From: Don_R._Moberly.El_Segundo@xerox.COM
Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.misc
Subject: Re:Thread to ham radio (to Ron MIller)
Date: 22 Jul 1992 10:15:00 -0700
Organization: UCSD Usenet Gateway
Reply-To: Don_R._Moberly.El_Segundo@xerox.com
NNTP-Posting-Host: ucsd.edu

Usualy I don`t bother to respond to very nuch that I read on this net but the
following is just enough to deserve a response.
Mister Miller writes:
<The unhelmeted motorcyclist had been riding along and had hit and killed a
(big) deer. She had head, neck and probably spinal injuries. >

 As if she were wearing a helment she would not have hit the deer?
Or is she would not have the head neck and spinal injuries?
Or is it if she were wearing a helmet none of the above would have happened?

Well let me say after 25 years of riding a motorcycle mostly with out a helment
and a lot of dusk/night riding, if you hit a large deer at 55 miles per hour on
a bike or in a car you are going to get hurt wheither or not you have a helmet
on.
Some years back I had the oppertunity to set-up and run a lot of helments thru
the Z90 and Snell   specification test for DOT approval. In doing so I became
some what familiar with just how effective the helmets were at saving lives and
decreasing the risk of injury incase of  "accidents". I also got involved with
some of the more spectacular "accidents" that wound up in court.
I came to the conclusion , after reviewing several cases, that like seat belts
in a car about 50% of the time the helment contributed more to the injuries
than would have been the case if the helment had not been worn.
I saw cases where the helment had snaged on the road way or another vechical
protrusion  and snaped the victims neck or broke both clavicals.  Another case
where the helment caught on fire and killed the guy wearing it. I saw cases
where the helment had caught on  parts of the bike being ridden and caused
severe damage to the rider. To be fair I also saw cases where the helment
obviously save the rider from more severe injuries. Such as one  case where the
rider was wearing a helmet ad ran into a barrier, the bike stoped, he did an
endo landing on his head on concrete and skidding upside down for several yards
before flipping over on his backside and finishing up in a ditch.

<SOME THOUGHTS ON EMERGENCY EQUIPMENT>
The ideas here are prudent.

<SOME THOUGHTS ON HELMETS>

< The "cost to society" argument for helmets tends to be rather easily
dismissed.
<I attribute this to the impersonal nature of the argument.

<On a different scale, this lady's choice to (a) not wear a helmet and (b) to
<ride at dusk/dark in deer territory, severely traumatized about 12 people who
<came to her aid. These individual strangers contributed time, material and
<emotional energy on her behalf, all because they felt it to be right.
<(and that the law requires rendering assistance.......)

<I think that she made a thoughtless choice that imposed unnecessarily upon
<The kindness of strangers. Frankly, MY first reaction was not of compassion
<but was of rage. HOW COULD SHE BE SO ALMIGHTY STUPID TO BE RIDING WITHOUT
<A HELMET!!!!! She is free to choose to ride helmetless but neither I, nor any
of
<the helpers was free to let her die unattended.  Two of the helpful
<strangers remarked that this was the second motorcycle accident that they
<had been first on-scene with in 2 weeks. (The other was a squid-boy that
<ran off the road when travelling the Masonville Rd. in a pack.)

<When you reject the "cost to society" argument, please remember that you
<are also spitting in the face of suddenly involved strangers who will be
<inconvenienced by your decision. They cannot spit back at you as you lie
<unconscious and bleeding on (or off) the road.

Most of this is emotional diatribe  based on ignorance and has to be considered
rhetorical.

Before  buying into the helmet lobby  or anything else where the politicians
are going to  protect you from your self, ask your self  who`s pockets are
going to get lined this time. The current helmet laws in California are a good
example of how a strong lobby can increase sales of any product. Helmets do not
keep people from doing stupid things on motorcycles. One moment of
inattenitiveness, or stupidity is going to hurt you on a motorcycle.  Most
accident I have seen involving motorcycles  could have been avoided if the
rider had been paying attention to the business of riding. In order to ride
safe you have to ride smart.
Just keep one thing in mind like seat belts, helmets are only about 50%
effective.
Ride  Smart
Don Moberly

Remmember: Stupid is terminal, Ignorance can be cured.
Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.misc