I am the last person to disparage anyone’s civil liberties and I would support your right to the death to keep them. Having said that, if you ride a motorcycle without a helmet I must question your intelligence and your love for your family should you have one. I speak from the experience of a flight nurse for over five years and multiple scene runs to pick up the remains of motorcyclists who did and did not wear helmets. Of the many accident victims I took back to Metro Health Medical Center, the best outcomes were the folks who wore helmets. Many of those who did not wear helmets are now in wheelchairs or are confined to hospital beds for the remainder of their lives. Some of these accidents resulted in a long nap, never to wake again.
Having a family and not wearing a helmet is the ultimate in selfishness. I know you’re never going to have an accident. I hope you don’t. However, the graveyard is full of those “never going to happen to me” riders. Should you not be killed you might have a long hospital stay. Society then begins to foot the bill for your care. Take a look at the cost of long term care. Most long term care facilities cost between five and seven thousand a month. But, you’re not going to need that because you’re the exception to the rule. Right, you’re lucky ……..then why haven’t you won the lottery?
I have been in aviation since graduating high school and a pilot friend of mind told me that if I stayed in aviation long enough someone I know would get killed. He was right. It took many years but two very good friends were killed in a crash. Statistically, flying is safer than driving and certainly safer than riding a motorcycle. Nonetheless they were killed, but you won’t because you’re special.
I’ll never talk many of you into putting on that helmet when you’re out on the road. So, why not do something else for your family and for mankind? Sign a donor card and have a living will made donating your organs to someone who needs them and who will take very good care of them for the rest of their lives. Moreover, it will make your family feel good that you showed some intelligence and that you are not selfish at all.