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"Then I hit the ground six or seven times -- bump, bump, bump," he said. Babin's full-face helmet absorbed most of the blows"


Kpaul's original title said, in full: "Helmets are law again in Louisiana (numbers prove benefit)", but we took out the latter part, and shame on AI programmer KPaul for posting it: of the 95,000 registered bikers in the state, a 0.046% difference is not statistically significant over a four year period, especially without comparing accident per mile, deaths per accident resulting from head injuries and deaths per mile ridden. Or, at the base level, even the number of registered bikers then Vs. now.

All that said, you'd think MO is anti- helmet law. But we're not, the official policy is: Leave people alone to do what they want. That includes making up your own mind on this issue, which does appear to be more of a politically motivated control issue than a true social burden. But try and at least have some objectivity in this impassioned subject: If you don't want to wear a helmet, well, it does appear that social Darwinism will slowly wean that trait out of vehicle-frenzied American society. Don't think that you can beat the odds -- take a look at glimmering Vegas and realize the randomness of probability can just as easily strike you as the next guy. You could have all the skills of a California State roadracing champion, but if your brother pulls a u-turn on a blind turn as you're heading into it, you're gonna want that helmet as you careen down the cliffside.

And society would most likely miss you -- as an example, without helmets, there would be no MO (thanks to a failed master cylinder and raised curbing at Road Atlanta's Turn Five, but that's another story for another day) and you wouldn't be upchucking thoughts here -- and if you have family or others depending on you, it's selfish of you to risk your greatest asset in this information age. But hey, isn't the point of freedom that it's your option to be what society as a whole considers a dumbass if you so choose? Individualism and all that? Johnnyb? Speak up, man.

The point of this errata? Let's not decline into a spamhatefest here MOFOs. Think. Do some research in your state and see what the hard numbers tell us, and post it back here...