AbqDave, you're spot-on in all your musings. And, you'll soon find that absolutely nobody cares.

I've been riding 40 years, and I'm ATGATT with a top quality full-face helmet and a mesh motoport Kevlar suit. Why? Well, because I can afford it, and because I've had road rash and would really rather avoid that experience again, and I'm well aware that wet leaves and gravel are the south's version of black ice, and because stuff happens, and because an astounding proportion of drivers are now distracted and texting, and because it takes a grand total of about 60 seconds to put my gear on, and because the minor inconvenience of putting it on outweighs the lifelong consequences of not having it if it's needed, and because that mesh Kevlar makes riding in south Texas bearable and even pleasant in up to 95 degrees.

So all I can say is: you do you. There are those who don't care, and there are also naggers who will lecture you, because somehow you saying "statistically wearing a helmet makes you safer" is equivalent to them to "you're trying to take away my freedom". Or something. I don't know what it is, but sometimes statistical observation is viewed as a call to arms.

I don't know what it is with people. If you point out that around 40% of crashes involve hits to the face, somehow that makes the novelty skid-lid crowd scream "racism" (or "helmetism" or something) when, in fact, it's just ... a fact. Icon even debuted a helmet called The Statistic which graphically showed the areas of impact and the probability of each portion of the helmet being struck in an accident.



That's just the way it is. So? Lots of folks don't care. Or, well, they care about other things much, much, much more. Like, "how cool do I look with my **** helmet and my sleeveless vest" or whatever. And hey, it's their choice, and they will deal with the consequences (if any). I am against helmet laws, because freedom is freedom. But I wear one because -- well, duh.

So, back to your observations, regarding risk management, as it relates to my 40 years of riding:
1. Yes, you should be wearing the helmet on your short runs to the grocery store. But that's silly. You shouldn't just make a short run to the grocery store, you should plan out a two-to-three hour ride, ending with a short stop at the grocery store. That makes much more sense, why waste a chance to ride?
2. If you really can't stand the process of putting on the gear for such a short trip, then -- take the damn car. Wrap yourself in steel and airbags, and go about with no helmet and no jacket and no gear, and make that short trip, and you'll be safer than you would be on the bike with all the gear anyway.

In the end, risk management is something that's left up to each of us. Some care more than others, and nobody wants to be told anything.

 

Great post.

Life is lived at the margins. Whether or not we explicitly acknowledge it, we are constantly making calculations of marginal cost (or effort) vs marginal benefit. So we could say, the cost of quality gear can be amortized over many years, but I think people tend to be affected by how much money do I have to shell out today. Given enough time, anything that can happen will happen eventually; you'll find that nasty patch of gravel eventually. But I think people are more connected to what's going to happen on the next ride. Gotta meet people where they are at.

Likelihood of something bad happening on a single road trip out in the boonies is pretty low. Track day is another matter. I'm suggesting maybe going down the street is more like track day than a ride across the llano at 5am. Maybe. You make a good point. that the marginal effort involved to minimize that risk is pretty trivial. I would suggest that the actual cost to mitigate that kind of risk doesn't have to be terrible either. If that's what they have a mind to do.

With experience we learn to sort that stuff out, so this is really about the approach to an inexperienced rider, how to meet them where they are at.

 

I wore a FF my first 30,000 miles then I switched to a three-quarter’s helmet. I’m perfectly comfortable with that choice.

All of my helmets have been HJC‘s, Scorpion, Bell 500s. All under $250 and they’re all Snell and DOT certified.

Thankfully, I can’t tell you how they work, because I’ve never crashed in one of them.

 

While I understand what you're saying here, I want to caution you against thinking nothing happens in the boonies. I am blessed to not have crashed a street bike in many years, but I've had as many close calls in the boonies as I have in town. Just, out there, it's cows, goats, and deer. In town it's idiots, morons, and (seemingly) blind people.

Entirely possible. We've always heard that "most wrecks occur within x miles of home", and you summed it up nicely by saying 100% of your trips always involve at least one if not two visits within "x" miles of home, so the question is: are the further outreaches less hazardous, and the close-to-home area is actually more dangerous? You'd think not, but then again, just how much time do we spend in residential areas? Not likely that much, right? So maybe it's a case of residential areas being much more dangerous (with cars pulling in and out of driveways, and kids running across the street, and loose dogs, bicycles, skateboards, etc). What you said earlier, about us becoming desensitized in our own neighborhoods, I don't know about that; I mean, if that's the explanation, then okay, but it seems to me like any residential area is generally more populated with risks than the open road is, and we usually spend grossly more time in our own neighborhood than we do in others' neighborhoods (at least I do).

In any case, I appreciate the discussion. Thanks for this, and for your discussion on buffeting.

 

As said before, you do you. Discussing and debating helmet types seems about as contentious as concealed firearm carriers arguing about which gun's caliber is best. The parallel as I see it is: one may be slightly, marginally, or even way better than another, but the fact of the matter is that if you need it, you're likely to be enormously better off with any of them than you would be with none of them.

That's good to hear, and may it ever be so.

 

Blay, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Some of you actually read through that dribble?

LOOOOOONG rant/post/whatever. Really cold or really fast. FF is nice. Put around the lakes on a 90+ degree day NFW.

Went out on the first 85 degree day last week. NO HELMET, Still always wear boots and riding jeans.

Like going "bare-back".

Yeah.... you like a condom on your head?


JM

 

RIsk management, risk assessment. You could reduce the chance a whole bunch by not riding at all. Your choice

 

Great post, OP. You were giving your perspective on safety issues; no more, no less. Unfortunately, some, BUT NOT ALL, have an issue with paranoia and self-persecution. “No one’s going to tell me what to do!”. Don’t want to wear a helmet? Then don’t.. Hopefully, you won’t overburden the trauma team at the hospital where you’re taken.

Don't want to wear a mask to protect and help your fellow citizens? Then don’t. Hopefully, you won’t need to be hospitalized, put on a ventilator and overburden the already stressed medical team assigned to your care.

 

The funny thing about accidents are that they cannot be predicted.

 

Now my head hurts