So, while we are picking on people for bad habits...

JOEBunny

The one that drives me crazy is motorcycles.  Maybe because I have seen first hand at the spine clinic I go to so many people who have brain damage and spinal cord injuries from them. 

Per registered vehicle, the fatality rate for bikers in 2006 was 5.5 times the fatality rate for passenger car occupants.  That is just fatalities, not other long term injuries. 

Jodi&Joe

Joe and I are an insurance risk nightmare --

drinkers, overweight, (I'm a social smoker), motorcycle, boat, SUV, quads.  We just need to add a swimming pool to our backyard and I think we've covered them all.

Statistically speaking, I'm pretty sure we should be dead by now. 

Oh, and I forgot.  We had a rottweiler and now own a pit/lab mix.

EdithBouvierBeale

jodi-
I was just goingto suggest getting a pitbull to round it all out- then I saw you DID have one!!

lol.

jessicaclare

Jodi&Joe:

Statistically speaking, I'm pretty sure we should be dead by now. 

Hilarious!

EliseB0323

Eh, just because people do stupid sh!t doesn't mean the right to do it should be taken away. Smoking, drinking, not taking your meds, having kids, eating crap, riding motorcycles, trying to rescue people living near leaking nuclear plants -- it's all risky, and ultimately costs money, but that's life.

AnnapolisLari

No, Jodi. You also need a trampoline.

JOEBunny

Jodi&Joe:

Joe and I are an insurance risk nightmare --

drinkers, overweight, (I'm a social smoker), motorcycle, boat, SUV, quads.  We just need to add a swimming pool to our backyard and I think we've covered them all.

Statistically speaking, I'm pretty sure we should be dead by now. 

Oh, and I forgot.  We had a rottweiler and now own a pit/lab mix.

Yes, but you are fun! 

Please ditch your motorcycle and ATV's.  I had them growing up, as did my cousin.  His friend died of a head injury while riding around my cousin's farm,  but not before he was pretty much an infant from the head injury for almost 2 years.  I could go on and on about the people I have met.  It is just not worth the damage it could do to your pretty little head. 

Seriously, I will bring the pool for you when I visit, the above ground type for your front yard :-)

Jodi&Joe

Trampolines -- nope.  Funny, with all the risks we do allow, that is not one of them.  I hate those things!  They scare me!  And Joey is just the type that would snap his damn neck on one.

JOE - you know how I feel about above ground pools.  *cringe*  (even though last year, I was trying my hardest to convince Joe to put one in! LOL)

I had a friend in high school (well, it was a year after I graduated) die in a motorcycle crash.  I know it happens.  The first 10 minutes of every ride are spent worrying and praying....but the rest of the time makes it so worth it!  If that is the way I'm going to go....well, that is my fate then.

 

veloelle

All I care is motorcycle peeps wear helmets. I'm so gla it's law in CA. And just motor as safe as you can.

JOEBunny

Jodi&Joe:

Trampolines -- nope.  Funny, with all the risks we do allow, that is not one of them.  I hate those things!  They scare me!  And Joey is just the type that would snap his damn neck on one.

JOE - you know how I feel about above ground pools.  *cringe*  (even though last year, I was trying my hardest to convince Joe to put one in! LOL)

I had a friend in high school (well, it was a year after I graduated) die in a motorcycle crash.  I know it happens.  The first 10 minutes of every ride are spent worrying and praying....but the rest of the time makes it so worth it!  If that is the way I'm going to go....well, that is my fate then.

 

I will always remember a convo I had with a friends mom who started smoking again after she had quit when her kids were little.  She was really down about it and really wanted to quit again, but couldn't.  Two years later she was killed in a motorcycle accident while riding with her DH.  He was investigated for a long time, but never charged with hiring the van that hit her to kill her.   I know it is fun.  We have a big farm in SC and always had ATVs.  I think I learned to ride them before I could ride a bike.  Oh, and mine had a gun rack.

shopgirl78

veloelle:

All I care is motorcycle peeps wear helmets. I'm so gla it's law in CA. And just motor as safe as you can.

It's not the law in TX, OK and FL (that I know of).  It scares me to see teenagers driving without helmets!  I've also see a motorcylist on the interstate in a body bag.  Motorcycles scare me and I would never pay the insurance on one for my kid (s) to drive.  eek!

ridesbuttons

veloelle:

All I care is motorcycle peeps wear helmets. I'm so gla it's law in CA. And just motor as safe as you can.

I cannot contain my astonishment when I witness someone riding without a helmet.  Just sitting here it makes me shake my head.

I chastize my SIL for horseback riding helmetless as well. 

Zenya

Honestly people who are stupid enough to get on a bike without a helmet have it coming.  I just have no sympathy for them.  

Yodajo

Zenya:

Honestly people who are stupid enough to get on a bike without a helmet have it coming.  I just have no sympathy for them.  

I don't disagree with this.  Are there states that actually don't have a helmet law?

shopgirl78

Yodajo:

Zenya:

Honestly people who are stupid enough to get on a bike without a helmet have it coming.  I just have no sympathy for them.  

I don't disagree with this.  Are there states that actually don't have a helmet law?

Yes, I know TX, OK and FL don't have helmet laws. 

Zenya

Yodajo:

Zenya:

Honestly people who are stupid enough to get on a bike without a helmet have it coming.  I just have no sympathy for them.  

I don't disagree with this.  Are there states that actually don't have a helmet law?

FL for sure (or used to be anyway).  I don't know about others! 

DevonPow

MA has a helmet law but NH doesn't. I have actually seen people pull over at the border to take their helmets off as they go into NH...it is sick.

august06mom

DevonPow:

MA has a helmet law but NH doesn't. I have actually seen people pull over at the border to take their helmets off as they go into NH...it is sick.

Same thing happens in CT ... there are known spots where bikers pull over to take off their helmets when crossing from NY (which has helmet laws).

Starr57

AZ doesn't have a helmet law either. We call them organ donors.

DH rides a motorcycle but is anal about wearing all the protective gear. Even in the dead of summer in 115 degrees, he's got on a full jacket, gloves, jeans at least and boots.

Zenya

more states than not seem to only have laws for under 18's.  I guess when you think of it you can't legislate for stupidity though.  

Jodi&Joe

No helmet law in CT.
There is one in MA and RI.

summerbrideDC

Zenya:

Honestly people who are stupid enough to get on a bike without a helmet have it coming.  I just have no sympathy for them.  

I agree w/ this; I grew up in NH when they didn't have a helmet law (we used to call it the Live Free And Die state instead of Live Free or Die) and it was ridiculous. My drivers ed instructor was paralyzed from the waist down due to a motorcycle accident.  Irony.  

firefightersgal

My mom and step-dad ride their motorcycles a lot as soon as the weather turns nice.  My step-dad has been in at least one very bad accident.  He was t-boned by a car and has rods in his leg because of it.  He didn't used to wear a helmet until that accident.  My mom always wears hers, but I still think it is crazy scary.

My DH's father-figure died when he had a heart-attack while riding his motorcycle.  He wrecked his bike into a road sign and died immediately...just a couple of months before he was set to retire.

jessicaclare

My Dad doesn't wear a helmet on his bike and it really bothers me. I always tell him that I've already lost my mom, I don't need to lose my dad too, but it doesn't seem to make a difference.