HELMETS.

Brain buckets … skid lids … crash hats …

Mandate or no mandate? The debate is heated among those who are directly affected by the helmet-wear issue. Right up there with abortion, gun control, and whether or not Elvis is really dead.

Before I get to my own line of thinking, here’s a bit of helmet logic from Jerry Seinfeld:

There are many things you can point to as proof that the human is not smart. But my personal favorite would have to be that we needed to invent the helmet. What was happening, apparently, was that we were involved in a lot of activities that were cracking our heads. We chose not to avoid doing those activities but, instead, to come up with some sort of device to help us enjoy our head-cracking lifestyles. And even that didn't work because not enough people were wearing them so we had to come up with the helmet law. Which is even stupider, the idea behind the helmet law being to preserve a brain whose judgment is so poor, it does not even try to avoid the cracking of the head it's in.

It's hard not to agree with Jerry on this one.

Should we NEED a helmet law? It’s disturbing to think so.

Idaho – my state – has it right, in my opinion. Riders and passengers under 18 are required by law to wear a helmet. Those over 18 are theoretically responsible for making their own choice in the matter. I would change one thing, however. When somebody with a motorcycle license endorsement is renewing that license, they also sign a waiver stating something to this effect: “I understand that if I exercise the choice to not wear a helmet while riding a motorcycle, or allow a passenger to ride helmet-less, and if I or that passenger sustains a head injury, the taxpayers will not be liable in any way for my medical expenses. I will be totally responsible for all medical, rehabilitation, convalescence, and/or life-support expenses subsequent to said head injury.”

One of the most valid arguments made by the pro-helmet-law faction is that the taxpayers end up holding huge medical bills for unhelmeted head injuries. The waiver, if signed AND exercised, would eliminate that argument. Plus, hopefully, it would cause those “free as an eagle, in-the-wind, blah-blah-blah” helmet-free riders to pause for a moment and consider the possible consequences of their choice. There is WAY too much tendency, in 21st-century American society, to refuse to accept responsibility for one’s actions and choices. (Don’t get me started on THAT topic!)

Who can argue that it’s not nice to roll down the street or open highway without a bucket? Helmets aren’t particularly comfortable, and there is indeed something magical about head-in-the-wind. (Even dogs know that – they love to hang their heads out the car window, or around the side of the pickup cab.) You don’t need a helmet as long as you’re rolling on that scooter – it’s when you’re very suddenly and unexpectedly NOT rolling along, that the helmet comes in pretty handy.

I can say with confidence that most riders who go helmet-less are NOT thinking about the possible consequences of their choice – consequences that could permanently affect not only them, but taxpayers, friends and loved ones, wives and kids who are depending on them for sustenance.

Is it stupid to ride a motorcycle without a helmet? DUH!!

I totally reject the arguments you hear about helmets being unsafe, because they lead to neck injuries, or because you might possibly catch the chin strap on something, etc. Hooey! If I’m flying through the air, brain-first, toward sheet metal, asphalt, or concrete, I’ll take my chances with the helmet, thank you. (If you’re an adult, and make a different choice… knock yourself out.) (Pun intended.)

I choose to wear a helmet probably 98% of the time. (But I’m glad I’m doing it by choice, and would be very much opposed to a law mandating it.) I’ve only been REALLY GLAD for that helmet one time in my 35+ years of riding. I also ride a bicycle – a lot – always with a helmet. I’ve been really glad for that bucket 2 or 3 times on the bike. Pavement is really hard – my skull is no match.

I have to chuckle (or maybe groan) when I see “biker-dudes” all decked out in their black leather, ostensibly for “protection” – or the punks on their lay-on-the-tank rice rockets, decked out in armored color-coordinated leather racing suits – and no helmet! What’s wrong with THIS picture? “Let’s see… brain injury, road rash, brain injury, road rash… ummm, I’ll take my chances with the brain injury, Doc.” Maybe Darwin is right, and this is evidence of the validity of the “law of natural selection.”

So, that’s how I feel on helmets and helmet laws. If you feel differently, fine. I’ll wear my helmet, by choice. If they try to pass a law mandating helmet wear, I’ll be furiously lobbying against any such law.

Steve Hulme, December 2002

More on Helmets - a viewpoint from Florida.