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PRESS: Suncoast
Brotherhood In the News
Wearing a
helmet doesn't make a rider safe on a motorcycle
Re: Bikers must use their heads, wear helmets, editorial, Feb. 3.
I am deeply sorry for Carrie Houck's loss of her brother, Michael
Showalter. It's never an easy time when we lose someone whom not
only we care about, but lose to an accident that could have been
prevented.
But let's talk about that, an accident that could have been
prevented. You seem to think that just by wearing a helmet, he
wouldn't have died. You might be absolutely correct. Then again, it
might have made things worse, and he might have died even faster
wearing a helmet.
The classic misconception with most people today is that wearing a
helmet is all you need to be safe on a motorcycle. Well, if the
accident involves the motorcyclist traveling no faster than 17 mph,
then maybe so. Please do some research, as most of us have, and you
will find that even the executives of helmet companies cannot
guarantee that their helmets will withstand an impact of greater
than 15 mph. Fact, not just opinion.
The majority of motorcycle accidents are due to either carelessness
by the person in the truck or car, or inexperience of the rider. A
helmet will not make that rider more experienced.
I am 32 years old and have been riding motorcycles for more than 20
years. I have had accidents with and without a helmet. I would
prefer not to have had a helmet on every time. The larger the
helmet, the heavier it is. The full-face helmet does not allow you
to see peripherally, does limit your hearing, and in most cases,
adds enough weight to your head that it's actually difficult to move
your head from left to right, up and down, when operating a
motorcycle. So, the statement that wearing a helmet improves chances
of survival obviously had to come from someone who does not ride or
has never ridden without a helmet.
Why do most of the motorcycle accidents around here happen? I have
been in an accident, and I got to hear the most common phrase that
the car or truck driver used when the officer asked what happened:
"I never saw the motorcycle." So wouldn't you think that something a
little better than just making sure that we wear helmets would be
done to promote awareness to the people driving the cars and trucks
on the road today, helping them to keep in mind that motorcycles are
vehicles, too, and should be given the same consideration as their
vehicles?
Most of us, contrary to what was said in the editorial, do not ride
without helmets just to "feel the wind," "talk on cell phones"
(what?), or just because they are hot. We ride without helmets
because it is our freedom of our choice, and that's really what it's
all about. We know that it's dangerous to be on a motorcycle. With
or without a helmet, we could die just as easily.
I would like to touch on something in the editorial that I do agree
with, however. Younger kids getting the new, shiny racing
motorcycles and riding them at excessively high speeds up and down
busy streets, with excessively low riding experience, is just plain
dumb. There are, in fact, a lot of riders who have cruising
motorcycles instead of the racing ones. They pay excessive amounts
of money for them, but they have no experience to ride them and end
up doing close to the same thing: showing off and demonstrating how
much power these machines have. Again, just plain dumb.
I'm all for showing anyone how to ride safely and ride better. Those
who think they know, but end up dumping their bikes because they
were just showing off, or constantly get ticketed from speeding
and/or abusing their privileges to ride, give the rest of us a bad
name, causing most of the public to look at bikers in a bad manner.
These bikers give their all for charities, blood drives, and are
some of the best people around, in my opinion - a "brotherhood," if
you will, that would gladly have taken Michael's place on that bike.
But some of us would wear a helmet in his place and some of us
wouldn't. It's a little bit of freedom that we refuse to give up
because of everyone else being careless and dumb. Why don't we
concentrate on them instead?
-- Joe Cryar, Largo
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