motorcyclebloggers.com

Recently gb posted a blog about the recent motorcycle fatalities which spurred I believe a new record in MB.com responses of 28. Along with many other comments, there was the debate between “Personal Freedom” vs Mandated laws to provide a safe environment for all of us to live in. Should we mandate helmet laws or any laws if it saves lives?

Sidebar: I have done my fair share of drinking in my early years, now that I am older my consumption has diminished greatly. What I now drink in 1 year is what I might have consumed in 1 night when I was in high school or college. Now I do drink from time to time generally no more than 2 drinks at anytime. What does time to time mean, well I can go several months or more without drinking. Also I generally drink at home. I WOULD NOT drink and ride by bike unless there was no other possible alternative. I have drank and driven my car but I do try to avoid that at all costs. I do not think our present laws for DWI are adequate. End Sidebar:

Now I did not see ANY of you saying anything about mandating laws to make it totally illegal to drink and ride/drive. That would save lives right?

How many people use alcohol to commit suicide and may succeed or fail but kill someone else too.

( from gb’s blog) When you say it’s my life, do you also support allowing people to commit suicide? Lots of laws on the books to keep people from killing themselves. We lock up many people as a danger to THEM SELVES. If you are a freedom loving person, you should be fighting for the rights of the mentally ill to be released from the loony bin so they can have the rights to harm themselves. In the state of Arizona, you can be locked against your will for 48hrs for “Examination” and “Treatment” if you self mutilate yourself (Example: Cut yourself on purpose). If you are a freedom loving person and say they are not hurting anyone, where is your campaign to repeal oppressive laws on government intervention on people self-inflicting injuries on themselves.

But we as the motorcycling public need to take responsibility for our damaged DNA members and start fighting to make basic common sense into a law. Will this stop all the motorcycle deaths, hell NO! However, it will sure reduce the number of people who look at motorcycles as a bunch of idiots for riding without basic protection for their brain.

I’m talking about going well beyond our present laws on the books. You can have NO trace of alcohol in your system, .000000000000000000. No cough or other medicines that use alcohol as the base of the prescribed or OTC remedy can be used and then you go out and ride or drive.

I’m all for “common sense” laws, but one person common sense is not another persons. A couple of example: right for life & gun control. Both sides feel their positions are “common sense”. Also I believe you can not mandate common sense either you have it or you don’t. Recently there was a motorcycle fatality here in AZ. The driver was riding at night in the mountains and got distracted looking at the forest fires, ran off the road and was killed. Common sense says you keep your eyes on the road.

Rhino stated in one of his comments

“However, to discuss, the NHTSA study estimated in 1998 that additional 307 persons could have been saved by wearing a helmet. Using simple math of 2,284 dead and 307 could have been saved in 1998, I came up with 884 people out of 4,008 in 2004. That is 22% of the deaths could have been prevented with a helmet.

1.) Of these 307 in ‘98 or 884 in ‘04 people who could have been saved “if” they had been wearing a helmet were intoxicated (even just 1 beer)?
2.) How many of those would NOT have had the accident if they had not had ANY alcohol in their system?
3.) How many of the other remaining 1977 in ‘98 or 3204 in ‘04 would have not had an accident if they had not been riding under the influence?
4.) How many of the other motorcycle accidents involved a driver (car, truck etc.) that was intoxicated?
5.) How many lives would be saved in total if riding and driving under the influence was mandated as illegal, this is going to save lives right?
6.) How many other non traffic deaths would be saved if it were illegal to drink all together?
7.) How many of the accidents were caused by improperly maintained motorcycles? Bad tires, fluids leaking on tires.

Billions maybe Trillions of dollar are spent each year mandating laws that can not or are not enforced. In AZ there are laws prohibiting children from riding in the back of pickup trucks but I see it happening all the time. There are laws prohibiting: dark tinted windows, music that can be heard over 100ft from your car, homeless people sleeping in our parks. Hundreds of laws but no one to enforce them and a court system that is already too overloaded to handle what laws we have. If the penalty is jail time our jails are already full.

1.) So if there is a US mandated helmet law who is going to enforce it?
2.) What do you really hope to succeed with it?
3.) What is the penalty of this law?
4.) How will you measure the success of the law once enforced?
5.) How many times can you be charged with not wearing a helmet before something significant happens and what is it that happens.
6.) How will it be enforced in the court system?
7.) Is it going to be like the insurance laws and the DWI laws where the actual charges are dropped or significantly reduced once the defendant gets to court.
8.) If you get a ticket for no helmet all you have to do is bring 1 to court and the charges are dropped?
9.) In the end how many people will actually be saved?
10.) What is the financial cost to society? Are my taxes going to go up to mandate this law and enforce it?

I wear a helmet and other protective gear because it makes common sense to me. I do everything I can to avoid drinking and riding/driving, that also makes common sense to me. Do I feel my common sense beliefs should be imposed on others…… NO. Some laws are good too many are not and you can make laws against everything and then where would we be. I also believe in Darwinism.

So if you want to mandate helmet laws you better be ready to have other laws mandated by other groups that feel it is “common sense” to mandate a law for cause?