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Originally Posted by patrick_777
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:plus1:
For the record, I wear one, but don't care if everyone else wears one or not. I do think that the whole "personal choice" thing is one of those things where some folks want to have it both ways: they want to have a personal choice about wearing a helmet (which I am all for) but they also expect society to take care of them if something bad happens and they can't take care of themselves. I don't think the states with no helmet laws is going leave helmetless riders to die in the street. Similarly, they are going to try and cut you out of your pole wrapped vehicle with the Jaws of Life whether you wear a seat belt or not. It's this expectation that "America is a rich society" and there will be safety nets, that lead the legislators to pass laws "for our own good." I think Easy mentioned the nanny state, and that's where it starts.
I also wear a helmet on a bicycle (not mandatory if you are over 18 in California) and skiing (not mandatory anywhere.) I respect people who say they don't wear a helmet because they don't want to wear one or they don't like to wear one, but I have a hard time with the argument that helmets are somehow a bad thing. Someone else on here likened them to condoms, which I think is a decent analogy - nobody really wants to wear those, they don't work ALL of the time, but they DO work most of the time.
Maybe a good tradeoff is, you don't have to wear a helmet, but if you crash and die, you are automatically an organ donor. Seems like a win-win to me.