...which people in general seem to have no particular fear of.
> [...] show that general aviation aircraft average nearly seven accidents per 100,000 flight hours, compared with an average of 0.16 accidents per 100,000 hours for commercial airlines.
So the accident rate for GA is over 40 times higher than commercial.
On top of that, around three quarters of these fatal accidents are the result of what could be broadly categorized as pilot error... Which is why the FAA has such a stick up its butt about the licensing status of the TapJets pilots.
Or, to express it more charitably - we're all used to it. Car-related fatalities no longer register as unusual. You don't hear much about them in the news. They're treated as "something that unavoidably happens to people". Like cancer or heart attack, and unlike murder, which is unusual. I'm willing to bet that you're friends or acquaintances with people who crashed their cars (with or without health consequences), and you're at most two hops in your social graph from people who died in a car accident.
Plane accidents are much more likely to result in fatalities
I've see motorcycles without helmet last time I was down south in the fall and it scares the absolute beejesus bonkers out of me :/
(I've been riding for a decade, do occasional dirt trails, and have doing motorsport rallying a while back, but never enough of a daredevil to mount a bike without helmet and armour)
It varies by state; this is one of those occasions where the federal government leaves it up to each state to mandate as they please. You might be surprised to learn that Georgia, a deeply Republican (i.e. anti-regulation) state, has strict requirements for motorcycle safety including mandatory helmets for any vehicle classed as a motorcycle.
In the past there was pressure from the federal government on state governments to enact more universal laws about wearing helmets. Now many states only require that young riders wear helmets and a handful don't have any rule. Here is an overview with a map, too: http://www.iihs.org/iihs/topics/laws/helmetuse/mapmotorcycle...
Also, motorcycles without helmets!?!?!?!?!?!?!? America, I presume?
As a former and future rider, I always wear a full helmet, but people have the legal right to ride without one.
If we were going for maximum safety for transportation, uncaged motor transport would be prohibited.
It's also a legal requirement to wear helmets when riding a pushbike too, which is something far more controversial as there's research to suggest that the effect those laws have on reducing cycling participation has a more negative impact on visibility and safety of cyclists. But I don't think I've ever heard someone say that mandatory motorbike helmet laws are a bad thing.
There is research which shows that the trend towards higher vehicular weight is caused by drivers desire to be, or at least feel, safer. Yet this makes less economically fortunate drivers less safe, has adverse impact on the environment, and doesn't improve human welfare.
Why do we regulate helmets and not vehicular weight? It might have less to do with improving welfare and more to do with individual politics. I fear people have more of a tendency to want to be an authority over personal liberties than of unwarranted aggressions. For example, how long have people protested gay relationships, but allowed sexual harassment to persist?
Commuting on a motorcycle, you should wear a helmet. Pleasure ride on the weekends, maybe not. Let the person make the decision. Seems good to me. America.
* Helmets saved an estimated 1,772 lives in 2015.
* If all motorcyclists would have worn helmets in 2015, 740 more could have been saved.
* Helmets reduce the risk of death by 37%.
* Helmets reduce the risk of head injury by 69%
https://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/mc/index.html
Wear your helmet. Do it for yourself and your family, and never tell anyone NOT to wear a helmet. Seriously!
Just because one wants to enjoy a risky activity doesn't mean one has no common sense or self-preservation instinct.
I wouldn't smoke, ride without a helmet, etc, but who am I to say you are wrong for doing so? There are many people who would not sign up for a trip to Mars, but I would. Who are they to tell me I am wrong for a wanting this?
Wait, when did I accuse anyone of insanity?
> "I wouldn't smoke, ride without a helmet, etc, but who am I to say you are wrong for doing so?"
I never said anyone was wrong for anything. I think you meant to reply to person I replied to above; you and I seem to agree more or less.
Kids driving on mopeds, on the other hand, is a different story. Even though they only drive at low speeds, they get hurt really badly even in minor accidents because they don’t wear protective clothing.
Yes, motorcycling is dangerous, but your clothes make a huge difference.
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/17/opinion/The-Dangers-of-Pr...
"The National Transportation Safety Board found that in 2011, 94 percent of fatal aviation accidents occurred in what’s called general aviation. That category includes private small planes flown by amateurs as well as professionally piloted corporate flights in high-powered aircraft, such as the Gulfstream IV jet that crashed in May in Bedford, Mass., killing all seven people on board. By contrast, commercial aviation had no fatal accidents that year. Statistics from the N.T.S.B. show that general aviation aircraft average nearly seven accidents per 100,000 flight hours, compared with an average of 0.16 accidents per 100,000 hours for commercial airlines."
Emphasis mine.