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[Orod]

My name is Oscar Rodriguez and I am currently working on a documentary dealing with texas legislation that does not require the use of helmets when riding a motorcycle. I would like to see if I could come to an event to document, and interview some for there opinions. I apalogize for getting on ya'lls forums for this, but I did not know how else to contact, but any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Grinner]

Im sure you would be more than welcome to come out to one of our bike nights and ask all the questions you would like. I know I would have no problem answering whatever you might want to know.
To be on the safe side, PM Dragonfly and make sure it would be ok just to make sure. He may also post up before you have to PM to verify.

[Bailout]

I am not allowed to speak on the subject of helmets! HA

[Rhino]

I don't think anybody would have a problem with you stopping by to ask questions. We have a bike night at the Fox & Hound at I-20 and Bryant Irvin this coming Thursday.

[DarcShadow]

Yeah, come on out.

You will find that most all of us (bailout doesn't count) wear helmits all the time. Regarding laws, personally I hate the idea of being told I HAVE to wear one even though I do wear one all the time. I appreciate having the option of not wearing one though.

[fixxervi6]

Yeah, come on out.

You will find that most all of us (bailout doesn't count) wear helmits all the time. Regarding laws, personally I hate the idea of being told I HAVE to wear one even though I do wear one all the time. I appreciate having the option of not wearing one though.

[Rhino]

I'm not going to be at bike night, but I'll go ahead and register my opinion.

I wear a helmet all the time, especially after crashing in a full-face and sliding down the road on my face. However, I rode a cruiser for a couple years without a helmet or pretty much any other gear other than goggles and a ballcap.

While I choose to gear up all the time, I don't like the idea of required helmets. I'll call people dumb for not wearing a helmet, but I don't think they should be forced to wear them. Every once in a while I'll take a gearless ride just to remember what it was like. It's certainly riskier, but there's some freedom to it also. Sometimes it feels good to take your life in your own hands. Riding a motorcycle without gear or a helmet certainly lets you do that.

[Firewa11]

I'm all about personal responsibility. While I personally think you're a moron if you don't wear a full-faced helmet while riding, I don't believe you should be forced to either. Now I understand from a public safety and public resource aspect as well...

You're less likely to tie up emergency services scraping your dead self off the pavement if you were forced to wear a helmet. Investigations for fatalities tie up police, fire, and medical services for injuries that could have been prevented by wearing a helmet. You're also less likely to be stunned or knocked off your bike from road debris (i.e. a rock) hitting you in your unprotected head, meaning you're not just going to fall off your bike in front of other drivers and such.

But that being said, while I can understand how being forced to wear a helmet can help reduce those scenarios, taking away individual rights by forcing personal responsibility on them is not the best way to go about it. But, then again, we force people to wear seatbelts. What's another freedom taken away for the greater collective good of the 1%?

[Bailout]

[fixxervi6]

Translation = Helmet laws are BULL S****!

Did I get that close?

[U-Turn]

Required-Helmet laws would interfere with natural selection.
Stupid arrogant people that "don't need no helmet" or "gov'mt telling me what to do" won't wear a helmet. These people will be naturally culled from the rest of the population leaving us smart people with more.
Of course, riding without a helmet does add to that "rebel" appeal.

[Bailout]

Hey I feel the same way about helmets on bicycles for kids.......Natural selection.....and yes I have a daughter and she does not wear a helmet on her bike unless we are in public areas/parks.

[Telomere]

Hey I feel the same way about helmets on bicycles for kids.......Natural selection.....and yes I have a daughter and she does not wear a helmet on her bike unless we are in public areas/parks.

There is a guy that comes into my job and he was in his neighborhood just riding his bike with his son. For some reason, the two of them were throwing a ball (football maybe) back and forth to each other while on their bikes. They weren't going fast but dad hit the curb and ended up in a coma for a few days, broken arm and I think some fractured ribs (not to mention a nice looking blood shot eye and a ton of scrapes and bruises) and he was in the hospital for about a week. He does a lot of road riding (bicycles) and always wears a helmet but this time he didn't. I bet you will never see him without a helmet again. Holy crap!! Darwin at work!!! My kids brains are too important to me and them that they have no choice in my house. If they want to ride their bicycle, they have to don a helmet (same goes with my oldest and her dirt bike).

[Firewa11]

[DarcShadow]

I'm with bailout on this one. I road hundred of miles on state highways, city streets, collage campus, and through woods and never had bicycle helmit. You just have to pay attention to what you are doing and where you are going. Clearly someone throwing a football back and forth while riding isn't paying attention to what he is doing.

[Telomere]

I'm not saying that everyone should wear a helmet or be forced to but my kids have to. I really don't want to have to take care of them for the rest of my life if they hit their head (while riding without a helmet) and end up wearing diapers for the rest of their life. I love them and all but I look forward to when the kids are grown up and in their own house.

[fixxervi6]

I have no doubt my life was saved by wearing a helmet on my bicycle, at a minimum I escaped critical injury. I was knocked out cold and the helmet was destroyed but I'm alive. I was only going about 20 mph, cruising around nothing fancy.

Telomere, 100% without a doubt, would not be here today if she had not been wearing her helmet when she decided to put her motorcycle gear to the test.

As stated, our kids have to wear helmets, after they move out however, its their call, hopefully they will have learned. There are worse injuries than death that can result from head trauma.

[Firewa11]

I never had a bicycle helmet when I was a kid, but when I was a kid we didn't have car seat requirements either. And we played with lawn darts. And had BB gun fights. And we built tree houses ourselves, using rusty nails and rotten plywood we scrounged up. Clearly darwinism was at work.

So, say your daughter is riding their bicycle over to a friend's house, and she's excited and having fun and going fast around a corner and woops a little gravel sand patch... Bike slides out, and she gets whipped down hard into the ground. She isn't thinking about protecting her head, she is holding onto the handlebars wondering what happened. And her head gets whipped into the ground. Game over. Someone drives by, calls the police. They come and load her up, take photos, and say how it's a damned shame. Relatives visit, offer condolences, you bury your daughter. And you spend the rest of your life wondering why you didn't make her wear a helmet.

Or, you could have bought her a damned $10 helmet and told her she had to wear it, and when the above scenario hits, she slams her helmet-protected head into the ground, gets up, dusts herself off, maybe wipes off a little blood from some scrapes on her elbow and knees, and rides back home. And you get to see her grow up.

It's your choice obviously, I'm certainly not telling anyone how to raise their kids. But something like a helmet to me is a no-brainer. Pun intended.

[fixxervi6]

I never had a bicycle helmet when I was a kid, but when I was a kid we didn't have car seat requirements either. And we played with lawn darts. And had BB gun fights. And we built tree houses ourselves, using rusty nails and rotten plywood we scrounged up. Clearly darwinism was at work.

Same here, I got lucky and never had any serious problems when I was a kid however, I did see some very grissly injuries and we did lose friends, more than one kid in my school died from ATV accidents etc.

For an adult its choice, I support freedom of choice. For kids, well, I'm a mean bastard, kids do not have freedom of choice as they have not matured enough to understand the possible consequences.

Yea, I'm that mean dad that says no helmet, no bike - I don't care if it doesn't look cool, no safety glasses and ear plugs then no gun, yes you have to wear shoes that cover your toes while doing X, you better have safety glasses on when you touch that lawn mower etc.

I'm ok with being that mean dad.

edit: kind of an odd mentality for someone that zings aroud at really high speeds on two wheels and purposefully takes life support equipment deep into areas where humans can not survive, don't ya think? ...... nope, I enjoy adventure, not a risk taker, there is a difference. Probably why cave diving appeals to me so much, the logistics are complex, that is what keeps you alive. Minimize the risk as best you can then get after it.

What is that saying? dress for the crash, not the ride?

Plan for the worst, hope for the best

I'm too pretty to risk this face or rashing up my skin

[Firewa11]

I'm too pretty to risk this face or rashing up my skin

Yes, yes you are!

[Rhino]

I rashed up my skin while wearing gear. I'm still pretty, right?

Right?

[fixxervi6]

I rashed up my skin while wearing gear. I'm still pretty, right?

Right?

Your the rhino dude, rash is just makes you hotter

[Firewa11]

Yeah, rash makes you prettier Rhino. In fact, tomorrow night we need to throw you to the ground and rash you up some more

[PinkFiddy]

I'm with everyone else.

1. Come on out.
2. Personally, I think it's best to wear one, but I'm not gonna force someone. The same with seatbelts. Your body, your life, your decision.
3. Try growing up with a mother and a grandmother who are both nurses and get away without wearing one. GOOD LUCK, lol.
4. I think I'll SLAPAHO. Someone's gotta teach the younger generations (yes, i opened the door. bite me).
5. I think they're great conversation starters.

[WillK675]

Feel free to come out and talk to everyone at bike night tonight. As you can already tell, we are not affraid to offer up our thoughts and opinions.