Does Ben Roethlisberger's accident change your opinion about wearing motorcycle helmets?

Question

I know I will hear from a lot of riders that it's their choice, not a state/govt decision, OK fine. That's not the question.

The question is, has the seriousness of his accident and what could have been a life-threatening or career-ending injury changed your stance on the issue?

As for me, I'm a firm believer in seat belts, air bags, helmets or anything else that will help keep people safer. To me, choosing not to use them is "survival of the fittest" at work.

Answer 1

I say that people should wear them for the same reasons that we make them wear seatbelts. Seatbelts are meant to protect but another thing that gets over looked is that if you are parent and you don't wear your seat belt then your kids probably won't either. Same thing with helmets. We have to promote safety by example.

Answer 2

There should definitely NOT be helmet laws OR seat belt laws. However, people should be smart enough to wear their helmets and seat belts. Ben's accident did not change my opinion about wearing a helmet, It reinforced my opinion that everyone should wear a helmet. Those moronic enough to not wear a helmet deserve to have their brains splattered through the windshield of a cell phone talking SUV driving imbecile. If you are the best motorcycle rider in the world, some accidents are unavoidable.

Answer 3

It has changed my opinion. While I always wear a good helmet with the rest of my riding gear, I sometime where a half helmet. Even if old Ben had a half helmet on he still would have broken his face in this accident. So I have gone back to wearing my full helmet when I will be riding in traffic situations. The half helmet is in the trunk for when I reach the back roads of the country.

Answer 4

Just remember, folks, Superman was wearing a helmet and where is he now? Believe it or not ,you can't legislate safety. Earnhardt was wearing a helmet, had the best safety harness(seat belt) money can buy, and was driving a car that was 1OOx safer than anything you could buy and guess what? Same result. I will continue to exercise my hard earned right to decide (here in Pa. we fought for 30+ years to win the right any 13yr. old bicyclist has to choose to wear a helmet or not). Those of us that ride took for granted years ago that you can get seriously hurt/killed on a bike and have accepted this as a fact of life.

Answer 5

It hasn't changed my opinion. I have always been for helmet laws.
In the first place, even those folks who think they have a "right" not to wear a helmet may not realize that they are the ones who drive up insurance costs for the rest of us, because one serious head trauma injury costs millions of dollars (far more than that person ever pays in insurance premiums). So their decisions affect all of us.
Second, there is an onld saying about those "novelty" helmets that some riders wear to skirt the helmet laws,
"Novelty Helmets are for people with novelty brains"

Answer 6

Being from Pittsburgh i think: a million. certain Ben might want to placed on a helmet yet so might want to each and every motocycle motive force. The no helmet regulation we've the following in PA isn't a sensible one. 2. certain if he needs to vacation a motorcyle, then he might want to. that is his determination to do as he pleases see you later as he realizes he made a committment to his teammates to be there come football season and take that into his decision to vacation one or not.

Answer 7

No, the risk is the same in car or on a motorcycle. Duane Carswell who plays for the Broncos was in a serious car accident last year and he missed half of the season. He was in a vintage Olds and hit by a girl who was speeding, cutting across 2 lanes of traffic. He was injured far more than Ben.

Answer 8

No, Ben Roethlisberger's accident has nothing to do with helmet use. He is a non-riding a$$hole who was operating a motorcycle without a license or the proper skills. By doing this he brings the heat on us real bikers, who have been riding for years legally and who enjoy the freedom of choice. He should have never gotten on that bike and Suzuki should have never given him that bike without making sure he was legal. All they cared about was promoting their product line. Because of this, I will never own a Suzuki. With the proper riding skills Ben Roethlisberger may have completely avoided this accident. And funny how a car was at fault but all you hear about is no helmet. If the dumb a$$ in the car was paying attention we wouldn't even know Roethlisberger had a bike.

As for me driving up insurance costs, I pay my insurance. I have what my state requires. It costs me about $300 a year to keep my '78 bike legal. How does this drive up your cost when I pay my insurance as required by law? If the required limits are not enough, then that's the cause of your higher cost and that issue should be addressed. When you start paying my insurance, you can tell me what to do. Until then you can bite me because I will wear a helmet when I want and I'll go lidless when I want. Your insuarance argument is BS. What drives up the cost is uninsured, unlicensed riders like Roethlisberger, who rode his bike illegally. And as far as his injuries, I've seen guys get hurt worse getting hit in a bar fight. Roethlisberger is a little girl who should have never been on a bike. And what about the dumba$$ who turned in front of him? Why don't you press for driver education to prevent accidents instead of making us wear a helmet because you don't know how to drive? Prevent these accidents and we wouldn't need to protect ourselves. You know why most drivers don't see the motorcycle? They aren't paying attention. Most of the time they have a cell phone shoved in their ear and since they are safe in their cage, they don't care what's going on outside their cage. Most of the people who pull out in front of me don't even look my way before they pull out. And how can you trust a product that has a label on it that says it will not work over 13 mph, and may not work under 13 mph. Can you tell me any other product that for sure won't work under certain conditions and may not work under other conditions and gets sold for $100 or more. And you want me to have to wear one of these defective products? If novelty helmets are for novelty brains, those who push for us to use these defective products have defective brains. And they can BITE ME HARD! And if you want to tell me to my face that I have a novelty brain or call me a clown to my face my email is [e-mail] and we can set it right the f*ck up.

Answer 9

I'll be wearing a helment when I get my motorcycle, I might be able to ride perfectly (someday), but that doesn't accound for a little old lady not yielding at a green light, as in Ben's case. What I really hate is the people that don't wear a helment, then drive their motorcylces like madmen, weaving in and out of traffic at high speeds...they give motorcyclists a bad rep I think.

Answer 10

It doesn't change my opinion one bit. I still think you have a death wish if you ride without a helmet!

Some like the 'free and easy' feeling of riding without a helmet but after even a minor accident, it's not so free and easy when someone has to feed you through a tube and wipe your drool for the rest of your life.

Answer 11

I'm with you - have always believed that I don't need anyone to tell me to wear a helmet - I do it because I have a brain and would like to keep it intact. The only thing that has changed is my opinion of Big Ben - what the hell was he thinking!?!