Ironic..

[redraider]

ONONDAGA, N.Y. -- Police say a motorcyclist participating in a protest ride against helmet laws in upstate New York died after he flipped over the bike's handlebars and hit his head on the pavement.

The accident happened Saturday afternoon in the town of Onondaga, in central New York near Syracuse.

State troopers tell The Post-Standard of Syracuse that 55-year-old Philip A. Contos of Parish, N.Y., was driving a 1983 Harley Davidson with a group of bikers who were protesting helmet laws by not wearing helmets.

Troopers say Contos hit his brakes and the motorcycle fishtailed. The bike spun out of control, and Contos toppled over the handlebars. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Troopers say Contos would have likely survived if he had been wearing a helmet

Huffington Post

Damn! I put this in the wrong room! Sorry Rod

 

[stlboarder]

As much as I don't like being told whether I have to wear a helmet or not... that is pretty damn ironic.

 

[MadMonk]

I rode a bike for years. I would never ride without wearing a helmet. In today's world of overdistracted, texting, ipad, plain bad drivers, the likelyhood of getting smushed has exponentially increased. All I can say is godspeed to those who want to take that risk.

 

[badwhale]

I'd rather die instantly on my bike than other ways.

I alway wear a full face (when my bikes run) for the record.

Will

 

[4cbln3]

I used to ride and didn't wear a helmet either. The feeling of freedom and having bugs hit your forehead was the greatest feeling in the world, plus I was younger and thought myself invincible.

Fast forward to today, where I respond to not only motorcycles, but mopeds, skateboards, and bicycle accidents. Some wear helmets, some not. I would ride with a helmet today just because I already have a hard time remembering my pin number for my debit card, don't need a good whack on the head to scramble those 4 simple numbers. :laugh:

One thing I noticed, any one of them versus a car or bus...................................the smaller the wheel, the bigger the blood left on the ground.

 

[kann]

Just read this on another forum. My wife is from that area. Beautiful area to ride, for sure. Silly way to die. A person on the other forum was trying to defend it, saying that if he WAS wearing a helmet, he probably would have broken his neck BECAUSE of it and been in a chair for the rest of his life. I was an MSF instructor for several years and constantly reviewed accidents and their circumstances. I can probably count on one hand the number of broken necks I read about, and I reviewed accidents worldwide (instructed for DoD, too). Personally, do what you want. Someday when I have more time I'll tell you about my room mate at the VA hospital when I was in there recovering from my own motorcycle accident. I wore a helmet and full Aerostich suit. He didn't. Let's just say I had to introduce my wife and daughter to him again every day when they would come to visit. I'd rather be missing body parts than missing grey matter...

 

[Not A Nice Person]

Pack riding is a skill. Patch clubs are good at it because they ride that way all the time. Yuppie Brando-come-latelies who get together for a couple times a year for things like this or Toys for Tots and then try to ride like the HA in those Sixties movies they pretend they're starring in? Not so much.

Just from reading the description you can tell what happened: he forgot to watch his position, freaked, overcorrected, and had no clue how to break ranks safely. The helmet bit's just one of life's little ironies---the sad part is people who think they're Sonny Barger when they trailer anywhere that takes longer than an afternoon to get to.

~Boar

 

[cigarhustler]

very sad

 

[iedgar10]

I wonder what all the other protestors thought of the protest after this happened. I bet many of them reached for their helmets...