Ironic death

[+ purplekow]

A 55 year old man in upstate New York died today when his motorcycle fishtailed and he struck his head on the pavement. Authorities said it is likely he would have suffered only minor injuries had he been wearing a helmet. He was not wearing a helmet as this happened during a protest ride against New York State's mandatory motorcycle helmet law.

[leigh.bess.toad]

And we have a Darwin Award nominee right here.

 

It's sad but hysterical at the same time.

 

Thanks, pk.

[MiamiLooker]

And we have a Darwin Award nominee right here.

 

It's sad but hysterical at the same time.

 

Thanks, pk.

 

You thought this was "hysterical?"

[JT Brooklyn]

Sadly there's alot of Biker's in the 50-60 Age Group who think they are recapturing their Youth with this "No Helmet" Mentality!

 

They forget the Young do stupid things! Luckily they don't all have the same ending.

[+ deej]

Luckily they don't all have the same ending.

 

Yeah, some of them are just vegetables for the rest of their life.

[Rick Munroe]

You thought this was "hysterical?"

 

I wondered the same thing. Yeah, it's a real knee-slapper, Lee!

[Guest]

Actually, the motorcycle helmet laws were studied in the Journal of the American Medical Association a good decade ago. They compared accident rates, total injuries, head injuries, and fatalities in states which had enacted mandatory motorcycle helmet laws and compared then with those who hadn't. Of course, head injury rates were higher in states without mandatory helmet laws. However, total accidents and total injuries were higher in states with mandatory motorcycle helmet laws, and the overall mortality was equal between the two groups. So the issue is not as clear-cut as some lawmakers would have us think. Helmets do decrease sensory input which can lead to more accidents. If the goal is to decrease head injuries ONLY, then motorcycle helmet laws make sense. But one should enact these laws with one's eyes open: they do increase accident rates and other injuries.

[Guest Rich.]

And we have a Darwin Award nominee right here.

 

+1 for the leather hedgehogs.

 

Richard

[KMEM]

I am sure LBT can provide his own interpretation but hysterical does not mean amusing. Personally, I took him to mean extreme and perhaps emotional irony.

 

Best regards,

KMEM

[+ purplekow]

Actually, the motorcycle helmet laws were studied in the Journal of the American Medical Association a good decade ago. They compared accident rates, total injuries, head injuries, and fatalities in states which had enacted mandatory motorcycle helmet laws and compared then with those who hadn't. Of course, head injury rates were higher in states without mandatory helmet laws. However, total accidents and total injuries were higher in states with mandatory motorcycle helmet laws, and the overall mortality was equal between the two groups. So the issue is not as clear-cut as some lawmakers would have us think. Helmets do decrease sensory input which can lead to more accidents. If the goal is to decrease head injuries ONLY, then motorcycle helmet laws make sense. But one should enact these laws with one's eyes open: they do increase accident rates and other injuries.

 

I think it is still pretty clear. If mortality is the same, after all you can only die once, and there are more accidents and more injuries in the helmeted group, possibly related to a greater sense of protection and some sensory input loss, and head injuries are higher in the non=helmeted group, the answer is not "no helmet", rather the answer is better helmets. . You don't mention total cost of motorcycle accidents, that is really the crux of the matter. Head injuries are notoriously expensive, so my educated guess would be there is a significant cost to the non motorcycle riding public resulting from people riding motorcycles without helmets. Another argument for helmets is that in the long term, those head injured people probably require more care for the immediate effects of the accident and for the likely increase in level of dementia and other long term brain defects that result from head trauma.

[Diverdan]

For anyone who does not support helments for motorcycle riders, I suggest they volunteer to spend a few hours each weekend in the local emergency room of a hospital that is designated as the regional trauma center. Brain injuries, spinal cord injuries and other related trauma to the head is incredibly expensive and often involves lifetime care. Unfortunately many of those so injured do not carry the insurance that is necessary to care for this long term result. The increase in accidents is also the result of folks thinking that they can do things with their cycle when they have a helmet on that do not meet the common sense test. Unfortunately I have a number of friends who did not wear helmets and paid and are still paying a terrible price in their lives, and I don't just mean financially.

[leigh.bess.toad]

You thought this was "hysterical?"

 

Poor choice of words. Very poor. I deeply regret the man's death. But, much as with Jim Fixx dying of a heart attack while jogging, the intense irony surrounding the circumstances of this gentleman's death was certainly unsettling.

 

Unforutnately, the medical community has long referred to the motorcycle as the "donor cycle". I certainly hope that in light of this tragedy at least something good came out of it

[JT Brooklyn]

Bottom Line... Ask anyone who had an accident that resulted in a head injury and they are going say "I should have had a helmet on"!

IF they don't say it ..I would tend to say they did damage to that head!

[Steven_Draker]

A very good friend of mine had a serious motorcycle accident last year. He had his helmet on since wearing a helmet is compulsory on this side of the pond. As a result of the accident, the bike was totally destroyed, but my friend suffered only minor injuries. I think he was very lucky that day.

 

After he got out of the hospital he sold the bike (or the rest of it), sold all his bike gear and would never ride a bike again.

 

I'm all for wearing a helmet while riding a motorcycle or a bike.

 

Check out these interesting statistics for the 50 States (updated July 2011) http://www.iihs.org/laws/helmetusecurrent.aspx

[+ Axiom2001]

A 55 year old man in upstate New York died today when his motorcycle fishtailed and he struck his head on the pavement. Authorities said it is likely he would have suffered only minor injuries had he been wearing a helmet. He was not wearing a helmet as this happened during a protest ride against New York State's mandatory motorcycle helmet law.

 

This is indeed ironic as well as sad/pathetic!!!!!!!!!!!!