This is the kind of news that will make Pittsburgher’s weep:
Pittsburgh Steelers star Ben Roethlisberger, who last season became the youngest quarterback in NFL history to lead his team to a Super Bowl title, was injured Monday morning in a motorcycle accident and has been transported to a local hospital with head injuries of unspecified severity.
“He was alert and conscious,” said Ernie Roman, shift commander for the Allegheny County emergency service, told The Associated Press.
ESPN.com’s John Clayton reports that early indications are the injuries are not life-threatening.
Roethlisberger, the team’s first-round choice in the 2004 draft, was transported to the trauma unit of nearby Mercy Hospital, a source confirmed for ESPN.com’s Len Pasquarelli, but his condition is unknown.
Witnesses told authorities that Roethlisberger’s motorcycle collided with a car near a downtown intersection and that Roethlisberger’s head hit the windshield and was bleeding. Roethlisberger has said in the past that he prefers not to wear a helmet when riding.
I hope to God he is alright, and then I hope the Steelers renegotiate his contract so that the jackass if forbidden from riding his motorcyle without a helmet.
tams
isn’t this exactly what terry bradshaw was worried about? guess he was right!
Rudi
As a liberal/libertarian, I think that Pitt should change the contract to void the contract if he is injured due to riding without a helmet. Darwin’s selection of the fit should remove him from the gene pool if he continues to ride without a helmet.
salvage
I hate helmet / seatbelt laws, if you’re over 18 you should be allowed to die / be brain damaged in spectacularly messy ways. Smarter people could use the organs / blood.
Mean Gene
You’d think after the incidents with Kellen Winslow and Jason Williams young sports stars would stay away from motorcycles. Or at least wear a helmet. But how naive can you get? They’re all invincible.
If he’s alert and conscious and responding to questions, he might get away with just a very scary wake-up call. You can’t even get into the Post-Gazette website, with every Pittsburgher jamming the switchboard looking for news. Hope to hell he’s OK.
Paul Wartenberg
Just wait until one of your wide receivers gets a papercut.
I was going to say that accidents happen, but then I re-read the report which noted Big Ben doesn’t like wearing helmets. That jackass. Helmets save lives. You can customize the damn things so you can look cool too. It that respects he doesn’t get much sympathy from me other than him simply having a swift and full recovery. And after this the team has every right to yell at his dumb ass for not wearing a helmet. Isn’t there a helmet law in PA?
ppGaz
Jesus. I hope he recovers fully, plays even better, and learns how STUPID HE IS not to wear a helmet.
I live about two blocks from one of the largest and best known neurosurgery centers in the world.
If you think helmet laws are bad, you should visit this place and talk your views over with the staff.
My advice …. wear a helmet before you go in there and shoot your mouth off!
Barrows Neurological
rilkefan
My dentist, a really nice guy, got killed the other day while riding his bicycle. People need to be more aware when they drive.
jg
I’m also against helmet laws. I won’t ride a motorcycle until they repeal all of them.
Joel
I have an ex-girlfriend who was a nurse in the emergency room of a hospital. She said that all the staff there refer to crotch-rocket motorcycles as “organ donor cycles.”
Minute
PA repealed its helmet law 2 years ago. Sad news John. I’m not a stillers fan( I’m on the other side of the state) but my dad is a harley owner and 4 years ago one of his friends was killed and even though he had a helmet on he hit the ground in a way that kinda removed his face. My dad always says the helmet can only do so much. But he always wears one. Hope Big ben will be alright.
canuckistani
As a long time rider who always wore a helmet*, I’d like to see insurance companies differentiate bewtween helmet wearers and those who choose not to. I don’t mind people being stupid, but I resent paying for it.
*rode once without a helmet, just to see what it was like. Pretty cool, but I was always afraid my glasses would blow off. Not worth the risk, though.
Mary
Oh man, I don’t need to hear about lethal bicycle accidents. I’ve been nervous enough about Toronto traffic lately that I haven’t taken my bike out for a couple of summers, but I bit the bullet and bought a really nice Trek hybrid this weekend. I’ll be taking it out tonight — with my helmet, of course — so please tell me I’m coming back in one piece.
chefrad
I have 400,000 miles on a series of BMW motorcycles, all wearing helmets. I also now won’t ride a bike that doesn’t have ABS (more important on a bike because rear wheel lock means a likely slide). It doesn’t make riding “safe” but it cuts the odds down.
I saw the ESPN piece months ago on Jason Williams, Winslow, Big Ben and Bledsoe (with his toddler on his lap). These are stupid people risking livelihood as well as life.
Vladi G
What makes you think it wasn’t already in his current contract?
D. Mason
LOL
Mary
D. Mason, what’s so funny about my response to rilkefan’s mention of a lethal bicycle accident?
Kimmitt
D. Mason, um, people die on bicycles, mostly due to collisions with idiot motorists.
Punchy
I just heard on the news that the Colts just sent an additional 50 motorcycles to the rest of the team, along with 3 week-old milk and books on how to juggle chainsaws.
Jim Allen
Wasn’t wearing a helmet? He’s an idiot.
However, John, you should consider yourself lucky no one caught the accident on tape. As a long-time Redskins fan, I know the damage done from watching Joe Theismann’s leg get broken over and over and over again. Be glad you don’t have to watch Roethlisberger bounce off that windshield in slow motion and from multiple angles.
D. Mason
well the funny thing is that this thread is about a non-lethal motorcycle accident. Just thought it was odd that it would become a thread about lethal bicycle accidents.
Patrick Lightbody
Shouldn’t a general Idiot Clause be already in most professional athlete’s contracts? Jeez, they have rules and contracts that will fine Shaq $10K for not giving an interview after his suckass performance, but they don’t think to put in something for this? Let’s hope for Ben’s sake that his insurance company didn’t either if he can’t play after this :(
Justin Slotman
Just to add to what’s already been said, I’m amazed there are still states without helmet laws, and major pro sports contracts without motorcycle clauses.
canuckistani
Before I was compelled to stop riding by financial circs when my youngest daughter was born, I rode a 92 K75s. You’re absolutely right about ABS on a bike. I only needed it once, but it saved me a nasty slide into a streetcar on wet city streets. That’s the kind of accident that leaves your friends calling you “Lefty”, if you’re lucky.
Punchy
Pick the name of the soon-to-be-ubiquitous clause:
The Jeff Kent Rule
The Jason Williams Clause
The Kellen Winslow Rider
Dave Straub
Just to add to what’s already been said, I’m amazed there are still states without helmet laws, and major pro sports contracts without motorcycle clauses.
PA had a mandatory helmet law until recently — the state legislature repealed it.
Vladi G
What, you’re going to put a clause in a contract that says a player can’t wash his truck? :)
Krista
I thoroughly approve of seatbelt laws, but am torn on the idea of helmet laws. I do think that helmets should absolutely, positively be mandatory for anybody operating a motorbike.
In regards to bicycles, I’m conflicted. I can see salvage’s point. However, it’s not like this is Holland, where there are clearly marked bike lanes, and where the drivers understand that they have to share the road with cyclists, (and vice versa), and where most cyclists have been on bikes since before they could walk, and have utter control over their bike. If that were the situation, then I would say that yes, we could follow their model and allow adults over 18 to wear helmets (or not) as they choose. But…that’s not the situation, and it’s dangerous out there for cyclists, so I think that the law has to be there. And to anybody who wants to flout that law, I say “Go ahead.” If they’re not scared of having their brains bashed into a tree or a lightpost, then they shouldn’t be scared of a fine.
Vlad
IIRC, Ben’s contract prohibits him from riding during the football season.
rs
I’m surprised whenever a pro athlete is injured on a motorcycle-I would think it’s a standard contractual item.From the reports I’ve been hearing it sounds as though the knee injuries he sustained in the accident may be more football significant than the head and facial injuries.I hope some interviewer has the balls to ask him how he feels about repealing the helmet rule in pro football.Michigan Governor Granholm has promised to veto our legislatures repeal of the motorcycle helmet law-at least one of our elected officials has a fucking brain in her head.
Pat riot Fan
I read the article twice, and I still don’t see a problem here.
SoCalJustice
“WTAE-TV, citing a person in the police department it didn’t identify, reported that Roethlisberger has a broken jaw, a broken left sinus, a 9-inch cut on the back of his head, lost teeth and has severe injuries to his knees from hitting the pavement.”
I don’t have a link – a friend emailed.
I can’t believe it.
SoCalJustice
here’s the link.
ppGaz
AP story on the injuries
Sam Hutcheson
Whether or not you agree with the laws or not (libertarians are free to argue against mandates by law), riding without a helmet is about as stupid as you can possibly get. More so, if someone rides with a half-helmet (or an open-faced helmet) they might as well be riding uncovered. +75% (or thereabouts) of head injuries from bike crashes are face-front deals. Fatalities are almost always fly overs (where you go over the bike and generally land stomach/face first) rather than slide-outs (where you tend to slide along, behind the bike.)
If you ride, buy a full-face helmet. They do not impair peripheral vision at all. They save you bug- and road-rock dangers. And if you go down, they save your life. Trust me, when your front fork is clipped by random SUV soccer-mom and your next vision is looking up from the pavement at the bumper from the car behind you six inches from your head, you will thank me.
Sam
ppGaz
John is going to need some serious counseling to get through this.
Let’s hope for the best here.
Otto Man
Jesus. You’d think a guy who wears a helmet to protect himself from Dwight Freeney would know to wear one to protect himself from a Cadillac.
Let’s hope he heals soon and wises up quickly.
Punchy
If/when he slips into a coma, can we call him Veggieberger?
chopper
(rimshot)
chopper
i’ve only hit the road a few times (knocks on wood). and my helmet wasn’t crucial in either. but i got friends who’ve shown me what was left of theirs after hitting the pavement chin-first at 40mph.
if you ride, get a full-face. anything else is suicide. doesn’t matter if you think you look stupid, or gay. you’ll look even stupider without a chin.
Andrew J. Lazarus
Jeff Kent’s contract prohibited motorcycle riding at all times, which is why he concocted the truck story. I believe it is standard in pro athlete contracts, although it would be more important in baseball where the salary is guaranteed. (There were rumors that the Giants made Kent voluntarily return some of his salary for the period he was disabled instead of suing him.) If Roethlisberger’s knees are permanently ruined, the Steelers can just cut him and walk away paying him nothing.
t. jasper parnell
Mary,
Re Toronto and bicyles visit this site.
Rex
Cincinnati Karma
Carson sends his regards, noting that at least he was still going to get paid while he was down.
Sstarr
From the Reuters report it looks like an oncoming elderly woman in a big old American sedan made a quick left in front of him. As a BI-cycle rider, that’s one of my nightmares – there’s no way to avoid that sort of accident. It gives the lie to the idea that you can just “be careful.”
That’s why I always try to look into the eye of the oncoming distracted driver. If they have that glassy look (OR the cell phone in hand, OR the two screaming kids in the back seat OR the big old latte) then it’s time to think of an escape plan…
Sam Hutcheson
There is no such thing as safety. Always assume the oncoming traffic will do something stupid. Always know what’s happening 12 seconds ahead. Always have an escape plan.
ppGaz
Not for nothing, but for those who might someday find themselves driving in a desert region in the summer …
…when you see a car with the windows down and it’s over 100 degrees …. assume that the car has no airconditioning, and give it a wide berth. The driver is hot, short-tempered and in a hurry. If there are kids in the car, the driver is probably either hysterical, or dealing with overheated kids who are throwing a fit. Give an even wider berth.
Always assume that the non-cooled driver is going to do the worst, stupidest possible thing, because he or she usually will. And, pray for their souls. Driving here on a July or August afternoon without air is a form of torture that you would wish on only your worst enemy.
srv
I’m waiting for Frists diagnosis.
Andrew J. Lazarus
The typical car in Israel—and I mean this literally—is an 11-y.o. Subaru, but new cars sold there are required to have a/c. The traffic fatality there is way high (bad roads, bad cars, very aggressive drivers), but I guess they’re planning to cut down on nodding off at the wheel from heat, which is a start.
Bob In Pacifica
I heard the other day that if there was a helmet law for drivers of automobiles a lot of lives would be saved. That might be pushing it.
My ex-brother-in-law crashed his cycle, slid a hundred feet on his butt and lost one of the family jewels. This was at least twenty years ago. He also banged his head and was always a little funny after that. Although he was a little funny before.
I heard that within the last couple of months he had a stroke and the doctors are attributing it to something that was shaken loose in the cycle crash back then.
Whew. I’ll stick with my Corolla.
Do the Steelers still have that guy from the XFL as backup?
Dustbin Of History
So between Roethlisburger (injured), Palmer (injured), and McNair (injury waiting to happen), does this leave Charlie Frye as the best QB in the AFC North?
Caleb
What is it with stupid ass football players doing stupid ass shit on my birthday?
first OJ, now Big Ben.
Mac Buckets
In the “I Told You Water Was Wet” department, the grinch stole Fitzmas — maybe that’ll get the first non-beer/football post out of BJ in five days.
beloml
From what I could tell from the news reports, he was T-boned. It wasn’t his fault, yet everyone goes on and on about his not wearing a helmet. A helmet, just like a seatbeat, does not prevent every single injury or death. The real story here is why the person who turned left in front of him isn’t being charged with attempted homicide.
chopper
That’s why I always try to look into the eye of the oncoming distracted driver
that doesn’t work. i’ve had friends stare an oncoming driver in the eye, had them look right back as if they see them and acknowledge them, and they still made the left and caused an accident.
Anna
It’s just a matter of time before the anti-helmet law people say that he would have suffered the same injuries even if he HAD been wearing a full-face helmet. Whatev.
I don’t see anything wrong with not wearing helmets, it’s natural selection and beneficial all at once. Those young, brain dead males make for great organ donors.
Anna
REgarding Belomi’s statement: “The real story here is why the person who turned left in front of him isn’t being charged with attempted homicide.”
Attempted homicide requires intent. I am pretty sure the 62 year old woman who hit him didn’t even see him when she was making the turn.
Faux News
Sstar: If you change your “or” to “and” then you have just perfectly described the driving habits of the SUV Soccer Moms here in metro DC. Every time I see motorcycles or bikes on the road I think “vaya con dios” as most drivers here are far too distracted (and important in their opinion)to pay attention to bikes or motorcycles. Helmets for both are a must around here.
Filthy McNasty
ummm….news this morning is that Rove is being cleared of wrongdoing in the Plame case
hasn’t it been the liberal media and leftist blogs who were predicting just the oppostite for months?
suggestion for a post today: “the liberal blogosphere is an enormous waste of time”
Al Maviva
Faux News, Metro D.C. isn’t a bad place to get your bike boogie on at all, Hains point, the huge bike trail system and the rural areas past Warrenton – the Blue Ridge and small road systems, Southern Maryland, northern Mongtomery County, are all great places to ride and reasonably safe. Believe it or not, my daily bike commmute through downtown is one of the safer interactions I have with traffic – rush hour drivers in downtown have an easy truce with bikes and the steady occurrence of red lights makes it pretty easy to just ride in traffic. Riding enough so that you can ride briskly definitely helps.
Places to avoid: Georgetown, all the time. Western NOVA suburbs and near-rural areas – at least avoid until loud shouts of “Git offa mah road” emanating out of tradesmen’s pickup trucks stop shocking you into swerving into the ditch. And stay away from moms on phones in minivans, and *anybody* in a Volvo.
Yeah, I do wear a helmet at all times, along with protective gloves, good quality (impact resistant) eyewear and nice skid-friendly lycra, because on bicycles as well as motorcycles, the question isn’t “if?” but rather “when?” and “how hard?”
Bob In Pacifica
Considering belomi’s comments, I now understand why there is fear in Steel Town that outraged fans might want to pay back the poor 62 year-old lady who was driving the car that Big Ben collided with. Maybe they’ll hunt her and harrass her like Cubs fans did with the guy who caught the pop-up at Wrigley.
If there’s anyone to be angry at, it should be for whoever in the front office who wrote up the contract for him that didn’t forbid him riding a motorcycle.
+++
My first thought hearing that Rove’s attorney announced that his guy is not now a target is that he finally rolled over for someone higher up. Or maybe Fitzgerald does have a price. From Libby’s indictment it’s clear that he was leaking information and it’s clear that his continuously mutating story in front of investigators and the grand jury suggested that one of various versions of the truth was a lie.
beloml
“Attempted homicide requires intent. I am pretty sure the 62 year old woman who hit him didn’t even see him when she was making the turn.”
Why didn’t she see him? Either she was legally blind and doesn’t need to be on the road, or she had her head up her ass and doesn’t need to be on the road. Her age is irrelevant.
Faux News
Good point Al about the places here in metro DC that are good for bikes. I stand corrected. I smiled when you wrote about northern Montgomery County. I live in Southern MoCo and the Bethesda/Chevy Chase/Potomac SUV and/or Volvo Soccer Moms most definately strike fear in the heart of bikers and pedestrians. They will not only run over you like a speed bump but tell whomever they are speaking to on the phone that “I think I hit a deer” and keep going. There are tons of deer around here.
Also the Washington Post ran a story about a year ago regarding a man who biked into DC for work. He was constantly being verbally insulted (guys in pickups yelling “FAG!”)and even purposefully driven off the road. He finally put a sign on his back saying “Ex Wife Got Car” and all the harrassment immediately ended. In fact male drivers would constantly offer him moral support at stop lights.
Al Maviva
I try to ride responsibly but there are many people in cars who refuse to pay attention – it’s so consistent with the Volvos and soccer moms. As for the abusive rednecks, I’m on the big and mean looking side, and basically a well educated redneck, so don’t get challenged too much, but will throw down the pittards when appropriate. I have asked abusers to get out of the truck at stoplights, and that’s all I’m going to say about that. Yeah, it’s stupid, but it stops what little harassment I get, either immediately, or within about two minutes after the challenge is issued. I don’t like going there, but edging a car over towards a bicycle near a guard rail for fun is assault and bullying, and bullies don’t stop until their nose is bloodied. I’d just as soon take care of the problem, rather than pass it on to some smaller less lunatic rider, like you (I assume) or my wife. I try to take it easy on the soccer moms, but did punch an enormous dent into a minivan last fall when a woman eyeballed me and ran me into a guard rail on purpose – she didn’t like me riding up the shoulder, on a designated bike path, while she was stuck in a long line of traffic. The best story of this nature that I’ve heard recently concerned a local 130 pound racer who allegedly administered a non-verbal rebuke to a drunk P/u driver who thought it was fun to bump his truck into cyclists on the road (!) and call them fags, then cut them off and get out of the truck to attempt to beat them up. According to the rumor, just before the 130 pound racer/martial artist choked out the moron (after busting up his nose and teeth), racer boy asked, “what’s it like to get your ass kicked by a fag?” I’m not into assault or other breaches of the peace, but I do like seeing justice done, and that was just. FWIW, the police never showed, in spite of the racers waiting quite a while – so I’ve been told.
I believe that things are generally pretty safe out there if you practice good situational awareness, and a lot of what I see is due to being a high mileage (~800 miles/month) rider who is *always* out there and often riding in marginal situations. My wife *never* has any issues. Maybe I bring it on myself…
Faux News
Al:
I understand the Soccer Moms. Far too self absorbed with themselves and their lives to pay attention to driving safely. I don’t condone it, but understand it.
I simply don’t and never will understand the redneck/bullies. Some folks just deserve an ass beating and they are on that list. Good for the 130lb Guy who choked out one of those morons.
I have witnessed dozens of times a bike rider punch a car (usually a mini van)in DC that has purposefully cut them off. Great stuff! Especially when it leaves a visible dent. The driver NEVER gets out to confront the biker.
Good luck on the road Al. Keep safe.
Al Maviva
You too Faux. And don’t hang up the wheels because of the jerks. You owe it to yourself to do something nice for yourself, like treating yourself to a nice ride down the W&OD.
Sam Hutcheson
From what I could tell from the news reports, he was T-boned. It wasn’t his fault, yet everyone goes on and on about his not wearing a helmet. A helmet, just like a seatbeat, does not prevent every single injury or death. The real story here is why the person who turned left in front of him isn’t being charged with attempted homicide.
Well, perhaps the story is about BR not wearing a helmet because it’s the point of the story. There’s nothing reported to suggest the other driver acted maliciously. There’s nothing reported to suggest that it was all her fault. How fast was BR going? Did she have a reasonable turn zone that he closed quickly because of excess speed? Even if it were completely her fault and she just missed him, those things _do actually happen._ We call them “accidents,” and they are 100%, without question unavoidable. If you ride, you will be involved in a crash at some point. That’s why you wear full-face helmets every time you mount the bike. EVERY SINGLE TIME.
The story is about BR being an unrepentant idiot because in all likelihood he quadrupled his own injuries by being an unrepentant idiot. Put on the head gear and it’s scraped knees and a concussion.
Trying to spin this into a “bad granny, no driving for you” story is stupid. This is about basic rider safety. Anyone who rides should know this shit by heart. If they don’t, they’re the idiot, and being that they are the one who mounted the bike and put it on the street, they bear final responsibility for themselves. It’s rule #1 of riding. You are your only safety valve. If you crash, it is your fault. If you don’t have the proper gear and you get hurt, it is your fault.
Period. End of story.
Punchy
Speaking of sports stars doing stupid things…there IS a God afterall…
chefrad
No mystery here. Driver turns left across path of oncoming motorcycle. A classic “Harry Hurt Special” (after the SoCal accident study in the 70s).
The car driver’s brain either did not register the MC at all or misjudged its speed, due to the bike’s narrow profile.
As for Ben’s brain, it wasn’t working at all.
I’ve been down once in 400,000 miles. A truck full of Xhosas ran me off the road in Transkei,South Africa thinking I was an Afrikaner. My head bounced hard enough to split my Porsche Design helmet in half. I had a slight concussion, but was on the road for Capetown the next day.
Had there been no helmet, Doug Feith might had competion for the title Genral Zinni gave him.
Tina
Old enough to drive? Go without a helmet, it’s your life.
Dumb enough to go without a helmet? You’re an automatic organ/tissue/cadaver-to-med-school donor, save someone else’s life.
Anna
Belomi: “Why didn’t she see him? Either she was legally blind and doesn’t need to be on the road, or she had her head up her ass and doesn’t need to be on the road. Her age is irrelevant.”
Yes and regardless of her age she had no intent which makes your intial post uninformed at best. People tend to not see motorcycles, they automatically focus on the larger vehicles around them. That’s just how it is. It’s an accident. If you want to be angry, why not direct it at the individual whose ego surmounted common sense?
Angry Engineer
Actually, riding a motorcycle with or without a helmet is just plain stupid, as there’s not a hell of a lot of different in fatality rates between riding with/without a helmet. Regardless of brain-bucket use, getting on a cycle is not the best thing to do for one’s health and well-being.
Before someone accusing me of all sort of ABATE-like crimes, let it be said I never get on any 2-wheeled conveyance without a helmet, and that’s a full-faced type on a motorcycle. I’d do that regardless of my state’s helmet law.
beloml
“Belomi: “Why didn’t she see him? Either she was legally blind and doesn’t need to be on the road, or she had her head up her ass and doesn’t need to be on the road. Her age is irrelevant.”
Yes and regardless of her age she had no intent which makes your intial post uninformed at best. People tend to not see motorcycles, they automatically focus on the larger vehicles around them. That’s just how it is. It’s an accident. If you want to be angry, why not direct it at the individual whose ego surmounted common sense?”
Would you be saying the same thing if she had hit someone on a bicycle, or someone pushing a child in a stroller?
chefrad
” as there’s not a hell of a lot of different in fatality rates between riding with/without a helmet.”
Source? I don’t believe it.
JSmith
Damn it all to hell anyway.
Ben Roethlisberger joins Kellen Jr. on the All-Retard Team.
Angry Engineer
That comes from ABATE, who is terribly biased against helmet laws. Regardless, the marginal difference in danger between wearing a helmet and not wearing one is insignificant compared to the hazard of simply riding a motorcycle – in other words, if you’re really worried about being safe, don’t get on one even if you’re wearing a brain bucket (or, at least, don’t ride one on the streets – stick to the racetrack or hit the dirt instead).
As I said, though, I wear a full-face helmet and leathers whenever I ride, and for that matter I don’t so much as swing a leg over a bicycle without wearing a helmet, either. Statistics may say one thing, but my head says that it’ll feel better if it’s wrapped in something during a collision, even if it is just a bit of foam and fiberglass.
Anna
Belomi: “Would you be saying the same thing if she had hit someone on a bicycle, or someone pushing a child in a stroller?”
Uh…what would a child in a stoller be doing riding with the flow of traffic? Let’s try to stick to the events of what actually happened.
Sam Hutcheson
That comes from ABATE, who is terribly biased against helmet laws. Regardless, the marginal difference in danger between wearing a helmet and not wearing one is insignificant compared to the hazard of simply riding a motorcycle – in other words, if you’re really worried about being safe, don’t get on one even if you’re wearing a brain bucket (or, at least, don’t ride one on the streets – stick to the racetrack or hit the dirt instead).
That is contrary to every major study done of cycle crashes. Yes, you can seriously screw yourself up without a helment, and yes, wearing a half-lid with no face protection is little better than wearing nothing, but people who wear full-face helmets recieve signficantly less head trauma and tend to live more than riders who do not.
orogeny
Motorcycles, in and of themselves, are not the horribly dangerous machines that they are painted to be. Look at automobiles…if the population of people driving cars included 50%+ drivers who had less than a year’s driving experience, drove only 1000-2000 miles a year and chose a Ferrari 500 Superfast as their first vehicle, the carnage on the highways would be horrible.
It’s not motorcycles, it’s not helmets, it’s the jerks riding them. Roethlisberger, with only about a year’s experience, was riding a Suzuki Hayabusa…a street legal racing bike capable of nearly 200 mph.
Yes, I’m one of those ABATE “criminals”. With 37 years of riding experience and hundreds of thousands of miles under my wheels, I don’t think it’s anyone’s damned business whether I wear a helmet or not.
Sam Hutcheson
Yes, I’m one of those ABATE “criminals”. With 37 years of riding experience and hundreds of thousands of miles under my wheels, I don’t think it’s anyone’s damned business whether I wear a helmet or not.
I’m not interested in telling you that you must wear a lid. I’m simply saying that if you don’t and you crash the damage will be manifold and it will be your fault. That’s all I’m saying about BR as well.
Jake
It’s not motorcycles, it’s not helmets, it’s the jerks riding them. Roethlisberger, with only about a year’s experience, was riding a Suzuki Hayabusa…a street legal racing bike capable of nearly 200 mph.
The Hayabusa is not a racing motorcycle. It’s way too heavy and the wheelbase is way too long – you could probably get around a track faster on a 600. The 200 mph top speed is irrelevant in a collision that by all accounts happened at normal traffic speeds. This was a driver not paying as much attention as she should, and a rider not paying enough attention to make up for it. An actual “accident”, not “rider idiocy”. Could have happened on a scooter.
Yes, I’m one of those ABATE “criminals”. With 37 years of riding experience and hundreds of thousands of miles under my wheels, I don’t think it’s anyone’s damned business whether I wear a helmet or not.
Perhaps not. But not wearing a helmet hugely increases the risk of riding; denying this is idiotic, misrepresenting this to people who don’t know better (i.e. your average 18 year old buying his first bike) is verging on… amoral.
I feel worse for the old lady making the left turn than I do for Mr. Roethlisberger, and coming from someone who commutes to work via motorcycle every day (no hundreds of thousands of miles for me, just 70k on my trusty R1150GS) and has been sent to the hospital by an inattentive driver, that’s saying a lot.
I’d like to see Roethlisberger do a PSA about this. “I didn’t wear a helmet. And you know what, I felt pretty damn free and I looked pretty damn cool. Then, as a result of a minor accident that wasn’t my fault, I got a bunch of fake teeth and weird scars all over my face, and got to eat a bunch of meals through a straw. It was worth it for me – make sure it’s worth it for you.”
orogeny
From the Auto Channels’s review of the Hayabusa:
Maybe it’s a poorly designed racing bike, but it is a racing bike nontheless. The Hayabusa and the rest of the “crotch rockets’ are designed specifically to be driven in a manner that increases the chance of an accident. One cannot enjoy riding one while obeying the traffic laws. Anyone who says otherwise is either lying or deluded. No one buys a 150hp motorcylce to putter around at speeds that are safe for automobiles. If I was inclined to drive a bike like that, I’d definitely wear a helmet and body armor.
I have no problem with requiring helmets for underaged riders. I have no problem with, in fact, I favor a law limiting the displacement/horsepower of a rider’s machine until a certain level of experience is acquired. When I started riding in 1969, I was limited to a bike of less than 200cc displacment for a year. I was not allowed to ride on the Interstate highways. Laws like this would do far more to reduce motorcycle accidents/injuries/fatalities than an across the board helmet law.
Jake
The Hayabusa is a fast bike, there’s no question. The Corvette is also a fast car. If Ben had put his bike into a guardrail on the outside of a turn on the freeway doing 120, or had ridden a big wheelie into the back of a UPS truck, then yes, the choice of bike would probably be a significant factor in his injury or death. Indeed, this is a pretty frequent occurence among new-to-riding Hayabusa owners.
But as it is, he was cruising along at city street speeds, didn’t anticipate the car failing to yield right of way and turning left in front of him, and didn’t have the riding experience to avoid the crash (as indicated by the skidmark leading up to it). He could have spent a lot of time improving his riding skills and possibly been able to avoid the crash, or he could have spent a lot of time riding to improve his judgement and recognized the potential of the left turn and slowed down approaching the intersection. Or, he could have had someone paint him up a fancy steelers-logo helmet for free, and been essentially uninjured.
By the way, if you want to know why people consider ABATE to be dangerous idiots, look at what the head of the Pittsburgh chapter said:
Hmm… they seem to work ok at 200 mph.
orogeny
Jake,
A trail of skidmarks and a virtually destroyed machine says to me that Ben was doing considerably more that the 35mph posted limit. Bottom line, he was driving a heck of a lot more motorcycle than he should have been on.
My decision to wear or not wear a helmet is not in any way based on whether it is an effective way to reduce injuries in a motorcycle accident. Full leathers, body armor, full-face helmet, armored gloves, steel tipped and shanked boots…no question these all will reduce injury in the case of an accident. The issue is simply what level of discomfort and physical restriction one is willing to endure to achieve a certain level of safety.
In my case, I have chosen to accept an increased risk of personal injury while enjoying more physical freedom. Factors that, in my opinion, reduce that risk are: riding 300+ days, 20,000 miles+ per year; taking the MSF Advanced Rider Course ~ every 2 years (5 times so far); going to an empty parking lot twice a year to practice low/mid speed tight turns and hard stops. In addition I’m obsessive about the maintenance of my ride (a 2004 Road King right now).
I’ve made my own risk/benefit analysis and concluded that jeans, a sleeveless shirt (I’m not about to hide $1500 worth of ink), boots and fingerless gloves are as far as I want to go to reduce my risk. In helmet law states I wear a novelty beanie helmet. This is my personal decision and, while I would never encourage anyone to make their decision based on my anaylsis, I am still strongly opposed to the government telling me what my decision MUST be.
In my younger days, I used to do a lot of free-climbing, just me and the rock. Should the government be able to require climbers to use ropes and all the rest of the gear that certainly makes climbing safer?
orogeny
One other thing…I drive with the attitude that everyone else on the road is out to kill me. If one assumes that every car is going to do something stupid, you;re not surprised when they do.
Jake
On a sportbike, a long skidmark leading up to a bike crashing into a car indicates excessive use of rear brake, which stops you way way way less effectively than the front brake. Cruisers are different, and maybe Ben was used to his Harley.
If someone makes an informed risk assessment and decides that the risk of an otherwise minor accident being disfiguring and/or fatal is worth not wearing a helmet, that’s one thing. But when someone says things like “the best racing helmet only protects you up to 13 mph”, or “the car turned in front of him, there was nothing he could have done”, that’s a sign that they haven’t done said informed risk assessment, and are in fact just talking out of their ass.
When people who don’t know better listen to this ass-talk and act on it, bad things happen. It’s like the minister in South Africa going out and saying that he doesn’t worry about HIV because he always washes his wang after sleeping with prostitutes, and besides, HIV is just a conspiracy of western drug companies trying to keep the black man down.
orogeny
Same on a Hog…70% of your stopping power is in the front brake. Like I said, Ben was riding way too much bike for his experience level. If he’d been on a 300lb Honda Rebel instead of a 500lb Hayabusa, he’d probably been able to stop in time.
The “ass-talk” comes out of one thing – the government in helmet law states has taken away the right to make a decision about something that only effects the person making the decision. They justify taking away that right with a barrage of statistics and some people feel that the only way to combat that is to site other statistics. I’ve seen stats on both sides that are BS and stats that are probably accurate.
My position is that the statistics, what ever they are, don’t matter. This country was built on the concept that people have the right to pick their own poison as long as it doesn’t effect someone else. The argument that I hear most often, that medical/insurance costs are increased, is bogus…if that’s a reason to require helmets it’s equally a reason to ban any activity that increases one’s risk of injury above the statistical norm.
Bernard Yomtov
Of course statistics matter. You say you made a risk/benefit analysis to decide not to wear a helmet. Presumably you think others should do the same and decide whether to wear a helmet on that basis.
But how can anyone do that without honest numbers about the risks involved? How did you do it? What exactly did you “analyze?”
orogeny
I guess I was a little bit unclear. I meant that the statistics don’t matter in terms of whether or not the government steps in and strips motorcyclists of their right to make their own decision as to what level of personal protection they wish to use. The stats are an important part of what an individual would use in making their own, personal decision, along with their tolerance for risk, the importance they attach to physical comfort and freedom, etc.
There are statistics that show that eating fast food on a regular basis is dangerous; that unprotected sex increases the risk of contracting a venereal disease; that scuba diving without a buddy increases risk of drowning; etc. But, IMHOP, those stats are not a justification for the government to take away an individual’s right to engage in those activities. I don’t need someone to act as a surrogate mommy, particularly some government bureaucrat…do you?
Bernard Yomtov
OK orogeny. I misunderstood your point.
You don’t want to wear a helmet, don’t wear one.
kaosryder
kick his ass of the team for his action or at least suspend him for that. its stupid to lose a superbowl quarterback to a traffic acccident. Its better to lose him to retirement. Make hime where a helmet next time if he doesnt at least give him a couple game suspention