. i like riding over that way too because people actually wave

yep....i ride with one on and off road. one of the reasons i do on the street bike is because at 80-90mph the glasses don't deflect much wind. i am not trying to look like joe cool. i want to be able to see. ever had a bee sting you at 30mph in the face? swallow bugs much? hehehe. i like the full face helmets due to my personal experiences.

I don't ride, however... is my health insurance cost affected because you don't? I know my health insurance at my work is stupid expensive, compared to what I get, because we have a bunch of bigger guys and older guys working in the company.. Once a certain amount of people hit a certain age, the 'pool' because older, and thus, more expensive.. That was the line given to me anyway.

So it begs the question.. Does my health insurance go up because you don't? Lots of health insurance companies give people a discount if they join a gym, don't smoke, have a certain BMI. Riders in RI, is your bike/health insurance affected because you wear/don't wear a helmet?

If I did ride, I would wear one. Hell I got a concussion on a *bicycle*.

Helmets have their good and bad points, It dose cut down on your peripheral vision and does cut your hearing in half....things that are needed when on a bike, on the other hand a helmet will save your head from roadrash and some impacts..... when i had bikes i would wear them on long trips but not just going around town.

Dude, no offense but these are the worst excuses I've ever heard. I don't know what helmet you wore that cut down on your vision, because I've found sunglasses cut down on peripheral vision more than anything else. The purpose built MC glasses are the worst! I'm sure you ride with some sort of eye protection and you're probably worse off than you think with glasses than any helmet. Heck, get a shorty or 3/4 helmet if it bothers you that much!

As for noise, without a helmet you get way more wind noise than anything else which blocks out a lot more sound than a helmet, especially on a highway. Heck, wind can be loud even with a helmet. Why do you think so many riders use earplugs?

you'll find studies that do say it reduces your vison...but

To say that dont restrict is a farce , The good points way out the bad in helmit saftey though.

"A study by J.P. Goldstein often is cited by helmet opponents as evidence that helmets cause neck injuries, allegedly by adding to head mass in a crash.5 More than a dozen studies have refuted Goldstein's findings. A study reported in the Annals of Emergency Medicine in 1994 analyzed 1,153 motorcycle crashes in four midwestern states and determined that "helmets reduce head injuries without an increased occurrence of spinal injuries in motorcycle trauma."6Regarding claims that helmets obstruct vision, studies show full-coverage helmets provide only minor restrictions in horizontal peripheral vision.

I do not ride, but if I were to I would wear a helmet at all times, required or not.