Foreigners not wearing helmets

[Lacessit]

3 minutes ago, bluesofa said:

That's interesting regarding 'Surgeons and anesthetists are now refusing to operate on smokers due to the risks involved'.

Are you referring to the risks for the patient, or something else?

What about the Hippocratic Oath - is that morally correct? Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying they should, but but I'm interested in the other aspects of this.

Btw, it's ages since I heard the expression lardass!

It's the risk to the patient, because their lung capacity is compromised. As a smoker way back, my lung capacity was 3.5 litres. It's back up to 6 litres, which is normal. I don't know how the Hippocratic Oath operates in this area, there could also be legal implications with medical insurance of the doctors.

[allenberg]

10 hours ago, cornishcarlos said:

From your last post about being out on your scooter, it would seem you are sensible to wear a helmet..

 

As for the others, don't worry about it.. Won't harm you if they don't wear a lid !!

+1

[teacherclaire]

Some foreigners do not need to wear a helmet. There's nothing that could be destroy in their brains. 

[bluesofa]

8 minutes ago, Gandtee said:

Wasn't there a warning in the UK that most accidents happen within one mile of your home?

Oh, I thought was about unplanned pregnancies.

(sorry!)

[allenberg]

8 hours ago, UbonThani said:

Up to them. Their lives.

+1

[Tropposurfer]

I’ve heard the sound of and seen the insides of a persons head from hitting the road because they dropped their bike ... it’s a terrible sound.
falling at as little speed as 5kms per hour can, if the head hits the road, kill

you !
Many folks who visit here n ride without helmets come from countries where regulation does not exist or if it does it isn’t part of public education nor enforced, so they have little awareness of the need for a brain bucket. 
others if they have awareness and don’t wear one care little for their own lives or the lives of others, and often indulge in magical thinking.
How can I say this? Because the self preservatory instinct would kick in and override the childish notion that comes to them to ride without one, and the way many ride (either recklessly or with no riding skills whatsoever) endanger other by being on the road).

Poor Thai people run the risk for lots of reasons; Some because the math of finding money to buy a helmet is too great, weighed against the need to spend on food plus the same magical notions that it won’t happen to me (amulets mentioned by others is part of this magical thinking).

Thais as we can see when we ride around are not a select group in thinking this way.
Get a good helmet and wear it and ride defensively.

[BritManToo]

Just now, Tropposurfer said:

I’ve heard the sound of and seen the insides of a persons head from hitting the road because they dropped their bike ... it’s a terrible sound.

I know two people in Chiang Mai that fell and died in the shower, but only one that killed himself helmetless on a m/c.

Would be safer to wear your helmet in the shower, if you're that worried about dying after falling.

[transam]

2 minutes ago, Tropposurfer said:

I’ve heard the sound of and seen the insides of a persons head from hitting the road because they dropped their bike ... it’s a terrible sound.
falling at as little speed as 5kms per hour can, if the head hits the road, kill

you !
Many folks who visit here n ride without helmets come from countries where regulation does not exist or if it does it isn’t part of public education nor enforced, so they have little awareness of the need for a brain bucket. 
others if they have awareness and don’t wear one care little for their own lives or the lives of others, and often indulge in magical thinking.
How can I say this? Because the self preservatory instinct would kick in and override the childish notion that comes to them to ride without one, and the way many ride (either recklessly or with no riding skills whatsoever) endanger other by being on the road).

Poor Thai people run the risk for lots of reasons; Some because the math of finding money to buy a helmet is too great, weighed against the need to spend on food plus the same magical notions that it won’t happen to me (amulets mentioned by others is part of this magical thinking).

Thais as we can see when we ride around are not a select group in thinking this way.
Get a good helmet and wear it and ride defensively.

Thai folk get a free helmet when they buy a bike, they just don't want to wear one....

[transam]

2 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

I know two people in Chiang Mai that fell and died in the shower, but only one that killed himself helmetless on a m/c.

Would be safer to wear your helmet in the shower, if you're that worried about dying after falling.

Me too.....

[Philipg114763]

49 minutes ago, transam said:

I think your % thing is way out, as for the rest, that ain't nice is it....????

My percent is correct  i see  nearly every thai in most places not wearing them and for god sake get off farlangs backs thai goverment calls them for everything just think of of the many farangs who are helping poor thais with money and free food get off our backs 

[EVENKEEL]

Motorbike, no helmet, flip-flops, shorts unless I go on a longer trip then have a helmet. Big bike for longer trips have 3/4 helmet, steel toes, gloves.

[transam]

3 minutes ago, Philipg114763 said:

My percent is correct  i see  nearly every thai in most places not wearing them and for god sake get off farlangs backs thai goverment calls them for everything just think of of the many farangs who are helping poor thais with money and free food get off our backs 

Your % is nonsense, we are talking about Thailand, not where you live....????

[Tchooptip]

9 hours ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

Yeah, all this disregard for safety.

 

Its messing with my mind.

It is not only disregard for safety but also disrespect of the law, all these foreigners who drive without a helmet, probably the majority in Koh Samui, would not last long without being arrested by the police in their own countries. I who have ridden on a whole bunch of small and large motorcycles all my life I think it's taking a stupid risk to ride without helmet. And even on my little PCX 150 I have a good quality full face helmet...

[holy cow cm]

Police check points and CC cameras in CM so wear in daytime. Nighttime nope!

[Krataiboy]

9 hours ago, jimmjam said:

I wear a helmet for long journeys, if im just going to the local shop down the road i dont bother.

 

Stats show most accidents happen within five minutes of home.

[eisfeld]

1 hour ago, UbonThani said:

Its about freedom

Ok, let's talk about freedom. Is it my freedom to charge you 100THB because I feel like? Is it freedom if I decide to drive a car through town like a maniac and put other people in danger?

 

Actions have consequences. It's about the consequences. If you are a lone guy, riding and crashing into the ditch and die because you chose to not wear a helmet even though you had all the chance then by all means. Do so and I wouldn't care in that specific case. I'll concede that that's your freedom. If you ride without helmet, don't die in a crash and cover all costs with your own money then sure, be my guest. That wouldn't affect me and you take care of the problem like a man should so I'd respect that.

 

But if you crash and claim some insurance policy or if you contribute to the statistics that eventually make life for *me* more difficult because more road checks are introduced for example or if you'd be somehow related to me and caused hardship for the family then yes, I should care. Or if you crashed into me because a sandcorn decided to find a new home on your eyeball. Then you would be infringing on *my* freedom.

 

Why do I have to stop at roadblocks? Because there are tons and tons of people who drive without license, are drunk or whatnot. I get bothered because those people decided they are free to do whatever they want. That in turn reduces my freedom.

 

So my freedom recudes your freedom and vice versa. There needs to be a sensible balance.

 

Personally I am a supporter of letting people carry the consequences of their own actions. But that's not always possible.

 

That being said, I'm just voicing this opinion here because that's what the topic was created for. I wouldn't run around lecturing people unless they are really close to me. Life's not perfect and I surely can't fix the world.

[mr mr]

3 hours ago, Kerryd said:

There is no harm in having a couple of drinks

defending your own lifestyle choice maybe ? oh a few drinks never hurt anyone said the functioning alcoholic. who then goes home and beats his wife. after driving drunk. 

 

ps. on the way home he smoked a pack of cigarettes with his kid in the car. not hurting anyone right ? after all smoking and drinking are legal choices right ? 

 

gtfo with your we want whats best for you nonsense. if govt's cared life would be so much different. things like cigarettes would be illegal now wouldn't they ? they wouldn't even be allowed to be manufactured. 

 

i wonder what the number of deaths per year from no helmet is vs smoking deaths. i bet way more people die from not wearing a helmet ? 

[cornishcarlos]

19 minutes ago, eisfeld said:

Why do I have to stop at roadblocks?

 

Because you choose to... Some people choose not to !! Freedom of choice...

[mr mr]

3 hours ago, Kerryd said:

There is no harm in having a couple of drinks now and then

another one of those pesky couple drinks no harm kind of events.

 

 

[BigStar]

3 hours ago, bluesofa said:

Reminds me of the time a couple of years ago, I had just dropped my son off at school one morning. I rode the motorbike back to the main road. A couple of hundred metres along there was a ferang in his sixties laying in the road, his motorbike next to next him.

 

I was just about to stop when I noticed he was speaking to a Thai next to him who was on the phone calling an ambulance. The Thai guy's English was good. Because of that I didn't stop, everything seemed in hand.

I noticed the ferang had blood pouring from the side of his head. No helmet.

Makes me wonder if I had stopped, would the ferang have said, "Mind your own business"?

I always wince when I see some old fat bald-headed tourist zooming down the street helmetless. That old bald head . . . just asking to be cracked open. It seems to be about freedom to the degree it helps in reliving the foolish dream of a lost youth--to be found here in Thailand. ????

[Damrongsak]

13 hours ago, johng said:

Yes, no need for a helmet if you have a face mask...maybe a strong amulet can help too.

I'm all set.

 

[impulse]

2 comments:

 

1) If it really bothers you to see people doing stuff that conflicts with the conventional wisdom you learned in a very different culture growing up, I'd rethink retiring to Thailand

 

2) With scooters 20-40x as dangerous per km as 4 wheels and seatbelts, the dangerous decision is throwing your leg over a scooter instead of buckling up in a car or pickup.  Not that wearing a helmet is dumb.  But there's a narrow wedge of accidents in between the ones you'll walk away from regardless of no helmet, and those that will rip your limbs off even if you have a 20,000 baht helmet.  Instead of 20-40x as dangerous, scooters are still 12-24x as dangerous when you are wearing a helmet.

 

[Iron Tongue]

I've heard the sounds of people's heads hitting pavement too many times in traffic accidents, to ever ride without a helmet. 

That is a sickening sound you've all probably heard if you are out in the city, especially after a rain.

[Lacessit]

15 hours ago, BritManToo said:

I know two people in Chiang Mai that fell and died in the shower, but only one that killed himself helmetless on a m/c.

Would be safer to wear your helmet in the shower, if you're that worried about dying after falling.

Perhaps you need a larger statistical sample than three people to reach the conclusion you have.

[Oztruckie]

Yep always wear a good quality full face,whether I'm just going around the corner or down the road,after running over a jumbuck many years ago going to work one morning,if I hadn't been wearing a bash hat well I'd be pushing up raises now,you don't need much speed to become a vegetable if you come off a bike head first into the kerb or concrete post.

[Oztruckie]

On 4/29/2020 at 10:54 AM, bodga said:

Helmets and helmets, Thai  helmet 200-400  baht Tesco, my helmet 19000 baht, add into that  wearing it with the strap undone for  many  is a total waste of time, they'd  save a lot  more  lives by not wearing masks  but wearing a helmet.

Same here mate,I look at it this way,what value do you put on yr brain,pay big bucks mean you really value yr brains.

[Oztruckie]

On 4/29/2020 at 11:15 AM, spiekerjozef said:

Is that gonna help when you hit a cement truck?

Probably gunna save his life if he goes head first into the bitumen at 80 min,unlike the consequences from wearing an ice cream container.

[cornishcarlos]

2 minutes ago, Oztruckie said:

pay big bucks mean you really value yr brains.

 

Or you believe the marketing !! Only valid reason to pay 19,000 over say 5-8k is if it's the only helmet that is comfortable on your head. 

200-400 baht lids !! Yes a complete waste apart from sun protection...

[ujayujay]

Well, if there nothing in the Head....why protect!?

[lee b]

People need to be told that helmets protect your head from COVID 19.