bs0406-1

Boxer Shorts, June, 2004 - 1 of 4

Helmets, etc.

by Kit Wise

photo by Dan Smiley The cover photo of the cute kids on Dan Miley's R-75 has reminded me that the most striking statistic from the survey of members we took a couple of months ago is the fact that every last one of the respondents claimed to always wear a helmet. I take this to mean that Yankee Beemers wear their helmets even in jurisdictions where they are not required.

A lot of people do ride without helmets, but they are almost always not BMW riders. Think about it. When you are in Rhode Island or New Hampshire, you often see Harley or Rice Rocket riders without helmets, but almost never do you see someone on a BMW without one. Last year on Fred Burgess' Black Fly Rally we did meet a local, lidless, K12GT rider in Maine, but he is a very rare exception.

Much the same holds true for the wearing of protective clothing. The survey indicated that most of us wear riding clothes most of the time. I would bet that if you asked this survey question of all BMW riders, or say, all BMW MOA members, you would find that the statistics are very much like those for our club. For sure, if you asked Harley riders, you would get very different numbers. What if you asked Ducati riders, or Triumph riders?

It would be easy to congratulate ourselves by saying that BMW riders are just smarter. But that is not it. I think it is really a peer-group cultural phenomenon.

I have some experience with helmet-wearing peer-group culture. I took up bicycle racing in about 1982. In those days, as today, we were required to wear helmets when we raced, but for training, almost no one ever wore a helmet. It just wasn't cool, literally or figuratively. The helmets we did wear for racing were either the totally ineffective leather "hair nets" or very clumsy, heavy, hot hard-shells. When the racing sanctioning body insisted on hard helmets, the manufacturers finally started to make lighter, better ventilated products. My own epiphany came in about 1985 when I spent a week at a training camp in Florida where we were required to wear helmets. I realized that if I could wear a helmet training in Florida, I could do it at home in Massachusetts. Oddly enough, at about this time, some kind of tipping point was reached, and in a very short period even "cool" bike racers were wearing helmets during training rides.

The helmet-wearing culture among competitive bicyclists quickly grew to the point where one could often not join an informal group ride without a helmet. The argument went "if there is a crash, and I happen to knock you down, I don't want to be held responsible for your head injury, even though it is your choice not to wear a helmet." It had become culturally correct to wear a helmet.

Of course on motorcycles, in Massachusetts at least, we have no choice. The "culture" is imposed on us by the government. But we plainly have developed our own cultural attitudes; we wear good riding clothes and boots, even though there is no law requiring us to do so, and we keep our helmets on when we cross into New Hampshire.

I remember a personal incident that clearly shows how this culture gets passed among us. I was at a camp-out, it must have been Pemi, a couple of years ago. I was getting ready to get on the bike to make a short run for food or beer, I guess. I was about to go with just my sneakers on. A YBer, for whom I already had a lot of respect, looked at me with a frown and said, "you're not going without your boots, are you?" I put my boots on.

There seems to be a trend for more and more states to lift helmet requirements, making them optional for adult riders. Florida, I think, is an example of a state that has rescinded its helmet requirement. There are those who are lobbying for this in Massachusetts. I believe that even the AMA supports the policy of choice when it comes to helmets.

I am personally unresolved about this. I think helmets make a lot of sense, and there is no doubt that all the brain-damaged riders living on disability payments are a cost to the general public. But I also think that government in this country believes it is responsible to legislate against death. The insurance industry certainly supports such a notion. If trends continue, it will one day simply be against the law to die for any reason.

I, for one, know that I am going to die. That knowledge is, in my mind, the key thing that separates humans from animals. And it is that knowledge that makes me want to enjoy living. And how do I enjoy living? I ride motorcycles - more and more of them, it seems. Wouldn't I enjoy life more if I rode without a helmet? Perhaps, but I have to make a value judgment between quality and quantity.

My choice is to ride a little farther before the trip is over.

One last thought about the cute kids on Dan's bike. Someone needs to get their helmets adjusted properly. Bike helmets, for those of you who don't know, should be worn as far down on the forehead as possible. We want these kids to grow up to be Yankee Beemers.

Kit Wise

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