Tue, 17 Jun 2003
Brain Salad Surgery
The Pittsburgh Post Gazette reports that Pennsylvania's senate voted to repeal the motorcycle helmet law and the bill moved to the house. I've always enjoyed the sight of spilled monkey brains on the road so I'm looking forward to the house's rubber stamp. So, how long before we roll back seat belt laws? No matter, Darwin has a way of prevailing.
Through the miracle of google, we can see where this leads before it even starts. Note, the search includes only four terms: motorcycle not wearing helmet. There is no tom-foolery going on here. Google knows that semantically, "not wearing helmet" and "death" are related. Also, keep in mind that there are nearly 100 matches on this search in the last month alone!
Yesterday, I was out on the SV making a left turn across a fork in the road. Two Harley riders were coming toward me in the opposite direction from the fork. The one closest to the middle proceeded to turn his head exorcist-style, while still moving and drift through the stop sign while crossing the double yellow line into my lane. I swerved to the edge of the road to avoid him. Had I been driving my car, he'd be in the hospital. Without a helmet, he'd likely have a fairly severe head injury. That maneuver was a case study in bad motorcycle technique. 1) Failing to stop for a stop sign. 2) Turning head without keeping wheel straight. 3) Riding into oncoming traffic. 4) Both riders were wearing half-helmets and no protective gear. But he lived to impale himself another day. Maybe he'll get lucky and be able to do it without his helmet.
Mike Seate of the Pittsburgh Trib-Review has a good article on the subject.
Update: Mike Seate's got another piece on the subject and Michael Miller has one too - both from the Trib-Review.
Dress for the fall, not for the ride.
Posted at: 07:51 | permalink
