Motorcycle Riding In CT.

Hi Everyone:

I was in Connecticut last week and I was amazed at what still goes on in this state. As I was traveling on a major highway, Route 84, numerous motorcyclists passed me. What was disconcerting to me is that one can still ride a motorcycle in Connecticut without wearing a helmet. None of the motorcyclists that passed me were wearing a helmet. The funny thing is that a few of them did have a helmet strapped down on the seat behind them. Since New York state requires wearing a helmet, they were prepared to cross the state line.

The lack of a law requiring the wearing of a helmet just doesn't make any common sense to me. A bad accident on a motorcycle is almost always worse for the driver then if they were driving a car. There is obviously no protective barrier in the front, back or sides. There are also no front or side airbags to help protect the driver. There are no seat belts. Though I'm not sure that would even be an option. So what is left to protect the driver? Besides wearing body armor, which no one would wear; wearing a helmet is about the only really protection a driver can wear.

Besides the obvious fact of a fatality due to a catastrophic head injury, non-lethal but severe head injuries can be devastating not only to the driver but also to their families and friends. Coma's are not an unusual result of severe head injuries. Even if the driver does not go into a coma, it is also not unusual for the driver to have to live the rest of their lives with: memory problems, speech problems, eyesight problems, or the loss of the use of a limb or two or all. Even after undergoing intense physical therapy and most likely occupational therapy (to relearn the regular activities of daily living), that can last for weeks and months, there are no guarantees that the person will ever be their normal self again. All of that because they chose not to wear a helmet because there was no law requiring it.

There are a lot of insurance policies that have caps as to how much the insurance will cover over a lifetime. The insurance companies call it the lifetime max. It doesn't take long to max out an insurance policy with severe head and body injuries. When that insurance runs out and they are still in need of medical care, maybe even lifetime care, they will then be covered by medicare which we all pay for via deductions from our paychecks. Then insurance costs increase and is passed on to each and every one of us.

Wearing a helmet doesn't guarantee that the wearer will escape a severe head injury, but it may minimize it. In my point of view, whether or not there is a law requiring the wearing of a helmet, it just makes common sense to wear one! The old saying goes that it is better to be safe than sorry. I'm not sure feeling the wind in your hair is worth the possible lifetime problems that can and do occur in a motorcycle accident.

Common sense rules and hair blowing in the wind looses.

Til next week.