New Helmet Law Passed

[Off in the Bushes]

I am fine with people not wearing helmets but when you crash you are on the hook for all the medical expenses that are involved with your head. If this saves one person from a massive head injury its time and money well spent. Think of the cost of rescue, on going medicial, rehab, lost hours for the employeer std and ltd costs etc it all adds up.
I think this is less of a nanny state and more of a cost analayzes approach.
Some times I think the USA has it right with a you pay medical system it stops people from making stupid decisions as they have to pay $$$ for, holding them accountable for their actions.

[Big Sky]

Those individuals of the Sikh faith who feel helmet use is incompatible with religious observance and are wearing a turban.

Do Sikhs have to wear a hard hat on a job site?

Serious question.

[Chuck_Wagon]

-ATV injuries cost Alberta $16 million each year in direct healthcare costs.

-Playground injuries cost Albertan's $25 million in 2013.

-On average, 680 people are admitted to hospital and 5233 visit emergency departments with ATV injuries each year.

-There are on average 1,712 skiing and 3,436 snowboarding fall-related emergency department visits each year.

-14,848 people were hospitalized due to a fall, accounting for 48%of all injury-related hospital admission in Alberta.
There were 110,219 emergency department visits due to falls in Alberta, which accounted for 28.5% of all injury-related emergency department visits.
-It is estimated that falls cost $1,154 million in Alberta, equating to $309 per capita.

[Puma]

Originally Posted by alder

What's next? An English riding helmet with my pack string in sheep/elk country?

I like the Sikh option better, I think.

We have the solution for that ! Cowboy hard hats

https://www.google.ca/url?sa=i&rct=j...92190478347105

[DevilsAdvocate]

SOOOOOO........what an opportunity wasted.

With the loss of freedom from having to wear helmets, we exempt people based on PC stupidity.

When the govt could have applied this new law with an even hand.

And they could have made rules to allow the use of ATV's within town limits across all of Alberta. Provided the required head and tail lights and capability to maintain reasonable speed. And with a driver's license. They could have even added a class (like motorcycles have) that gets added to your license. I think who would be happy about this...Registries, Driving Schools, ATV dealers, ancillary businesses that could cater to this new demographic......AND what a great way to go out for Saturday morning coffee and meets.

In other words, a small loss of freedom with a much bigger gain in another freedom......and business activity.

[javlin101]

Originally Posted by ETOWNCANUCK

Isn't it funny the way we think certain rules and laws shouldn't apply in some areas?
And when something is introduced it's seen as a knock against our personal freedoms.

But all worksites require a hard hat
Most contact sports require a helmet
Most professional riders wear a helmet

Just about anywheres there is a risk of a head injury some sort of head protection is worn,
And in most cases it is worn by people who are "professionals "

So then why do the amateur , layman, weekend warrior, types feel that they are above those who wear a helmet or other head protection doing just about anything else where it is obviously a good idea.
The it can never happen to me, hold my beer and watch this crowd.
Why are you special?

I'm pretty sure the amount of trades people that are on this forum,
that require a hard hat at work,
Would basically lose their minds if someone was wandering around without one.

So why should riding a heavy, motorized, machine, capable of going across vast types of terrain ,
Be any different?

Do the rules and laws of physics, gravity, Murphy, etc, not apply when you sit ontop one of these machines?


Or does common sense take a back seat just because the government tells you?
You'll show them,

You'll also show your loved ones when your brain matter gets exposed.

Well said!

[fargineyesore]

If it's for safety, there should be NO exemptions period.

And as for the medical bills, fine, then lets do the same to smokers, overweight people, people in a car accident in which they were found at fault, figure skaters, horse riders, skiiers, snowboarders, should I go on?

I suspect there are some on this board that do these things or the shoe fits.

How would you like it if we just did this across the board and you guys can pay for your own medical bill also?

No because it's too easy for the government to fool you people into believing this crap is fair and reasonable.

[Stinky Buffalo]

Meh, I'm going to stay downtown, where it's safe. Eventually I will get a nice pedestrian helmet assigned to me... By law... I can't wait...

[58thecat]

Originally Posted by Fur

Just curious what are the thoughts about seat belts?

Do you guys wear them? If yes what is the difference?

Just want clarification.

Well for me in a car I go the speed limit, so if I get into a fender bender etc the belts and the air bags hopefully keep me relatively safe as for the atv I can run faster than I ride as the trails I go on are mostly brutal but if there is a run I go on then the helmet it on say like a quad rally where speed might get up to 50 Klicks.

[Okotokian]

I don't think you can compare workplace safety to recreational safety. Workplace safety laws are in place to ensure that employers protect their workers, who are vulnerable to pressure from their employers in order to keep their job. Workplace safety laws generally are not there to protect people from themselves. If employers follow workplace safety laws and have WCB coverage they are generally immune from legal claims and suits from employees for injuries.

Now that's not the same as government bringing in laws to "protect us from ourselves" in recreational settings. I'm fine with helmet and other laws for children. But if you are an adult and want to risk your brain, have at it. Some folks say the government has the right to enforce helmet laws because of our public healthcare system and the costs that are incurred. But everyone gets sick and dies sometime, and with no helmet, the likelihood of you just dying and the public system incurring zero cost is pretty high.

That said, I have no skin in the game and don't much care. Not a rider.

[drake]

Do you guys also disagree with seatbelt laws?....

[Stinky Buffalo]

Originally Posted by drake

Do you guys also disagree with seatbelt laws?....

If you're asking me, I wore seatbelts before they became law. My choice.

I wear a helmet while skiing too. My choice.

[raab]

Originally Posted by LKILR

I say if you choose to not wear a helmet and if your hurt then you waive your right to free health care. So you or your family pays for your stay in the hospital. Why should my tax dollars go to treating injuries that were caused by someone else poor decisions?

Why not scrap free healthcare then? If a guy slips on ice and has a head injury because he didn't salt his walk why should I have to pay for it?

[Dean2]

**)(!!!!!%%^^&*()!!!! NDP nanny communist yahoos. More laws DON"T make my life better!!!!

[Gray Wolf]

Originally Posted by gpgriz

Another strike against personal freedom.
Even if not wearing a helmet is stupid, i want the freedom to make that stupid choice or not.

Originally Posted by TBark

Our land boarders crown. I venture into crown land often. I won't wear one, come and find/fine me.

TBark

.

[raab]

Originally Posted by BuckCuller

Sooo why do you think cigarettes and alcohol are taxed so heavily? You still can go with out a helmet it just costs you money. I've seen the effects on family and friends that have been affected by someone with brain injuries caused by quading without a helmet. Have you ever seen a grown man break down crying while giving you updates on your friend and coworkers coma and saying he may never wake up and the family pleads for support.
I have.
By the way he was too cool to wear a helmet too.

How fast was he going, and was he under the influence? Also how much had he used an ATV? A helmet doesn't save you from poor judgement. I've seen more then one ATV wreck and in 90% of the cases the operator was drunk but it couldn't be proven so it doesn't show up in the statistics. The other incidences were guys going to fast or not knowing how to operate a quad, or were kids. Helmet law is a bandaid, education would actually maybe save lives.

[raab]

Originally Posted by Sooner

Agree. Why so many get a free pass? Natives, farmers and Sikh's don't fall off atv's?

I still would like the choice. I wear when trail riding the atv and sled, no question. But I don't want to when putting along to moose camp/hunting. I'm not too worried about the F&W guys i have met enforcing this in the Northern WMU i hunt in.


So why just atv's? Lets get them pedal bikers(all ages not just under 18), skateboarders, skating rinks and roller bladers in on this mandatory law too, as I see a lot of them without and be super easy to hand out fines in the city. Just hang at a skateboard park. May as well throw the horse riders in too.

Well reserves fall under federal regulation so it makes sense they cant enforce dumb legislation there.

[silverdoctor]

Originally Posted by drake

Do you guys also disagree with seatbelt laws?....

I never wore a seatbelt until I moved to Toronto @ 19, put it on the first time I hit the QEW.

Had one head on collision in my life, young feller ended up in my lane - nothing I could do. If I didn't have the seatbelt on, I may not be sitting here today. As it was, I had severe bruising through my chest and abdomen, knees beaten off the lower dash and a sore neck and a wrote off car.

I voluntarily wear one, law or not. I feel naked behind the wheel if I'm not wearing it.

[Chuck_Wagon]

Originally Posted by drake

Do you guys also disagree with seatbelt laws?....

How about if the NDP passes a law tomorrow that mandates you to wear a helmet in your car, would you seal clap for that as well?

[drake]

Originally Posted by Chuck_Wagon

How about if the NDP passes a law tomorrow that mandates you to wear a helmet in your car, would you seal clap for that as well?

lol........thanks for coming out!

[Alephnaught]

Originally Posted by fargineyesore

Why should this only apply to ATVs?

Originally Posted by elkhunter11

Why single out ATV riders, , when smoking costs the taxpayers much more in healthcare costs? And no, the taxes don't even come close to paying the bills.

Where did I say this was exclusive to ATVers? Thread's about helmets & ATV use, I was addressing that point.

That being said, my comments don't exclusively apply to ATVers. If you have a positive smoking history and small cell or non-small cell lung ca (I'll give you a break here if you have mesothelioma), for the reasoning I outline in my earlier post you can foot the bill yourself.

[Dean2]

Originally Posted by Alephnaught

Where did I say this was exclusive to ATVers? Thread's about helmets & ATV use, I was addressing that point.

That being said, my comments don't exclusively apply to ATVers. If you have a positive smoking history and small cell or non-small cell lung ca (I'll give you a break here if you have mesothelioma), for the reasoning I outline in my earlier post you can foot the bill yourself.

Your logic, and those making the same argument, is COMPLETELY flawed and your argument specious. By your reasoning fat people with Diabetes, heart conditions, strokes et al, people with skin cancer from too much sunlight, with cataracts from not wearing UV lenses, kidney failure from drinking to much. liver failure from drug abuse, AIDS from unsafe sex or needle sharing, Hepatitis C , malaria, Teetsee fever and a whole host of other diseases from travelling to bad places, plus many dozens of other medical afflictions should all be paying their own medical bills. What you are proposing is to make our health care system into an HMO who is focused on "Who's fault is it" and can we get out of covering the bills, rather than a health care system.

Give your head a shake and think this through completely.

[BuckCuller]

Originally Posted by raab

How fast was he going, and was he under the influence? Also how much had he used an ATV? A helmet doesn't save you from poor judgement. I've seen more then one ATV wreck and in 90% of the cases the operator was drunk but it couldn't be proven so it doesn't show up in the statistics. The other incidences were guys going to fast or not knowing how to operate a quad, or were kids. Helmet law is a bandaid, education would actually maybe save lives.

No sir not under the influence, seasoned rider just didn't know the trail and missed a deceptive blind corner. Quad crushed him.

[drake]

"I'm so ****ed off the governement made me wear a helmet when I got in my ATV accident"- said nobody ever

[JohninAB]

On my racing quad, dirt bikes, street bikes and snowmobile I always wear/wore a helmet. Hunting, never but if it is the law, no biggie, will not affect me in any way, shape or form. I will quad like I do every year but now will just have to remember my helmet.

[gunluvr]

The exemptions are obviously geared to situations where a ticket could likely be contested due to things like racial discrimination, in the case of Sihks and FN. Farmers and FN somehow are allowed to be exempt from many laws and rules of safety the rest of us need to follow. It's not that no one cares about their safety, it's just not cost effective for law enforcement to pursue. No potential revenue, no ticket.
Maybe instead of calling it a helmet law, it should be called "Helmet Tax"....Ooops.... I mean "Helmet Levy".

[Fur]

Originally Posted by drake

"I'm so ****ed off the governement made me wear a helmet when I got in my ATV accident"- said nobody ever

And the winner of this thread is Drake!

[Ken07AOVette]

Originally Posted by gpgriz

Another strike against personal freedom.
Even if not wearing a helmet is stupid, i want the freedom to make that stupid choice or not.

I don't want my tax dollars paying for you to slobber into your bib when you split your melon in 2 because 'laws are stupid'.
That is the reason for these laws, it is not a 'strike against personal freedom'.
(this was not a personal shot, I just don't want to pay for self inflicted window lickers)

[HyperMOA]

Originally Posted by drake

"I'm so ****ed off the governement made me wear a helmet when I got in my ATV accident"- said nobody ever

"I'm so ****ed off the government made me wear a helmet when I never got in any ATV accidents"- said thousands many times over. Day after day. Ride after ride.

If you need to be told when you require a helmet, and when you have to wear a helmet; I'd say you best wear that sucker 24/7. Why do the rest of us have to pulled down to the lowest common denominator though?

I know when I need a helmet. I know when I don't. I still will not wear one when I don't.

[Tigger72]

I have always worn a helmet for any sport or any motorized OHV use.... never really thought I needed it but better to be safe then sorry. Went snowboarding in Switzerland with a group of friends only half of us wore a helmet until I was racing my buddy down the hill at the end of the day and crashed!!!.... I was an inch of plastic and foam away from being dead.That evening the rest of the group bought helmets ...I've now been nursing for 18 years and trust me I've wiped many bums of people who thought they didn't need a helmet.... Just wear the dam thing it's better than the alternative trust me