Here in IL helmets are optional, but I usually still wear one. I've been hit by cars twice in the past 30 years and both times would have been dead or a veggie if I was not wearing a helmet.

But that is not enough of a reason for making helmets mandatory. About the only argument that makes me seriously consider mandatory helmet laws a good thing is the fact that I have a 13 year old son who will probably be riding a motorcyle when he gets his drivers licence in a few years. I sure hope he wears a helmet all the time too. I know I taught him well, but there's a bit of a rebel in all of us...

 

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It's called having the right and freedom to choose..it's what our soldiers fight and die for!

If this is the land of the free then we should have that right to choose...right or wrong!

 

I'm with the freedom of choice crowd as well. Everyone else has already covered the reasons why.

 

Let's outlaw other things that can kill you too. Like tobacco, alcohol and fried chicken. Oh wait, I like all three of those things. Doh.

 

On a mile-for-mile basis, it's actually more along the lines of 3,500% more likely that you'll die riding a motorcycle than driving a car. Which only serves to further support your point.

 

Well, professional research has already proven that people in Michigan have smaller brains and much lower IQ's and therefore need the added protection of helmets...so I think helmets should be mandatory for everyone there including pedestrians and people in cars. You have a 78.45% higher chance of doing something stupid if you are from Michigan.

 

Why does insurance and MSF classes come into this? I don't remember MSF teaching me how to drop and roll without smashing my head into the pavement. You could take the class every weekend for a year and still get wrecked by someone on a cell phone that "didn't see you"....just sayin'

 

I am a ATGATT rider. I do so by choice. I agree that it should be the riders decision. Still as riders we are a minority. If the majority like auto drivers can be forced to wear seat belts against thier will, we could easily be all be forced to wear helmets by the law makers. Vote for them wisely and support the AMA.

 

If they aren't covered by private insurance or can't afford medical care on their own, put them out. Why should I have to pay taxes to fund other people's problems. They'll either figure out that they need to lose weight or we'll have one less large mouth to feed in an already over populated world.

I support the right to choose, just not the right to mooch off of the 53%.