The insurance industry would be proud of you for supporting them. The rider pays his/her own medical bills, or funeral costs. His/her insurance company pays the medical bills, if he/she has insurance.

If you're worried about paying the medical bills for other people making bad choices, you should worry more about smokers, alcoholics, or people who eat too much crappy food. Certainly, any one of those groups run up far more medical expenses than the small percentage of people who are lidless rider, who get in a crash.

 

You probably had the helmet on backwards or something. If you have the helmet on, with that big hole facing towards the front - you should have no problem seeing, even peripherally. As an added note - you are still allowed to turn your head, as much or as little as you like, while wearing a helmet.

 

Agreed , when I ride , I ride as tho' everybody is the enemy , out to take me out permanently .. Whether I have on my half shell or 3/4 or FF Shoei , I am in my mirrors and looking constantly ..

 

Now THAT was funny!!!!

 

Pros: In some cases helmets will save you from injury or death. They are good when riding in inclimate weather and in a fight would be invaluable. Cons: They can cause spinal damage in a wreak, they can cause accidents by limiting visabilty and hearing, and they are uncomfortable.

 

Great answer.

I think is folly to believe anything other than you are better off once you go down with a helmet on your head, and the more protection the better. There is reason why every kind of motorsports requires helmet use, and it isn't for sponsor dollars.

With that being said, I love riding without a helmet. I rode for years and years without one, and even had a pretty major crash, without consequence. I rarely do it any more, even when I am in a state that allows it, and have even started to wear a FF more and more. I believe it should be up to the individual, though, and do not support helmet laws in any way, shape or form.

 

That is the truth but unfortunately a majority of riders dont ride defensively like that. And those are the type of people that get into harms way more often and either end up being lucky and only wreck there bikes or get minor injuries (note the key word is lucky, if one disagrees look up the law of averages) or in a worst case end up dead. Plain and simple, if you play with fire long enough you will eventually be burned.

 

I see it like this because some insurance lobbyist that has money for lobbying for hemlets laws your state get the laws. But there are other ways other than a hard helmet to protect you like boxer head gear or flight leather paded cap. And yes we have kevlar and light armor some many way to get away from lobbyist way of wearing that helmet that is not full protection.

 

I guess that's why racer's like Valentino Rossi and Jeff Gordon wear "Red Baron" helmets. If you are comparing boxing headgear to novelty beanie lids, then you may have an argument. But, if you really believe that leather boxing headgear would be as protective as a say an Arai Q2 or Shoei RF1000, I want some of the stuff you've been smoking!

 

The argument about being able to see and hear better without a helmet is a valid one, however, I doubt being able to see or hear better would be of much benefit when being hit from behind, and although I've never gone down on the street, I have had a few close calls (real close!) and every time it happened, it happened right in front of me (cages turning left, locking up their brakes, or pulling out in front of me). Maybe in the instance of being overtaken and then changed lanes into or a deer jumping out in front of you the extra awareness of not having a helmet might come into effect.
For me personally, I'd rather have my awareness slightly restricted in trade for my head protected.
The number one cause for motorcycle accidents is failure to negotiate a turn (statistical fact).
The number one cause of motorcycle fatalities is head trauma (another statistical fact).
From what I've seen, most of the time (helmet or not) you impact what’s in front of you, and you have equal opportunity with or without a helmet of crashing.
If I had the choice of going down with or without a helmet, I would always choose with.
All that being said, I don’t believe in helmet laws. I don’t think it’s the government’s responsibility to protect us from ourselves. I do however believe that insurance companies should have the right to not cover head injuries if the rider wasn't wearing a helmet. I also believe that hospitals should not have to provide medical care to persons who are not capable of paying (either out of pocket or through insurance) for their treatment.
Bottom line.... my opinion if you squish your grape without a helmet I think you should have to pay out of pocket for medical expenses (head trauma). If you can’t afford it they should roll you out to the curb and call the coroner. JMO