Riding without helmets.

in my line of work (firefighter/paramedic) i scoop faces off of roads from people who thought that 1 mile down the street ride was ok without a helmet. its never ok. i ride religiously, small trips, long trips and no matter the weather or distance i always wear a helmet. i used to not wear one bc in my state there is no helmet law. after seeing the reality of it i changed my ways. i work a motorcycle wreck at least once a week, and the guys or gals who went without a helmet 90% of the time are dead when i arrive on scene. i see the aftermath of the crash before anyone else and when a wife, husband, parent or friend shows up at the scene the first thing they ask me is "was he/she wearing his/her helmet?"when i say no the look in their eyes tells me that they know they are dead. i dont even have to tell them because they know.helmets save lives and i can vouch for it. an icon alliance ss saved me serious brain trauma from an accident i was in. i might not have died but it would have ended my career. im not trying to preach or anything like that i just wanted everyone to think how their family would react when they get to your scene. and the paramedic only has to say he/she wasnt wearing a helmet. be smart.ride safe.  

this is an important "heads up" (haha) because a lot of us don't think about some of the repercussions of not wearing a lid.

so you're a badass, fine, but if you die simply b/c you were too tough not to wear a lid there will be a lot of others impacted, as firemedic mentioned the poor husbands or wives that show up and have to deal with.

wear a lid...they look way cooler than your face anyways. ugly mother f***ers!  

i cant agree more with you i smacked by skull off the asphalt on atrip to bike week in daytona, the expensive shoei i was wearing  save my head . you should always wear one either by law or not .we donot have a helmet law here in s.c. so alot of people make the wrong choice.  

im in charleston sc, so i know about the no helmet law. i see people riding "topless" all the time and just cant imagine what the hell they r thinking. even bugs in the face sting just wait till u hit the sandy asphalt at 80 mph.  

The first thing that you hear everyone say is that you should always wear a helmet to help prevent serious injury in a wreck. The truth is as a firefighter myself I have seen single motorcycle accidents where the rider died and was wearing a helmet and not even going very fast and obeying the law. The truth is that no matter how you dress and what you do when it is your time to go then you will go no matter what. I have been in 3 wrecks 2 wearing a helmet and 1 without and the 1 without I came out with alot less injuries and was going faster than the other 2. Your life is in God's hands so enjoy it while it lasts.  

i have seen both sides of accidents as well. with and without helmets. yes, a lot of deaths occur with helmets on but wearing appropriate gear will decrease your chances of getting a permanent head injury or severe road rash. every rider will go down if they ride long enough and i would rather have it on and not need it than need it and not have it on. you are right, most single mc crashes happen at low speed due to rider error. with your experience of two crashes with a helmet on can you honestly say that the helmet didnt keep you alive? you stated you sustained more injury during these accidents so they were worse than the no helmet accident. so if your life is in gods hands it looks like he had you wear a helmet during your two bad accidents to keep you alive. almost every mc accident i work that involves an "at-fault" car driver where the rider was helmetless the rider doesnt fair too well. a helmet will not keep you alive but it will help in preventing severe brain damage, which is almost always fatal or severely debilitating. as far as life being in gods hands, being that you are a firefighter im sure you have been involved in a situation that kept someone from dieing such as a rescue. keeping people alive is our job and our knowledge, training, and technology allow us to do our job. if we just sat around a patient held hands and prayed, the outcome would not be favorable for the patient. i agree that you should enjoy your life but your own decisions play a big role in the outcome of your actions. dont leave it to chance and hope that you will be ok, wear gear.  

god eh? nope...more like luck.
your life is in luck's hands.

i've crashed big time with no lid and walked away, and other times fully geared and was on a stretcher.

same with MX. i've come up short on triples and laughed, yet tipped over at 5 mph and dislocated shoulders.

is it worth the risk? no. wear your *** gear.  

Hmmm, I can't fathom the idea of not wearing a helmet. I'm a beginner so I have not purchased one yet. I'm taking the MSF course this weekend. I have a borrowed SUOMY helmet for the course, it fit my tiny head pretty well so I might go with that brand when I make my purchase.  

Thanks for that. I live in Korea and it is hotter than hell right now. As a result I have left my lid at home a few times recently for short trips. I needed a wake up call. Thanks again.  

so yeah, this bubbles my skin....HAWAII IS RETARDED, LETS MAKE USING CELL PHONES ILLEGAL IN THE STATE, BUT LET ANYONE ON A 2 WHEELED MACHINE WEAR BOARD SHORTS SANDALS AND THATS IT AND LET THEM CRUISE AROUND LIKE ITS COOL.  What a bunch of fools these people are.  Even minors on mopeds are not required to wear the proper P.P.E  Military members are required, but the locals are not and that is just ridiculous!!!!!!  Oh and your bass in your car cant be heard past 30 ft or they will cite you, they got me.  bastards.  
bigmac

I have been in the military for a long time now and I was stationed most recently in Germany. Riding in a place wear you can get on the autobahn and go as fast as you would like to go, well that ROCKS. The tracks there are outstanding. But over there you are required by law to wear your lid. The military made us wear more than the locals of course. I have since returned home and now I remember that Arkansas has no lid law if you are over 21. I believe strongly that people should have the right to say that they don't want to wear a lid. It is your choice. I just say make your choice carefully. I have seen lids cracked and some with road rash down to the inner foam of a helmet. You know what those guys DID have more injuries to their body than others I have seen. I have also seen wrecks where the guy did not have on a lid broke both arms one leg and a few ribs. The only thing that happened to his head was he busted his lip. I wear my lid. I think if you hit the road at 15 mph and something pins your face to the ground. Well, my helmet will take the damage not my face. I am also a firm believer in wearing all your gear not just your lid. As a wise man once said. Dress for the crash not the ride.  

Wear your helmets!  

and not just any helmet, one that has a snell sticker and testing done on it, not some lame novelty helmet that cost less then a pair of sneakers.  

...or ECE!  

Sounds like ECE is the way to go,

A major benefit for U.S.  riders is that the ECE 22.05 standard does not directly conflict with the DOT standard.  Limited testing shows that ECE qualified helmets will also meet the demands of FMVSS 218.  Of course, not all DOT helmets will meet ECE 22.05 because the European standard does require testing at higher velocities than DOT.

Another 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.  

I stole this from http://www.webbikeworld.com/motorcycle-helmets/ece-22-05.htm