I finally found out more about the dead person I saw on Saturday. A motorcycle crashed into the back of an SUV that was waiting to turn left. Apparently the driver of the motorcycle wasn’t paying attention because the SUV had been stopped for a while waiting to make the turn. The driver was airlifted to a hospital where he is still in critical condition and the woman passenger died of massive head injuries. Neither was wearing a helmet. They were husband and wife and in their 60s.
There aren’t any helmet laws in this state. You hardly ever see anyone wearing a helmet on a motorcycle. I think that’s crazy. I came from a state with helmet laws so seeing people without a helmet looks weird to me. Everyone I know with motorcycles are adamantly against helmets because “no one can tell me what to do.” I sure hope that when they are laying on the road with massive head injuries they are glad no one bossed them around.
I second (third?) that. To those who say that helmets are a form of oppression, or a hassle, or whatever ridiculous reason they concoct, I say tell that to my uncle, aunt, cousin, and all the others in my extended family. My cousin recently lost her life in a motorcycle accident. She’d been riding for many, many years. The accident wasn’t her fault. She died of massive head injuries. She wasn’t wearing a helmet. Her teenage son misses her a lot, as do we all.
Bikers without helmets who get into accidents are almost certainly going to die or suffer permanent debilitating injury. The stats are pretty shocking. I’m a biker and I wouldn’t come close to my bike without my protective gear on.
I feel bad for the biker and his wife but come on, if you run around your house with a knife in your hand all the time, you are eventually going to trip and get stabbed in the belly. Riding without a helmet is the same thing really, its ludicrously dangerous to do even if the wind in your hair feels really good.