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Crash helmet legislation

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Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'd be pretty screwed if they were banned, seeing as it's my only form of transport.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Ditto. But we make a personal choice to ride them, rather than use a more protective form of transport. Helmet or no helmet, more people die on a motorcycle than they would if they were in a car.

    It's personal choice to ride a motorcycle, and IMO it should be personal choice whether or not you protect your own head. I'm pretty sure I would still wear a decent helmet, but the decision should be the riders, nobody elses. :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    No, otherwise seatbelts would be optional, and they were legal in the front before they were in the back despite the back that if someone behind you isn't wearing a seatbelt they can break your neck.

    I'm torn about the sikh allowance, but then, I've never seen a sikh on a motorbike so couldn't say how commonplace it would be for someone to do something so stupid, just because they're allowed to.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Personally, I fail to see how not wearing a helmet is going to protect a Sikh's hair...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Personally, I fail to see how not wearing a helmet is going to protect a Sikh's hair...

    Well to wear the helmet they'd have to remove their turban....

    and their turban has all their hair bundled with it to keep it clean. Imagine when a woman washes her hair and puts a towel round it then wraps it up. It's the same thing, in effect. Although a lot of Sikhs wear it just as a 'badge' to say they're Sikh, AFAIK in itself it is not a religious need / item. Suppose in that regard, it's like a Christian wearing a cross. Nowhere in the bible does it say you need to wear one, but Christians want to display their religion...

    Some Sikhs even have their hair cut to fit in with the typical guy = short hair and then wear a turban on top :confused:.

    As for the seatbelts, if you were the only person in the car, then why should you be forced to wear it? When there's the added complexities that it might kill someone else by you not wearing it, then it's a different matter... :chin:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    ShyBoy wrote: »
    Well to wear the helmet they'd have to remove their turban....

    But if the turban is just there to protect their hair, can't the helmet do that?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yea, but it's designed to kind of keep it clean too. I dunno. We should consult some Sikhs for the intricacies. But it's a lot of bother removing a turban and putting it back on. Imagine doing it every time you had a fag break :(
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    For a sikh their hair is a deeply spiritual thing. They don't ever cut it because it's connected to their soul, now think about how long hair can get if you never cut in in your life, you wouldn't get it all under a helmet. In addition because it's so important, it needs to be kept in a certain condition, apparently outside of a turban isn't acceptable.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Maybe we've found a niche market here :). I hereby copyright Turbhelmets ;).
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Slightly OT, but anyway:

    Why is there a legal requirement to wear motorcycle helmets, but not one to wear a helmet whilst riding a push bike?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Pushbikes aren't generally capable of over 150mph, nor do they weigh a quarter of a tonne :).
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Sorry the direct comparison was about exclusions from law based on religion.

    In the instance of adoption it's preventing religious belief from being expressed (not just Catholics but Anglicans and Muslims too) and the exclusion would allow such beliefs to be honoured, in this law it allows and exclusion for one religion and so repcendence is set.

    The issue about impact on others is an interesting one but I'm not entirely comfortable with the idea that the state should legslate against religious beliefs.

    No, I don't think the state should legislate against religous beliefs either. But neither should religous beliefs be an excuse for bigotry
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    In Florida the law doesn't require people above the age of 18 to wear a crash helmet while riding a motorcycle...there are 16 times more people killed there on motorcycles than in cars. Personally I think that's a stupid law, and everyone should be made to wear a helmet. Same applies in the UK.
  • SkiveSkive Posts: 15,282 Skive's The Limit
    Motorbike helmets should be optional, same with seatbelts in the front of cars.
    It should be down to the individual alone whether they want to take that risk.
    Weekender Offender 
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Fiend_85 wrote: »
    For a sikh their hair is a deeply spiritual thing. They don't ever cut it because it's connected to their soul, now think about how long hair can get if you never cut in in your life, you wouldn't get it all under a helmet. In addition because it's so important, it needs to be kept in a certain condition, apparently outside of a turban isn't acceptable.
    On a side not - everyone's hair grows to a different length, some hair only grows shoulder length etc
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Oh yeah, I know, my stops at about my shoulder blades, but my sisters got to her arse and had to be trimmed to stay that way. I think it's probably the spiritual value that is of greater concern, not just the practical problems.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Fiend_85 wrote: »
    Oh yeah, I know, my stops at about my shoulder blades, but my sisters got to her arse and had to be trimmed to stay that way. I think it's probably the spiritual value that is of greater concern, not just the practical problems.

    I'd love my hair to grow as long as your sister's!
    There was a girl at my school and if her dad had found out she cut her hair, she'd never be allowed out again. She used to get it cut but then put it in a bun just before she got home.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    In Florida the law doesn't require people above the age of 18 to wear a crash helmet while riding a motorcycle...there are 16 times more people killed there on motorcycles than in cars. Personally I think that's a stupid law, and everyone should be made to wear a helmet. Same applies in the UK.

    Ah, but do you ride a motorcycle?

    In the UK, deaths as a result of a traffic accident are 12 times higher on a bike than in a car (but I'm not sure about the actual chance of an accident). Nobody is pretending riding is safe...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    sophia wrote: »
    I don't personally think it's a question of anyone being "above the law", that's just Daily Mail-esque rhetoric. My opinion is that the law should be sensitive to people's ethnic and religious identities, because many seemingly universal laws actually affect people of different religions or ethnicities differently. So I think Sikhs should be exempt from wearing motorcycle helmets on the grounds of religious observance, and I'd feel the same about lots of other issues that appear to be making exceptions for minority groups.

    So you do agree then that Catholic adoption agencies have the right to only have straight couples adopting children?
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