Are helmets a legal requirement in your country (Australia, I see)?

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.

Yes.

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.

The problem with your presumption that authority is good, is that it assumes the authority is somehow better at making decisions for an individual than the individual is.

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?

Having lived in both countries, Australia doesn't seem to have the inflating vehicle size problem to the same degree. Plus the attitude to welfare is very different in general. I don't think you can just transplant laws and arguments from one to the other and expect them to make sense.

Many people ride motorcycles for pleasure in America. Motorcycles are a dangerous mode of transportation (more than cars, buses, etc.), even if you wear a helmet. If you are going for maximum pleasure/risk then, if the pleasure is much higher without a helmet, it is rational to not wear one, if you are riding for pleasure.

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.

Absolutely insane, it is an irrational risk NOT to wear a helmet. Here are some cdc facts:

* 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!

It is insane to ride a motorcycle. Once you decide that you want to risk riding a motorcycle for pleasure, maybe the increased pleasure of not wearing a helmet is worth it. Why would you ride a motorcycle at all for pleasure, if your philosophy of life is safety first?

Because safety and pleasure are not mutually exclusive. If your question was valid, skydivers wouldn't use parachutes and skiers would wear shorts and tank tops.

Just because one wants to enjoy a risky activity doesn't mean one has no common sense or self-preservation instinct.

Free climbers, astronauts and political dissidents must also be insane, and not understand this, either? Or their utility function is simply maximized at a place where yours is not.

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?

> "Free climbers, astronauts and political dissidents must also be insane"

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.

It's just insane to ride a motorcycle in the more populated areas of the US - with or without a helmet. A friend of mine works in a skilled nursing facility. Most of the younger males who end up there are because motorcycles. While wearing helmets saved their lives, many of them will be disabled in some way the rest of their lives.

I’ve been to a couple of motorcycle accidents (I worked as an ambulance driver), and I was surprised how little they got hurt. Most people here only drive with full protective gear, and it helps a lot.

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.

I agree. I have been in a pretty serious motorcycle "accident". Broke my wrist and banged up my ankle pretty bad. Full helmet (with a big scrape on it where I hit the ground), leather jacket (again, nice scrape on the back), jeans, and high boots. Glad I was wearing them. But I have ridden without a helmet (legal in NM at the time) a few times when the weather was right and I'm on a shortish, easy joy ride. Worth the risk for me in those few instances. It is also great to be able to give someone else a short ride on a whim and let them wear your helmet, while you go without. Not a big plus for me to live in a place where everything that the majority thinks is imprudent is illegal.

Mopeds with people riding with flip flops or sandals. Shutter.