Sure would be a shame for those kids to lose their dad because he chose not to wear his safety gear. It's a whole lot easier to teach a child what's right when leading by example. If kids see that something is important enough for dad to do, then in their minds it becomes important enough for them to do also. As a fulltime firefighter/EMT, I deal with accident victims on a daily basis. In all the years I've been doing this, I've yet to cut a seatbelt off ,or remove a helmet from a dead victim that wouldn't have died anyway without those safety devices. I have however removed, scraped up and body bagged numerous individuals who chose not to wear these devices. The laws of physics are inevitable. The odds are drastically against you if you choose not to wear your seatbelt or helmet/safety gear. The statistics and the truth are out there for all to behold. If you gamble and lose, then it's too late. Honda is right with thier safety campaign,"Stupid Hurts".

 

WELL PUT!

 

Thanks Blazer, You know if riders keep getting killed and seriously injured, it hurts all of us in the publics eyes. We got to act responsibly and safely or none of us will have any places left to ride one day. We don't want the goverment to get involved with this like they did with the 3 wheeler mess back in the seventies and eighties. I remember those days. NOT GOOD[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]:

 

Dead is dead. Case in point. My brother. Wearing full chest armor, wearing a seat belt and with a full on air bag system. Head on wreck. DOA. His partner with only a seatbelt and no airbag; a banged up knee.

Another. My best friend. This is a good one. He wanted a Harley all his life. He was 32 at the time and talked to his dad about gettng one. His dads take on it? "Don't get one, that thing is going to kill ya". He did anyway against his dads wishes. Rode it for more than a year and had the time of his life on it!!!!! Man that stupid bike made him happy!!! One day going to work in his 3/4 ton diesel truck some kid crossed over and hit him head on in a Dotson pickup. My friend lived 3 days and passed away. He was wearing a belt and was in a 6K lb pickup. Dead is dead.
Man I'm glad he did the irresponsible thing and bought that bike, he had a ball on it!!!

I'm not arguing that people should not wear helmets. Not at all. It's just that there is risk in everything. For the people that think you should wear a helmet in ALL situations; I have a question for you:
Fireslayer, should the Government mandate wearing a helmet while drive a car or truck? It would save lives? After all statisticts show that driving on the street is far more dangerous than the race track and I have to wear a helmet when I drive my race car.

Should there be a law saying that all EMT's need to wear a full faced helmets anytime they are in an ambulance? After all, EMT's drive fast, (sort of goes with the job) and if you were wearing a helmet, would have a better chance of suvival. Since you have kids I would think you need to do all you can in "your" dangerous job to see that they have a dad for a long time. See where I'm going with this?

You have to realize that there are people in this world that think that ATV's are super dangerous and should be banned and as an EMT you should know better than to ride one of these dangerous vehicles.

Fireslayer; do you eat meat and fat? If so, a vegan would say your being totally irresponsible. After all, heart disease is the number one killer. You would think the vegan is some sort of a nut thinking like this. The vegan thinks your irresponsible.

I'm not arguing with you, just trying to showing you the other side of the coin.

 

I was going to write a long response to you oberservations, but this thread is not going anywhere. So heres the shorter version. If I go skydiving and the jumpmaster offered me a parachute with a backup parachute installed, or just a old army parachute with the one or nothing ripcord, I'm picking the parachute with the backup. Dosn't take a lot of since to figure that out. If a car dealer offered a new car with airbags or without airbags, i picking the one with airbags. If i got the choice to fight mike tyson or my wife when its that time of the month, I pick tyson. Do you get it? If you have the chance to better protect yourself---take it.

Lastly, Im sorry to here all the bad events that have happened to people you know. Im sorry the restrants did not save them. But if you want to talk statisticts try the one that says more people are saved than killed wearing protective gear, like seatbelts and helmets. Again sorry to hear of your losses.

repectfully,
jclaude

 

As an adult, wear your helmet, don't wear it, whatever. Personally, I think anyone that doesn't wear one while riding is not acting in thier own best interest. What upsets me though, is when parents aren't responsible enough to lead by example. Common sense dictates that if mom and dad wear a helmet, the kids are more likely to also. If mom and dad don't smoke/drink/do drugs/lie/cheat/steal/swear/whetever, the kids are much less likely to do those things too. For every death or injury that occurs in motor sports, there are at least 10 times that number of people that walk away from accidents of the same severity with no or minor injuries. Bottom line, safety gear works. Helmets don't seem to slow down any of the big time racers from any racing league, and they should be just fine for us average joes too.

 

You missed my point.
Do you wear a helmet in your car? If not, why not? It's better protection. I could put a 4 pt roll cage in your car for a few hundred bucks. Would you take me up on the offer? As you stated, it's better protection. Do you have 6 pt harnesses in your car?.............................................. .................................................

 

How bout them bullriders....maybe they should have to wear full protective gear cause we need to tell people how to live there lives....LOL [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

For all the people here pushing helmets for adults, do you express your strong opinion on a rider or riders that you come across on the trail that do not wear them?

I am not into arguing or bickering, but the 100,000 acres where we ride, out of 20-30 that you might come across in one day, none will have helmets. Maybe we are just slow here in Oklahoma, but I think helmets for adults is a personal decision, and that there is a time and place for them and if an ADULT chooses not to wear them, that's his or her opinion. My kids wear them all the time. They ask if they can take them off because we are going back to the truck and it is not acceptable. Now before you ask why them and not me???? Because they are 11 and 7.....not 35... When we go, usually 2 families(8 people total), the speeds do not get over 15 mph...that's on a dirt road. On the trail, the avg speed I would say is 4-5 mph...

I know some of you who endorse helmets for everyone ALL the time will not agree with our thinking. Yes I do have a helmet and when I go w/just the guys...it get hairy and scary because you have testosterone and someone always has to out-do the other guy...and yes I wear my helmet then....You might ask why then and not with the family? THE RISK IS GREATER THEN.

 

Good points, Doctor, and yes I do understand where you're coming from.It could be argued from here to eternity as to what level of safety devices should be used at what times and in which situations. As SafetySean stated earlier, it does come down to a risk vs. reward decision. Each of us will make or fail to make the correct decisions regarding our safety and the safety of others and we will live the rest of our lives with those decisions. All I can add here is to use the best common sense you have and be prepared to live with the consequences of your decisions.