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When a populace is ignorant enough to choose the freedom of looking cool over government enforced safety, I'm all for government forcing the helmet on their heads.
Now that Obama has mastered the health insurance system, and wowed us with his devotion to all, should a nationwide helmet law be put in place?
After all, we'll all be chipping in to pay for this awesome healthcare for all, and people flying around on bikes unprotected is almost as dangerous as smoking in a bar isn't it?
If it was up to me I'd make it mandatory for posters here at CD to wear helmets. The libbies at least.
Understanding that military personnel are required to do that anyway, no matter the state laws for where they live?...
When a populace is ignorant enough to choose the freedom of looking cool over government enforced safety, I'm all for government forcing the helmet on their heads.
Why? It's none of your business whether or not someone takes the recomended personal safety precautions.
The same people that tell folks to get a driver's license, have working headlights, turn signals and brakes.
With all due respect, wearing a helmet is hardly comparable. Not having those things puts others in danger. For the most part, not wearing a helmet puts only you in danger. I'm troubled by going down this road of protecting people from themselves, mostly because I can never get a satisfactory answer of where we draw the line. If it could be shown to me that bikers not wearing helmets equates to substantial externalities on the rest of us, I probably would be persuaded.
Perhaps my sensitivity on this issue stems from the push to require helmets for bicyclists. I ride a ton. 95% of the time, it's with a lid on my head. There are certain times where I go without, mostly when it's 90 plus degrees. Should I face a fine if I'm caught without a helmet on those occasions? I'm a grown man. I think I should have the right to make that decision, particularly when riding a bike, even without a helmet, is one of the safer activities I could be doing. I'm just troubled by this mindset of protecting people from themselves. As I've posed to the helmet nannies before: I sure hope you always avoid two-lane highways when a four-lane, if even further out of the way, is an option. Statistically, that's far riskier than me riding without a helmet. I have a whole list of scenarios I usually use, but they escape me at the moment. You get the picture. As Frank Drebin once said, "You take a big chance getting up in the morning, crossing the street, or sticking your face in a fan."
I once heard a doctor say that the single safety measure that would save the most lives by far would be to require all motor vehicle drivers & passengers to wear helmets. Why is it that we never talk about helmet laws for cars & trucks?
If we use the argument that, due to Obamacare, we all share the costs of injuries associated with riders that don't wear helmets, we shouldn't discriminate. A while back I did some research, per mile ridden, bicyclists on public streets were killed at a far greater rate than motorcyclists. So we should of course ban bicycles, too expensive for society. Same with rock climbing, way too dangerous, people are killed far too often. Of course, skiing and snowboarding both are more dangerous than motorcycling, and of course any backcountry skier or snowshoer also places the cost of their rescue on the public should they be lost or injured in the backcountry. Mountain bikes of course put people at great risk. We lose swimmers every year in our public pools, beaches and rivers, better ban swimming and boating while we're at it. Same of course with horse back riding, people are bucked off horses pretty regularly. After all, who wants to pay for people hurt while they are playing, right?
If helmet laws are not mandatory, then I don't think it should be mandatory for first responders to treat you while you play Russian Roulette with the tarmac.
What is the name of the statist bug that has crawled up so many people's butts? Why do you even care what the hell someone else does? What makes you think you even have a right to dictate these statist minded preferences?
I think all statists should be hunted down, drug out into a public square and stoned to death. How about letting us take THAT vote?
The people who think they have some right to dictate their will upon another are IGNORANT morons who obviously fail to realize that eventually others will come after their choices. No offense meant to normal morons.
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