I started riding in 1961 didn't need a helmet but mostly wore one,now I don't ride without helmet gloves boots and leathers for anything over a very local trip.
My point about the helmet being illegal was more to do with it's shoddy condition and the fact the some moron had put four self-tapping screws into it than any requirement to have a BS, CE or ACU sticker on it... Do I believe in wearing a helmet? Yes. Do I believe that It should be complusary to wear a helmet? No - I believe it should be a free choice. Do I believe that anyone who wears a helmet like the one in the OP is a complete dickhead? Most definitely !
Well said Bob T, a world where I can decide what is safe for me is the one I would rather live in. Life is no dress rehearsal.
The British H & S ethos is spreading throughout the world like a virus, taking away peoples freedom to choose, catering to the lowest common denominator. How did a once so ambitious and adventurous country become so risk adverse? There is a theory that you exported your most adventurous and likely risk takers and their genes to far flung corners of the globe with the opening up of and exploitation of the New World, thereby leaving all the Wowsers behind to make up all the Nanny State Rules and Regulations.
Warning I crashed 300 feet from my home to avoid a head on with another motorcycle! I'll never fully recover. 32 years and over 250k miles without incident before that. Even local trips can catch you out.
Aaah No, that was our neighbours, our lot came of their own free will . Calling Kiwis Aussies, is like calling the English, French.
With the completely selfish manner in which many motorist drive in the UK, it's becoming more and more essential to wear more and more safety gear not less IMO. Lack of indication has become the norm Phoning Texting Bloody tinted glass I totally get the move towards track day only riding.
Moped and motorcycle fatality rates - European Commission The four columns show deaths 1/ Mopeds per mil inhabitants 2/ per mil vehicles 3/ Motorcycles per mil inhabitants 4/ per mil vehicles Moped and motorcycle fatality rates The fatality rates per million inhabitants give an indication for which countries the safety of riders is a matter of great concern. Table 3 gives fatality rates per million vehicles. PTW fatality rates   Moped Motorcycle   /106 inh. /105 veh. /106 inh. /105 veh. Austria 5.0 1.4 1.9 3.1 Belgium 2.9   11.8 3.6 Czech Rep. 2.1 0.2 11.3 3.6 Denmark 5.4 4.3 3.0 1.7 Finland 0.8 0.3 5.7 2.1 France 5.9 2.7 14.5 7.8 Germany 1.3 0.6 10.3 2.2 Great Britain 0.4 2.3 9.3 4.9 Greece 5.2 0.3 36.6 3.6 Hungary 3.5   6.5 6.7 Ireland 13.2 16.5 Italy 6.7 0.7 18.8 2.4 Netherlands 3.7 1.9 4.7 1.4 Norway 0.9 0.8 6.7 3.4 Poland 1.4   4.1 2.1 Portugal 10.0 2.5 17.7 12.2 Slovenia 3.0 1.8 17.0 22.7 Spain 7.2 1.4 10.9 2.6 Sweden 0.9 0.5 5.1 2.0 Switzerland 0.8 0.3 11.6 1.5
He's not going to have done that though, is he? Looking at the state of that helmet, it should have been in the bin a long time before his modification took place.
I've had a few offs. Some of them have left me with broken bones and other injuries. I wear what I want to wear when I'm out riding,it's nobody else's business but my own. And I won't preach to others about what they wear. If Doctors/Nurses/Paramedics/Police/other assorted uniform wearers are offended by broken and dead bodies,they have chosen the wrong profession. They have no right to tell me what I should or shouldn't do in my brief time on this planet,especially as they don't bleat about rock climbers/downhill skiers/base jumpers etc.
"Travelling on French roads has never been safer with government figures released on Monday showing a record drop in the number of fatalities last year. In 2013 the number of deaths on roads in France fell by 11 percent, Interior Minister Manuel Valls announced on Monday, meaning the number of fatalities is at its lowest level since 1948, when data was first recorded. The 11 percent drop represented the equivalent of 400 lives saved when compared to the data for 2012. In total there were 3250 fatalities on French roads last year. The rate of fatalities has been falling gradually since 1972, a black year on France's roads when 18,000 people were killed. 2013 saw a drop in deaths for most forms of transport, with the biggest fall seen for car passengers (14 percent); motorcyclists (3 percent); cyclists (8 percent) and deaths among pedestrians on roads also fell by 7 percent. Valls had vowed to improve France's checkered road safety record, when the Socialist government came to power in 2012. He has taken various measures to improve road safety including rolling out new mobile speed cameras and cutting speed limits on roads including the notorious périphérique. Valls has said a nationwide lowering of the speed limit was "unavoidable". The minister envisages cutting the limit on French motorways from 130km/h to 120 km/h and on other national roads from 90 km/h to 80 km/h. Last year he also called for the introduction of airplane style black boxes to be installed in cars. At the annual Road Safety Council meeting in Paris, Valls announced he would ask experts to consider a plan to install “black box” recorders in French vehicles, with the aim of reducing deaths on French roads. The term 'black box' is used to refer to the Flight Data Recorders installed on all aircraft which record information that can help investigators determine the cause of a crash. Valls sees no reason why the same technology cannot be made available to the automobile industry. “Obviously these instruments wouldn’t be called on to make a record of a driver’s movements, but simply so we could know the technical events that take place in the seconds leading up to an accident,” said Valls."
It's sad to say, but the reason there has been a drop in French road accidents is entirely down to repression. More speed traps, more laser binoculars. In a nutshell, more of all the things that prevent making biking fun. You can't ride a bike for any distance on a route nationale these days without meeting the Old Bill. If you tried to take non-motorway trunk roads from Britain to Provence on a bike and "make progress" while doing so, on any given day you will encounter speed traps. Probably several. The idea that you can just hit French soil and bomb off into the distance died several years ago.
Personal protection is all about your own interpretation of the risks involved. I have never fallen overboard during a boat transfer to a ship - but I always wear a lifejacket. I have never been in an aircraft that has ditched during a helecopter transfer to a ship - but I always wear an imesrion suit... I have never suffered a serious injury from falling off a bike - but I always wear what I deem to be the minimum gear to keep me safe; at the very least, kevlar jeans, a decent jacket (leather or textile) good gloves, good boots, and a helmet (that is legal and in a good state of repair). I don't believe that I should be told what I have to wear when I ride my bike - it should be personal choice - but idiots like the one in the OP make it hard to argue for freedom of choice when the choice they have made is so ridiculously stupid !
To qualify for a Darwin award he should have been wearing the helmet when he drilled the holes in it. I fear he may be smarter than we think.
