Motorcycle helmet almost took me out

Life Cars & Motorcycles
#1

It’s funny because recently I’ve been paying attention to how some people ride with their helmets on…but not done up. I’ve been seeing this for years of course…but just recently I’ve been giving it some extra thought because the other day while making one of my riding videos I was talking to a guy on a BMW bike…and his helmet was undone as he rode.

So I’m thinking about how stupid this guy is…and how cops should ticket for undone helmets as well as no helmets. And low and behold I’m riding my scooter and the guy in front of me’s helmet flies off…it lands in front of my scooter. I’m doing about 60km/hr and I realize there is a good chance I’m going to crash. I know a bit about hitting debris though…and knew enough to not try and avoid it…and instead try and hold the scooter straight and accelerate a little to lighten up the front. I hit the helmet and luckily it just shot out sideways from underneath my scooter.

I circle back to the guy and he’s doing the pathetic mandatory “sorry, sorry, sorry” that people always do when they almost kill you. I told him to either leave the helmet off…or to strap it up…and I told him that if I had crashed…I would have beaten him bloody if I had stilll been able. He just kept saying “sorry, sorry…etc”.

:s

#2

Yeah…the amount of helmets that go flying off bikes and riders. I’ve actually seen this a few times although usually when walking down the street.
Scooter whizzes past and I hear a plastic sounding thud thud and a rolling noise and low and behold, there is a helmet rolling into the gutter.
Scooter idiot circles without looking behind him, drives down the wrong side of the road, picks up the helmet (now useless because it has hit the floor), puts it back on and leaves the straps undone and off he goes on his merry way.

Other things I have seen come flying off scooters which spring to mind:

Insecurely fastned spare helmets
A backpack
A dog
A ladder
A girl
A loaf of bread
Bags of shopping
A tin of paint
A laptop computer

Madness. :unamused:

#3

Good tip, though; I didn’t know that was the best way to handle that kind of debris-situation. I’ll remember that (I hope) for the future.

#4

Done-up helmets sometimes come off too - I mean the 99NT jobs - as the wind gets under the peak and the strap fittings break…

#5

Back home, it’s deer that take you out. Hmm, one-pound helmet < > 175-pound deer…

Gee, Taiwan’s not so bad! :smiley:

#6

I swear Mordeath, I’m not gettin on your scooter anytime soon. You’ve got too many crazy stories… :laughing:

#7

Yeah-aside from poor quality brain salad bowls use, I see them hanging from the handlebars, dangling from the package tray, sitting in odd angles on people’s heads, worn backwards, wrong size, and everything else you can think of in the realm of not wearing a helmet properly.

I have to admit, I saw a real honey riding along the river without a helmet the other day. Her long hair was flowing in the breeze and she looked good. I looked twice!

I had to make some evasive manouvers to avoid an armoire that crashed off a truck in front of me the other day. Lucky I wasn’t speeding.

I absolutely hate it when people endanger your life here and do that bowing and scraping “pie’say” thing. I don’t know what else they could say but it sure makes me mad. It comes like it’s just another automatic reaction to daily stupidity.

#8

you’d think someone on a REAL bike (aka BMW) would have the brains to know how to wear a helmet properly… :unamused:

#9

[quote=“canucktyuktuk”]
I absolutely hate it when people endanger your life here and do that bowing and scraping “pie’say” thing. I don’t know what else they could say but it sure makes me mad. It comes like it’s just another automatic reaction to daily stupidity.[/quote]

I know what they should say…they should act fucking surprised for one thing (they never seem surprised…which leads me to believe they’ve done whatever it is…before) and they should say something like “Oh my heaven! That was so stupid of me…that was my fault…how could I be so stupid…I won’t ever let that happen again”. That would be better than almost killing someone saying “sorry” 5 times…and then repeating it the next day.

#10

What the hell is it with the wearing the helmet backwards thing?
I am seeing this more & more often. Maybe I just am noticing it more.
And I’m developing a auto-ignore mechanism on the ‘pai-say pai-say’ crap. Sorry just is not cutting it much anymore. They may not understand my words but they are damn sure understanding my intent… :smiling_imp:

#11

You guys are all forgetting that ‘paisay’ != ‘sorry’. They are not sorry, they don’t even think they’ve done anything wrong. ‘Paisay’ simply means ‘please don’t hold me accountable for my actions’.

As to repeating the same behaviour over and over again while expecting different results, isn’t that a clinical indicator of insanity?

#12

I bet the next big trend will be doing it will full-face helmets.

#13

They should ishue fines for helmets the wrong way and for not using or did not tighten the strap good enough.
They should do the same for helmets that don’t fitt and for using wrong helmets.
I see all the time people using helmets from construction work or something.

P.S Mothers with 3 children with no helmets on one motorbike should be informed that if she do not take proper care off the children there is a lot off couples around that can’t have children on there own that would be happy to take good care off them.

If annyone know how to say “hey bitch! I don’t care WTF hapends to you, but atleast put a helmet on your kid” I would be happy to learn.

#14

Well, count yourselves lucky when you see flying helmets etc… Check this one out!

[quote]Jumping sturgeon whacks jet-skier

Wednesday, August 9, 2006 Posted: 1227 GMT (2027 HKT)

The sturgeon in this file photo is 6 feet 2 inches long and weighed 138 pounds.YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS

Offbeat
Conservation
Florida
or Create Your Own
Manage Alerts | What Is This? WILDWOOD, Florida (AP) – A man riding a personal watercraft was injured after a 4-foot-long sturgeon jumped out of the water and hit him, wildlife officials said.[/quote]
:laughing:
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/US/08/09/jetski.sturgeon.ap/index.html

#15

[quote=“Dragonbones”]Well, count yourselves lucky when you see flying helmets etc… Check this one out!

[quote]Jumping sturgeon whacks jet-skier

Wednesday, August 9, 2006 Posted: 1227 GMT (2027 HKT)

The sturgeon in this file photo is 6 feet 2 inches long and weighed 138 pounds.YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS

Offbeat
Conservation
Florida
or Create Your Own
Manage Alerts | What Is This? WILDWOOD, Florida (AP) – A man riding a personal watercraft was injured after a 4-foot-long sturgeon jumped out of the water and hit him, wildlife officials said.[/quote]
:laughing:
http://edition.CNN.com/2006/US/08/09/jetski.sturgeon.ap/index.html[/quote]

Well I hear that a Jet-Ski creates more pollution in an hour than a car does in a year…or something close to that. If the skier was aware of that like I am…then good for the fish!

#16

A four foor sturgeon? That’s nothing! There was a guy in the paper just the other day – a pro game fisherman – who hooked a big marlin down in Bermuda that jumped over his boat and speared him through the chest. Made a fist-sized hole in him, apparently.

#17

[quote=“sandman”]There was a guy in the paper just the other day – a pro game fisherman – who hooked a big marlin down in Bermuda that jumped over his boat and speared him through the chest. Made a fist-sized hole in him, apparently.[/quote]:lol: Sounds like an episode of CSI!

#18

Ten minutes after picking up the baby (aka RZX) from the doctor (aka mechanic) a car driver tries to put me out of commission again by completely violating my right of way and turning left into my path onto a busy, cramped road without looking, indicating or giving two shits. In a way it’s fortunate that I got hit by the other guy last week because it meant I was unusually alert and had brank spanking new brakes and tyres. I put my bike on its stand and banged on his window asking if he was a fucking idiot or just enjoyed driving like an asshole, but he looked at me with such a blank stare and slovenly shrug that it sent a nasty chill down my spine.

Oh, and OT but earlier today I was walking my dogs on the mountain trail when some guy on a scooter starts throwing stones at them. I chased after him but he got back on his bike so I threw the biggest stone I could find by way of reply (obviously it missed or I wouldn’t be talking about this here). I swear Thursdays have got it in for me.

#19

have you seen his many motorcycle videos??? great vids but shocking and scary stuff !!! the traffic and the chances our man takes?? whew !!! My cat watches the computer screen sometimes and even HE got scared with that stuff. :smiley: :smiley:

#20

[quote=“llary”]Ten minutes after picking up the baby (aka RZX) from the doctor (aka mechanic) a car driver tries to put me out of commission again by completely violating my right of way and turning left into my path onto a busy, cramped road without looking, indicating or giving two shits. In a way it’s fortunate that I got hit by the other guy last week because it meant I was unusually alert and had brank spanking new brakes and tyres. I put my bike on its stand and banged on his window asking if he was a fucking idiot or just enjoyed driving like an asshole, but he looked at me with such a blank stare and slovenly shrug that it sent a nasty chill down my spine.

Oh, and OT but earlier today I was walking my dogs on the mountain trail when some guy on a scooter starts throwing stones at them. I chased after him but he got back on his bike so I threw the biggest stone I could find by way of reply (obviously it missed or I wouldn’t be talking about this here). I swear Thursdays have got it in for me.[/quote]

TAiwanese drivers/riders have their much deserved reputation to be among the very worst drivers/riders on planet earth!! And common sense is truly UN-COMMON. so whatever you do guys, RIDE or DRIVE defensively and look 360 degrees. you have to be hyper alert in TAiwan.

just two of the zillions of incidents iv had in taiwan over the years:

  1. im in car, punter in motorcycle comes roaring down the road bout half a mile away from my left. I decide I can get into the car lane and clear the moto lane in time. Which I do, but the punter meantime veers to my LEFT instead of continuing straight and safely past me? So he hits the rear bumper and he goes flying, no helmet and all i saw was this guy doing a total sumersault in the air. He was soo lucky he lands on his butt and so is not hurt. I , meantime am soo happy he didnt kill himself. I came out and explained to him that if he continued on his moto path he would be fine. And it was some student who was on his friends moto. I ended up giving him 500nt to fix the wonky front wheel , although i dont feel it was my fault at all. he shouldnt have sped up when he saw me and shouldve seen that iv cleared the moto lane entirely. :fume:

  2. im in my car again, different time / place. IM driving slowly on linsen n. rd. Small road with one moto and one car lane each direction. Some guy in a big bike decides to go SHOOTTING from a side alley across these lanes. I just saw a figure from my left and SMASH !! He forced this car coming towards me to come to a screeching halt (and the guys refexes are better then mine obviously) but i failed to come to a stop in time. His bike is knocked off him. I get a big dent in my front end and his bikes engine is cracked. He decides he will fix his bike and i fix my car. Its obviously his fault. but what the heck the damage to my car was minimal.

cant understand the stupidity of the guy. he just thought he could sail on thru 4 lanes of heavy traffic. its stupid people like these who cause accidents and injuries and even loss of life.