If you HAD to wear ' proper' gear

[Lissa]

I always wear 'proper' gear. Good leathers, good boots, good helmet, good gloves...but I don't need a law passing to make me wear them (apart from the helmet), I do it through choice. I would wear a helmet from choice too, if it wasn't compulsory.

I'm not sure that passing a law requiring everyone to wear 'proper' gear is neccessary...............with one caveat. I would like to see a law passed requiring that all minors should be properly kitted out if travelling on a bike. Adults can make their own choices, kids trust their parents to make them for them, and I've seen far too many kids who's parents just don't seem to think it'll 'ever happen to them'.

I'd object, but I'd live with it, reluctantly, because you have to or Mr Plod writes tickets.

Just like I have to live with wearing a seatbelt in the car to go 1 mile to the shops.

But I'd use the bike less as a result, if going shopping for instance. I don't like walking round shops in full bike gear. I'm quite happy in jeans, walking boots and a bike jacket though.

Regards the hospital argument, how about saying that if you fall short of a set minimum you have to pay for your treatment? Fair enough and you'd have to factor that in your decision making process when you decide what to wear on the bike. At least you'd still have the choice, and thats the important bit.

thats one thing i cant understand, why not wear a seatbelt?

its no hastle to put em on, you dont eve noticed theyre there... and they save the lives of you and the others in the car...

Originally Posted by pencil shavings

..... If I contribute I should be able to use what I contribute to, in this case NHS.....

I think in general the population should be doing all they can to reduce waiting lists/times at hospitals. By this i mean, use proper gear (whatever you're doing) to minimise your burden on the facilities.

If someday, by bad fortune, you still need A&E then you're going to get attended to all the sooner as there isn't a queue of morons* ahead of you.


* You know the ones..... u see them on youtube trying to grind their skateboards on stair rails but instead they mash their nuts etc....

I was lucky when i came off the bike and got taken to hospital. Good timing, lol. Not many skaters at 11pm! ps. I wore full leathers etc.

However much you or I might think we have the right to this care it does affect 3rd parties indirectly too. Eg. My dad (83) was doubled up with pain for 4 days last week and didn't want to bother any doctors/NHS24 etc with his little trouble bespite being in visble serious pain. Turns out he has a trapped nerve in a vertibrae but after treatment is now showing signs to be on the mend.

Originally Posted by Draper

thats one thing i cant understand, why not wear a seatbelt?

its no hastle to put em on, you dont eve noticed theyre there... and they save the lives of you and the others in the car...

You are absolutely correct and your logic is indisputable. But your trying to apply logic to human nature. If we all applied logic every post on here would say "everyone should wear full gear with CE armour and a back protector".

Human's generally are not sheep, kind of an obvious statement you might think as we are not fluffy and we don't go baa. We are emotional creatures who generally don't like being told what to do.

I'm much more likely to wear my seatbelt on a one miler to the shops in my wife's car than mine, 'cos it doesn't make silly noises at me until I put it on, so I forget I'm only going to the shops and put it on out of habit, then I get to the shops take it off and think what did I put that on for? But in my car, I hear the silly noise, get pi$$ed off with it, hit the button on the fastner to shut it up, and leave my seatbelt well and truly hanging from the B pillar.

Obviously if I'm going further or onto a 60mph A road, I put it on because I don't fancy a trip through the windscreen, but thats not going to happen at 30.

The main reason folk have given here for opposing legislation is that they prefer to be left to make a choice about thier own safety. The more you tighten the thumbscrews, the more people get defiant.

So there's the only logical understanding I can give you, it's plain simple defiance.

Ask an older male relative (women are more pragmatic) how they felt when the seatbelt law first came into force and how long it was before they stopped moaning about it and started wearing it. I know many 50 year olds and upwards who still don't and won't wear a seatbelt.

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by Draper

why not wear a seatbelt?

I'm not against wearing them

I'm just against being told to wear one, just as I'm against being told to wear a helmet.

[posting under the influence alert]
If I want to do something stupid, which only endangers myself, then its my right to be stupid and kill myself. It's sod all to do with any spineless civil servant who probably has to file a risk assesment to open the ****house door.

i cant see how laws irritate people so much, not many actually get told personally to do it, the government just say to the nation we want you to do this

i couldnt give a monkeys whether somone tells me to do something or not, if i want to do it i will, if i sont want to i wont. i just feel that for society as a whole it is beneficial

I'm not here to criticise though , i just generally dont get bothered by things like this

Originally Posted by Draper

i cant see how laws irritate people so much, not many actually get told personally to do it, the government just say to the nation we want you to do this

i couldnt give a monkeys whether somone tells me to do something or not, if i want to do it i will, if i sont want to i wont. i just feel that for society as a whole it is beneficial

I'm not here to criticise though , i just generally dont get bothered by things like this

Being told what to do isn't so much of the problem for me, more who'd be telling me to do it.

The idea of having to fall into line because some ignorant moralising sanctimonious s*it of a civil servant sees fit to interfere in my life when they have no business doing so irritates me intensely.

Oh, and anyone who's concerned about the effect on public finances/NHS etc, forget it. The government is perfectly capable of wasting vast sums of money and innumerable number of managerial c*ck-ups needlessly killing thousands without the publics help. The odd biker creaming themselves because they didn't wear decent kit simply doesn't enter into the equation.

well it all adds up, seatbelts and helmets and the like should surely save finance dramatically, yes a tiny tiny amount in comparison, but every bit helps

what happens if that civil servant is a nice fellow too...

i seem to be in a very good mood with society atm, not chavs or anything though, they are still on my destroy list