Trauma Nurse Here - Please Don't Drink and Ride!

[Hank]

In the early days of motorized vehicles speed limits were typically very low, mainly because people were exposed to the air and understood how dangerous it is. In 1921 speed limits in my town were at eight mph. And many car drivers wore helmets.

If you fell while sprinting at 15 mph you would hurt yourself pretty badly.

Actually if cars were invented today laws would probably require people to wear helmets while driving. I knew a somewhat eccentric gentleman once who wore a racing helmet while driving. Everyone laughed until a pickup ran a stop sign and t boned him. It saved his life. If you think about it, why do car race drivers wear helmets? If you are hit head on in a car at 75 by another car going 75 that is the equivalent of 150.

 

[Mi_ka]

If you are hit head on in a car at 75 by another car going 75 that is the equivalent of 150.

For cars and head crash this generally equals double crumble zones, same as hitting a wall at 75 (which is way too high to come out quite unhurt as most crash tests are conducted at about half this speed).
Of course a bike and a car colliding are such a different story that from what I recollect the average cranial fracture speed is about 8kph or so...

Always nice to see this Portuguese guy showing simple realities in a dramatic way
[video=youtube;843iDd4a6Ic]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=843iDd4a6Ic[/video]

 

[supertux1]

Copy/Paste. I had the exact occurrence and make the same decisions.

Everyone I know at my age now (40's), now ride HD's, except my father and my boss, ride HD's. Sadly, all they do is bar hop. Every g'damn one of them. They cant seem to ride without stopping at a f'ing bar. Long trips, short trips, cruising the city. Doesn't matter.

HD? I have heard of this brand. They make OK motorcycles, for a clothing company...


Seriously though, here in Wisconsin the anti-helmet / drinking culture with HD and cruiser riders is very strong and tends to override the sensibilities of even the smartest people who should know better.

I have friends in emergency medicine, EMT related fields who ride HD, do not wear helmets and of course drink.

They have actually been on calls where they've scraped brains off the road, and also poured brains out of helmets, or found severed heads with helmets still on.

That is their justification for not wearing helmets - in extreme wrecks they don't help. The drinking thing, who knows, we're all alcoholics here.

I don't drink and drive/ride, hell I don't like to ride hungover so I won't have more than a few after riding at night if I know I'm going to be out next day.

 

[WhatYes]

I have stopped using a full face helmet and now in summer use an open face - I know the risk but the extra pleasure and the improved visibility are (to me) acceptable trade-offs.
Mike

And, of course, this is your prerogative. But just as a reminder........

 

[Mikee3544]

That is why I bought this helmet. Very wide field of view, great air in-out tunnels
Much more better than the previous Nolan 103, that was a flip-up type.

I use this one with the chin bar always mounted, but 1 click open, not fully closed in the city.


So after all, we have a mid-hot summer right now, but as always, ATGATT.
I can take a shower whenever I want, but dont want to spend my time regaining my lost health by not wearing proper safety gear.

 

[mike5100]

That's nearly the same helmet I have bought. The Nolan n40 classic full. I don't think the chinguard would be much more use than a piece of cardboard but I do use it when the weathers bad. I think the amazing optical clarity of the visor and the huge angle of view might just prevent me from being in an accident for which I would have been grateful for a full face helmet
Mike

 

[TigerDude]

If you are hit head on in a car at 75 by another car going 75 that is the equivalent of 150.

No it's the same as hitting a wall at 75

 

[mike5100]

That's nearly the same helmet I have bought. The Nolan n40 classic full. I don't think the chinguard would be much more use than a piece of cardboard but I do use it when the weathers bad. I think the amazing optical clarity of the visor and the huge angle of view might just prevent me from being in an accident for which I would have been grateful for a full face helmet
Mike

By the way - you don't get a peak on most of the helmets we use, and these Nolan's peaks are IMHO a major safety factor for two reasons. It transforms your vision riding into a low sun - particularly when you have crud on your visor from salty roads in winter. Secondly you can flip the visor into a lower position that in effect eliminates a white sky. Usually this eliminates the need to use the inbuilt sun visor which means two less surfaces to interfere with your view.
Again - a trade-off. Is a peak likely to break your neck when you are rolling along the road, or might it save you rolling along the road in the first place?
Mike

 

[Deleted member 1183]

I would also caution against riding after drinking tea, especially as one gets older.

 

[Old Can Ride]

By the way - you don't get a peak on most of the helmets we use, and these Nolan's peaks are IMHO a major safety factor for two reasons. It transforms your vision riding into a low sun - particularly when you have crud on your visor from salty roads in winter. Secondly you can flip the visor into a lower position that in effect eliminates a white sky. Usually this eliminates the need to use the inbuilt sun visor which means two less surfaces to interfere with your view.
Again - a trade-off. Is a peak likely to break your neck when you are rolling along the road, or might it save you rolling along the road in the first place?
Mike

A third helmet standard from the Economic Community of Europe (ECE) is actually the most commonly used internationally, the ECE 22.05, required by over 50 countries worldwide. While helmet standards all have the goal of regulating helmet performance for protection of riders’ heads, some performance requirements conflict between standards.

An advantage of the ECE 22.05 standard is the requirement for mandatory batch testing of helmets before they are released to the riding public.

What this means to the consumer is the quality of the helmet in meeting the ECE 22.05 standard is assured by a mandatory sample testing of every production of helmets before they leave the factory, not with random testing performed after thousands of helmets with unknown quality are delivered to the dealers.

 

[Mi_ka]

I would also caution against riding after drinking tea, especially as one gets older.

but only with manual bikes that have rider induced gear lever chattering due to tea intoxication I guess

 

[mike5100]

The helmet tests iirc only test how well a helmet will protect your brain in an accident. No conclusions are drawn about whether the ergonomics of s helmet help prevent an accident in the first place. The main parameter would of course be visibility but probably noise levels and ventilation follow fairly close behind
Mike

 

[Flaferalcat]

MMMM... Well I'm not going to get on a soap box and say anything about drinking&riding, or riding without helmets. I honestly don't care if someone's on a Harley, Honda, Hayabusa, Huansong, or anything else. a choice, is a choice. I firmly believe everyone has the right to live how they want to live as long as it doesn't affect anyone in a negative manner... There's much discussion about how not wearing helmets is causing everyone to pay extra for medical premiums. That, is a discussion I'm wiling to participate in as long as it's intelligent, thought out, and nobody pulls the COMMIE-CARD. Drinking? On a bike? Well, fortunately, or unfortunately we haven't outlawed stupidity yet, but if someones drinking ever affects my driving/riding, I have a problem with you.
Till then....Lead, follow, or mostly just stay out of my way!

 

[pprior]

The problem with that philosophy is that people making stupid decisions have OTHER people paying for it.

I'm all for "ride however you want" but if you crash and have no insurance or insurance that doesn't cover your bills, then you don't get care, period.

Same with these @$%$^ers who drive without insurance: in my world get caught driving without insurance and you go to jail for 10 years.
Get caught voting illegally, that's 20 years.

Oh and yah if you're too fat to walk because you eat too much you also don't get disability and free scooters and a lifetime of eating off the public titty either.

None of those things happen, so the problem is your "right to live how they want" ends up with responsible people like me who wear all the right gear all the time paying the hospital bills of those idiot squids.

 

[Flaferalcat]

The problem with that philosophy is that people making stupid decisions have OTHER people paying for it.

I'm all for "ride however you want" but if you crash and have no insurance or insurance that doesn't cover your bills, then you don't get care, period.

Same with these @$%$^ers who drive without insurance: in my world get caught driving without insurance and you go to jail for 10 years.
Get caught voting illegally, that's 20 years.

Oh and yah if you're too fat to walk because you eat too much you also don't get disability and free scooters and a lifetime of eating off the public titty either.

None of those things happen, so the problem is your "right to live how they want" ends up with responsible people like me who wear all the right gear all the time paying the hospital bills of those idiot squids.

Wow! All that huh?

 

[Deleted member 1183]

but only with manual bikes that have rider induced gear lever chattering due to tea intoxication I guess

Not exactly what I had in mind

 

[WhatYes]

MMMM... Well I'm not going to get on a soap box and say anything about drinking&riding, or riding without helmets. I honestly don't care if someone's on a Harley, Honda, Hayabusa, Huansong, or anything else. a choice, is a choice. I firmly believe everyone has the right to live how they want to live as long as it doesn't affect anyone in a negative manner... There's much discussion about how not wearing helmets is causing everyone to pay extra for medical premiums. That, is a discussion I'm wiling to participate in as long as it's intelligent, thought out, and nobody pulls the COMMIE-CARD. Drinking? On a bike? Well, fortunately, or unfortunately we haven't outlawed stupidity yet, but if someones drinking ever affects my driving/riding, I have a problem with you.
Till then....Lead, follow, or mostly just stay out of my way!

I'm all for intelligent, respectful discussions. Bully for you!

You already hit on the first concern; increased medical care. One option is to require riders who are going to go helmetless to sign an agreement that any injury they suffer that can reasonably be shown would have been avoided by helmet use will NOT be covered by insurance and those costs must be borne by the rider. An alternative to that is for motorcycle insurance companies to say they won't cover you if you ride helmetless.

BUT!!! (you say!) in states with no-helmet laws it's our right? Well.... yes and not, sort of.

Driving a vehicle of ANY kind is not a 'right', it is a privilege that must be earned via testing and payment of fees and licensing. As such, all vehicle operation carries with it certain laws, regulations and liabilities. If we don't follow those regulations, we lose the privilege of operating that vehicle.

All that being a long-winded way of saying that riding a motorcycle ain't a "right", it's a privilege that carries with it a pretty high degree of regulated responsibility. We are mandated to wear seatbelts in cars. I, personally, have no issue with helmet laws. And, like wearing seatbelts, once you get used to them, you feel pretty weird without them. Even here in Colorado with no helmet laws, I don't even like riding my bike around a freakin' WalMart parking lot without my helmet! I feel totally vulnerable without it on.

 

[Flaferalcat]

I'm all for intelligent, respectful discussions. Bully for you!

You already hit on the first concern; increased medical care. One option is to require riders who are going to go helmetless to sign an agreement that any injury they suffer that can reasonably be shown would have been avoided by helmet use will NOT be covered by insurance and those costs must be borne by the rider. An alternative to that is for motorcycle insurance companies to say they won't cover you if you ride helmetless.

BUT!!! (you say!) in states with no-helmet laws it's our right? Well.... yes and not, sort of.

Driving a vehicle of ANY kind is not a 'right', it is a privilege that must be earned via testing and payment of fees and licensing. As such, all vehicle operation carries with it certain laws, regulations and liabilities. If we don't follow those regulations, we lose the privilege of operating that vehicle.

All that being a long-winded way of saying that riding a motorcycle ain't a "right", it's a privilege that carries with it a pretty high degree of regulated responsibility. We are mandated to wear seatbelts in cars. I, personally, have no issue with helmet laws. And, like wearing seatbelts, once you get used to them, you feel pretty weird without them. Even here in Colorado with no helmet laws, I don't even like riding my bike around a freakin' WalMart parking lot without my helmet! I feel totally vulnerable without it on.

BRAVO! Pretty good! FWIW- I'm ATGATT myself too. I live on a dirt road and just riding up and back to test something feels weird without my lid.

Florida, in the mid 90's used to have mandated helmet laws. ABATE fought like mad to get rid of them. At that time, you didn't need any motorcycle type insurance to ride. But finally in the later 90's the state said something like: OK, you don't have to wear a helmet, but if not then you have to have a mandatory amount of motorcycle insurance. (Apparently, motorcyclists, were, and are still considered not enough of a moving threat to mandate insurance.) A chunk of which is directed at offsetting the E.R. costs of all those extra cranial injuries. It kind of set a social stage of
"Who's the real rebel? Those not wearing helmets and paying the Man, or those wearing a helmet and sicking it to the man?"
Now personally, I couldn't afford the insurance at the time, so I wore a lid. And even recently was not able to afford the insurance, (which I do have now btw).
And when stopped to receive a possible performance award from the State troopers a couple years back, as long as your 'Dressed to Spill", they don't ask.
So here in Florida, at least, it a legal choice to wear or not wear, with insurance caveats attached.
Anywhere else like that?

 

[Hank]

I believe Arkansas is similar.