FIRST MUPPET SPOTTED THIS YEAR

Riding home from work today spotted some guy on a gsxr with just shorts, t shirt and trainers on and no gloves, is just asking for trouble!!!

The amount of pictures i've seen of people with road rash makes me always wear my full gear even if its boiling hot outside.

I think they should make some tv commercials highlighting this the same as they do for drink driving and speeding.

To quote what i once heard "SWEAT WIPES OFF, ROAD RASH DOESN'T!!!"



Sorry just needed to get this off my chest

these people obviously haven't fallen off before and dont know how hard the tarmac is.

Before the self righteous brigade start just stop for one moment.

What you're proposing is we hand over another one of our choices to our nanny state for enforcing by police. Great, lets give the police ANOTHER reason to pick on bikers as if theres not enough complaints about it as is.

End of the day, what I do on my bike and the decisions I make are mine to make, not yours, not the governments. I resent someone removing the choice tbh.

Because another thing you're not considering is those getting into biking. Making kit mandatory will push biking further into the exclusive hobby realm where only those who can afford to buy all of the kit can afford to get a bike.

I started with just a lid, jeans, inappropriate jacket and boots on my CG. Had it been mandatory to buy the gear I wouldnt have been able to afford it.

This was also discussed on a recent thread. You post as if your kit is an absolute guarantee but its not. Theres a certain amount of compensation made by riders if theyre not geared up tbh, and a certain amount of over compensation if youre not aware of it when you do wear your kit.

Bikers get injured and hurt wearing their kit. Bikers die wearing full gear. Saying it should be mandatory underlines a belief your kit will save you. YES it helps. YES I wear mine. But I never assume I can rely on it.

Ive posted a link before to a woman who had 9 skin grafts after coming off without any gear. Thats the sort of education you need, not make it compulsory.

Plus theres the practicality of enforcing it. What kit do you decide measures up to a defined safety standard? how can you justify to all of us who would then have to shell out hundreds or over a thousand pounds to regear. How do you enforce it?

You cant. The police are hard pushed as is, let alone giving them something else to target bikers for and get more complaints of harrassment.

It's not the governments job to protect people from their own stupidity. We've got enough of a nanny state as it is, don't encourage them.

Originally Posted by lynw

Before the self righteous brigade start just stop for one moment.

What you're proposing is we hand over another one of our choices to our nanny state for enforcing by police. Great, lets give the police ANOTHER reason to pick on bikers as if theres not enough complaints about it as is.

End of the day, what I do on my bike and the decisions I make are mine to make, not yours, not the governments. I resent someone removing the choice tbh.

Because another thing you're not considering is those getting into biking. Making kit mandatory will push biking further into the exclusive hobby realm where only those who can afford to buy all of the kit can afford to get a bike.

I started with just a lid, jeans, inappropriate jacket and boots on my CG. Had it been mandatory to buy the gear I wouldnt have been able to afford it.

This was also discussed on a recent thread. You post as if your kit is an absolute guarantee but its not. Theres a certain amount of compensation made by riders if theyre not geared up tbh, and a certain amount of over compensation if youre not aware of it when you do wear your kit.

Bikers get injured and hurt wearing their kit. Bikers die wearing full gear. Saying it should be mandatory underlines a belief your kit will save you. YES it helps. YES I wear mine. But I never assume I can rely on it.

Neither do i, but its got to be better than wearing nothing at all thats the point im trying to make

I just wanted to see what other peoples views were on this subject thats all

[quote="Lee Rainbow"]Riding home from work today spotted some guy on a gsxr with just shorts, t shirt and trainers on and no gloves, is just asking for trouble!!!

Sorry but this is just stupid why can't they bring in some law to stop these people from continuing to do this, the amount of pictures i've seen of people with road rash makes me always wear my full gear even if its boiling hot outside.


Yes it's barmy but no they shouldn't bring in a law. People are free to do all sorts of things that are harmful to themselves e.g climbing mountains without proper equipment, smoking, drinking to excess, attempting to commit suicide, but I don't think that's a good enough reason to make them illegal.

Rules on clothing would be quite a difficult law to define and enforce... at least with a lid they can be easily seen - although I'm not sure they should be compulsory either although the consequences of a mashed head is that much more serious so perhaps compulsion there is justified..

I'd be interested in what an insurance company's view is/would be if it were shiown that their inappropriate clothing contributed to their injuries even if the accident was entriely the other party's fault....

Yes its not the cleverest thing, but its upto them, you can't enforce rules for all

I've ridden in Jeans and Tshirt myself on short runs on a baking hot day... Its at the riders risk at the end of the day

Originally Posted by Lee Rainbow

Neither do i, but its got to be better than wearing nothing at all thats the point im trying to make

I just wanted to see what other peoples views were on this subject thats all

Some people do however. As was recently highlighted on another thread in IB.

Someone mistook what I was saying as in I was advocating not wearing any gear. Far from it, but its everyones choice. Some people are beyond making their life easy.

But a lot of people in what we consider inappropriate gear ride a lot more cautiously - think it was Ceri JC who mentioned it in the thread at that time. I believe he referred to a test where people were observed wearing nowt but underwear through to full gear. Where people had less protection they were far slower and more cautious. Obviously that doesnt apply to those who consider the trainers of invulnerability to be sufficient.

All you can do is shake your head and concentrate on your ride. You cant make it mandatory - its just not practical in all honesty.

Well thats my opinion anyway.

[Speedy]

Silly person!!

These people won't learn until they're hurt unfortunately!

Although I do agree with Lynw.

There has been too many infringements on our 'Civil liberties' over the last 8 years (at least!!!???),We do'nt need anymore!

Motorists/Motorcyclists are targeted enough already with various stealth taxes,(Road tax,Fuel tax,Insurance tax,Speeding fines,Fixed Penalty Notices,Tax-tax etc)
So if they were to make it law to wear safety gear,The Government would probably put TAX on that too,not to mention Safety clothing manufacturers jumping on the band-wagon!

They are dear enough already!

I always wear mine,Hot or not!

[Biker Biggles]

Yes of course it should be compusory.As should a man with a red flag walking in front of all cars and sex with Prescott to be a capital offense.Actually lets ban biking and everything else for that matter.We love the nanny state.