Should motorcyclists be required by law to wear a helmet while operating a motorcycle?

Before I rode a motorcycle, my opinion was no. That opinion has not changed now that I do ride a motorcycle. However, I do wear a helmet. It is my personal preference to do so and I'll tell you why.

Helmets save lives.

People who don't wear helmets offer up several flimsy excuses.

It will limit my field of vision and that's less safe than not wearing a helmet. I wear a 3/4 modular helmet. It covers my entire head and face. The front 'jaw' flips up and so does the visor. With the jaw and visor both down, I have no problem seeing. If the visor gets dirty or scratched, flip it up until you can clean or replace it. Many helmets have replaceable visors.

I can't hear with a helmet on. A 3/4 or full face helmet does block some sound. All 3/4 modulars can be flipped up and most full faces have flip up visors. With the front up, more sound gets through. Helmets with less coverage, skid lids, don't cover your ears at all. Even a skid lid is safer than no lid. Besides, a helmet does not make one deaf. Most of the sound it blocks out is the sound of the rider plowing through the air. Many riders say that having that sound cut down allows them to better hear important sounds; like horns, squalling tires and their own bike.

My glasses don't fit with a helmet on. I wear glasses. In the Motorcycle Safety Foundation course, we wore 3/4 open face helmets. Helmets were mandatory in The Course. Most of us wore glasses, both prescription and sun glasses, with no problem. I did find that wearing glasses with a fixed jaw full face helmet was very difficult. With my modular, it is no problem. No problem at all.

Helmets hurt my head/neck. You are wearing the wrong helmet. It does not fit you correctly. Most commonly this complaint comes from wearing a helmet that is too small. A helmet should fit snug. There should be firm, gentile pressure on your head and not much sliding around. It should not squeeze your head like a python is trying to kill you. The more of your face a helmet covers is the more pressure you will feel. The less of your face it covers is the more of the road you will feel if you go sliding across it on your face. Don't worry. The pain stops when you die. Also, try helmets with different amounts and configurations of padding.

A helmet will break your neck in a crash. Again, this goes to wearing the right size. If it fits properly, it should not snap your head and neck around in a crash. The added weight of a helmet is not very much. A rider is far more likely to suffer serious head injury or death from crashing without a helmet than they are to have their neck broken with a helmet on.

Helmets are hot. Yeah, and cement is hard. Get a helmet with sweat wicking lining and vents. I've ridden in 99F heat. My head does sweat some. With the head and jaw vents open, it's really not so bad. Flip open your visor. Try a helmet with no visor, if you really feel you must. Take off your helmet at a stop light to cool off. Use caution though. The cager behind you may not stop. When it's cold out, you'll enjoy the warmth of a helmet.

I've been riding since you were in diapers. Don't worry about me, bro. Hey. Cool. You're a bad ass. You'll be a bad ass and in diapers again when you wipe out bare headed, bro.

In The Course, we were taught to always wear our helmet. Our instructors did and they are certified instructors who have been riding since they were in diapers, bro. I can't think of one reason not to wear a helmet. I do know I've got a much better chance of retaining the ability to think since I do wear one.

Jackets, pants, boots and riding suits are also good options. I have been riding around town and briefly on interstate with only a helmet, leather boots that cover my ankles, a long sleeve shirt and blue jeans. The helmet is the most important piece. Before I take to commuting to work on the highways and interstate, I will have a padded textile jacket and am considering riding pants. I may look 'all duded up' but, I'll be alive to look that way.

Seriously, for safety sake, it does make more sense to have helmet laws than not to. I'm just not about getting up in your business. You wanna be a bad ass jack ass dumb ass, go ahead. Me? I'm protecting my head.

I am not in favor of the way belt laws are written, and I would not be in favor of compulsory helmet wearing laws. However, there should be some law relating to law enforcement informing insurance companies if a helmet is not worn. I am not in favor of corporations being used to enforce behavior changes, but I am not in favor of laws in which people are punished for "crimes" where the victim is themselves. Its difficult to find the ideal way to make people want to wear helmets, without making them criminals or without giving corporations yet more powers.

I am not sure that idiocy can be legislated against directly where the idiocy is only effecting the idiot themselves. At the same time I am in favor of people wearing helmets, and I wince when I think of what a human skull will do when impacting on a road surface or on a speeding vehicle.

In Minnesota, in 2004, 14 of the 50 motorcyclist killed were wearing helmets so even a helmet isn't gonna save every dumb ass. Of course, a lot of riders weren't killed.

I would likely wear one if riding in the vicinity of other dumb asses but wouldn't appreciate feeling obligated to wear one at all times.

I think helmet laws, like seat belt laws, are well intentioned but misguided intrusions into personal liberty. They State ought not, and I maintain does not, have the Constitutional authority to dictate we wear helmets or use seat belts.

That said, I am a die hard supporter of both helmet and seat belt use...I just do not think it is nor should it be within the State's authority to dictate such. The excuses offered in support of such intrusions into personal liberty are as flimsy as the excuses offered by those who do not want to wear them. If the State is worried about health care costs for those who do not wear such personal protective equipment...DO NOT PAY for them. Pass a law that says: if you are not wearing a seat belt or a helmet the State is not going to foot any medical expenses for you. Hell, go even further and pass a law that protects private companies...like insurance companies or hospitals...and say that they do not have to offer treatment or bear any costs associated with your reckless failure to wear a helmet.

How about this excuse: "I can't wear a helmet and talk on my cell phone"?

I totally agree with Law. The State should not be in the position of dictating what equipment bikers have to wear, or drivers and passengers either, at the same time the State should not be required to pay for people who do not follow the "guidelines" laid down by the State for safe auto and motorcycle driving.

How about children? Should child seats be State mandated?

Even if it's not a head injury?

There are only so many hours in a day.

No, of course if it isn't a head injury the point is moot. Seat belts, on the other hand, are a different story. All bets off if you are not wearing one. Although it should not be mandatory to wear a seat belt.

But again, what about the kids?

Yes, if they are minors, then they should have to wear seat belts, but this insistence should end when they reach adulthood.

I think helmets should be mandatory for riding motorcycles just like having to have a license. There are so many styles that the only real complaint that is worth anything is the personal choice one. I am all for personal choice but sometimes we have to be forced to do some things for our own good. I used to hate the seatbelt laws but have grown to appreciate that it is a good thing to wear a seatbelt. Just don't fine me a couple of hundred bucks because I forget once in awhile.

I would, however, be against the states deciding who can and can't be treated for injuries based on a stupidity scale. I would never want to go in an emergency room after a loved one has an accident and hear "We decided your son is a complete idiot for not wearing a helmet so we can't treat him. You want us to put what is left of him in the trunk so he doesn't bleed on the floor of your car?"