That's interesting stuff. Question: How much would I be willing to pay for particular freedoms, including paying for other people's freedom?
Just because not having a law may cost me a few extra cents in tax dollars as an American citizen, doesn't necessarily mean I should support the law. Especially since there are other laws that DWARF this one in money spent by tax payers on health. The obvious one is the legality of alcohol. I know drinking causes umpteen millions, and maybe billions, in health spending every year.....but damnit, I want to be able to drink, so i'm willing to pay the bill for a little freedom. Similarly, people who want to ride motorcycles without a helmet will cost us a bit more in health spending each year.....but is it enough to give me the right to tell them what to do? Dunno. I take freedom pretty seriously...more seriously than money, actually. On Wed, Jul 6, 2011 at 2:26 PM, Larry Lyons <larrycly...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Here's some data from a study by NHTSA that's very revealing. I'm > reproducing the Exec summary here: > > (http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811208.PDF) > > The combined data set contains information on 104,472 motorcyclists > involved in crashes in these 18 States during the years 2003, 2004, and > 2005. Advanced statistical methods such as multiple imputation were used to > analyze the data. > > In the data set, 57 percent of motorcyclists were helmeted at the time of > the crashes and 43 percent were non-helmeted. For both groups, about 40 > percent of motorcyclists were treated at hospitals or died following the > crashes. However, 6.6 percent of unhelmeted motorcyclists suffered a > moderate to severe head or facial injury compared to 5.1 percent of helmeted > motorcyclists. Moderate to severe injuries were defined as a Maximum > Abbreviated Injury Severity (MAIS) scale of level 2 or higher > > Fifteen percent of hospital-treated helmeted motorcyclists suffered > traumatic brain injury (TBI) compared to 21 percent of hospital-treated > unhelmeted motorcyclists. TBI severity varied by helmet use. Almost 9 > percent of unhelmeted and 7 percent of helmeted hospital-treated > motorcyclists received minor to moderate TBI. More than 7 percent of > unhelmeted and 4.7 percent of hospital-treated helmeted motorcyclists > sustained severe TBI. > > Median charges for hospitalized motorcyclists who survived to discharge > were 13 times > higher for those incurring a TBI compared to those who did not sustain a > TBI ($31,979 > versus $2,461). Over 85 percent of hospital-treated motorcyclists without a > TBI were > discharged home, compared to 56 percent of motorcyclists with severe TBI. > Motorcyclists admitted to the hospital with TBI were more likely to die, be > discharged to rehab, or transferred to a long-term care facility. While 17 > percent of all hospitaladmitted motorcyclists had TBI, they account for 54 > percent of all dmitted riders who did not survive. > > A logistic regression analysis that accounted for clustering of > motorcyclists within States indicated that helmets significantly reduced the > odds of sustaining head or facial injury, TBI, and dying in the hospital. > ---------------- > > So motorcycles riders who don't wear helmets cost the rest of us a lot. Its > not a matter o free choice, rather its a matter of public health and safety. > Those who object maybe should also be objecting to the Typhoid Mary laws > that exist for public health. After all its your personal responsibility if > you get sick. > > > > >The most expensive insurance claim related to a motorcycle accident > >involves a woman who fell from the back of the cycle and was dragged > >down the road because her jeans got caught on the kickstand. She > >spent months in the hospital having multiple operations to reconstruct > >her pelvic region, and remove all the road debris embedded in her > >naughty bits. > > > >So, should butt shields be required for all motorcycle riders? There > >has to be a point at which the government stops telling us what to do > >to protect ourselves in the name of "public interest". > > > > > > > >> > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:339899 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
