Chicago Sun-Times columnist Richard Roper had an interesting take in this mornings paper:
<!--QuoteBeginrichardroper] June 14+2006
Chicago Sun-Times
[i--><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td> (richardroper] June 14 @ 2006
Chicago Sun-Times
[i)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">BY RICHARD ROEPER SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST[/i]
"You're just more free without one." -- Ben Roethlisberger, explaining his aversion to motorcycle helmets, in an ESPN interview, 2005.
"What I say about motorcycles is that concrete is undefeated." -- Roethlisberger's teammate Joey Porter, in the spring of 2006.
It's motorcycle season again in Chicago.
At any given moment from late afternoon until well past midnight, in the Viagra Triangle, you'll see and HEAR an amazing variety of Harleys, BMWs, Suzukis, Kawasakis, Triumphs, Yamahas, Ducatis, Hondas, you name it.
Some of the bikes are beautiful. Even parked, they look fast.
As for the bikers: they're just guys (and women) having fun. They're not "troublemakers" out of some "Wild One" stereotype -- they're professionals who have the money to pay for and maintain some expensive motorcycles. They like to go fast and make noise.
In some cases, a LOT of noise. The acoustics in certain downtown Chicago canyons are such that even if your windows are shut and you live on the 47th floor, you can hear the roar of a pack of bikers who might be blocks away.
Or you'll be at a sidewalk table in front of a trendy restaurant, and a biker across the street will start up his machine -- and it's so loud that conversation is impossible, and every head turns.
Which is probably what the guys are looking for in the first place -- a little bit of attention.
You also see thrill-seeking "Biker Boyz" on I-57 or the Kennedy (not so much the Dan Ryan these days), going over 100 mph while doing stunts and tricks. You can be doing 65 mph in the center lane, and they'll pass you as if you're standing still. (Remember the guy who was clocked doing 160 mph on Lake Shore Drive?)
And they'll do so without wearing helmets.
No fears, no helmet
Same thing with a lot of those bikers who patrol the downtown streets. I'd say at least half aren't wearing helmets.
Every time there's a motorcycle accident involving a high-profile biker such as the Steelers' Super Bowl hero QB, we get a lot of debate about helmet laws.
Illinois is one of only four states without any kind of helmet law - - but 19 states allow riders age 18 and over to ride without helmets, and seven states (including Pennsylvania) allow riders 21 and older to go helmet-free.
Roethlisberger is a motorcycle enthusiast who has a number of bikes, including the Suzuki Hayabusa, billed by its manufacturer as the fastest legal street bike in the world. (That's the one that was mangled in the crash.) He has posed for some "bad-ass" pics on his bike -- the pro quarterback in his bandanna and sunglasses, looking like the sidekick in a Steven Seagal movie circa 1987.
Why not. He's a big kid with some shiny toys, having the time of his life.
Until Monday.
The right to be reckless
Big Ben has ignored the warnings of his coach, and the concerns of the Pittsburgh sports media, who worried that his helmet-free philosophy was an accident waiting to happen, literally.
That doesn't make him an idiot. It means he's like a lot of 24-year- old (and 46-year-old) bikers who believe it's their bike, their brain and their choice. If they want to hit the streets without a helmet, it's nobody's business -- especially the government's.
They're 100 percent right.
There have been a ton of "I told you so" columns and blog entries in the wake of Roethlisberger's accident. Lots of lists of other athletes, such as Jay Williams and Aaron Rowand, who have had crashes. Much talk about studies offering proof that wearing a helmet significantly decreases your chances of sustaining serious head and spinal injuries.
No kidding.
"Roethlisberger wouldn't dream of going onto the football field without his helmet, but he thinks nothing of climbing on his motorcycle without one," was the lead in the story in the Cincinnati Post. That sentiment was echoed on sports talk radio and in a number of other articles and columns.
Of course, even with helmets, every NFL player risks serious injury with every snap of the ball. (And let's not forget, they used to play without helmets.)
I must know about 30 guys who have bikes. Some always wear helmets; others wouldn't be caught dead, so to speak, wearing one.
Said one veteran who's a serious biker: "I ALWAYS wear a helmet. Usually, I also wear a kevlar/nylon cordura jacket, reinforced leather boots with ankle and shin guards built in, leather gloves reinforced with kevlar in the palms and padding on the knuckles -- and about half the time, I also wear kevlar/cordura pants. I'm an avid helmet-wearer, but I support the right of those to be stupid if they so choose."
Exactly. It's their choice. You and I might think it's insane for a grown man or woman to climb on a bike without a helmet -- to risk their very existence on the chance that they'll never get cut off by a driver, never wipe out on the highway, never crash into a viaduct.
But it should be their decision. A biker riding without his helmet can't hurt anyone but himself.[/QUOTE]
