ALT-2 Motorcyclists should always Wear Helmets – Disagree
Yes, motorcyclists should wear helmets, but I would frame this question: should motorcyclists be required to always wear helmets? While I believe anyone who likes their brain and would like to keep it around for a few years should put that helmet on. I also believe people have the right to make stupid choices. As a society, we have way too many laws on the books trying to regulate the stupid out of all of us. They find new stupidity all the time and keep slapping laws on it trying to regulate our behavior. What these nanny-state laws do is slowly erode our freedoms.
Part of being in a democracy is that we have the right to be stupid if we want to, especially if our stupidity doesn't kill other people. Laws that require us to use safety devises for our own personal safety are essentially saying: "Hey, dummy, we know you're too stupid to make this choice, so we're making it for you". Just think of the back up in courts and the overflowing jails if we could actually regulate stupidity! Just think of how many of our politicians would be joining the fellow 'stupids' in those jail cells!
So many people I know could get fined to death if the nanny-state laws keep encroaching on our rights. My oldest son recently went to move his brother's car. He hops in, grabs the gear shift and pulls it down. Oops, that was the windshield wiper switch! My other son's car has its gear shift on the floor between the seats. Was that stupid? Sure was. Should he pay a fine for being stupid? He will have to pay a repair bill, but that is called personal responsibility, not law.
Ah, maybe that's the reason we have so many nanny-state laws encroaching on everything we do: we'd rather regulate others than take personal responsibility for our own mistakes.
All facetiousness aside (well mostly), when it doesn't involve anyone else's safety but my own, I should be allowed to make that choice and then pay the consequences of an over-exposed neck when I leave my brain lying on the concrete. I would never do this, but I believe I have every right to do so if I want. Should motorcyclists always wear helmets? Absolutely they should, but they should NOT have to. The motorcycle rider should not have the choice taken from him or her.
