safety - satts1
Mine is just a load of boring questions:

Why was is it made illegal to drive without wearing a seat belt?

A. Perhaps to reduce serious injury thereby save public money spent through NHS on accidents?

Why are bikers not penalised for riding around wearing just jeans and a t shirt in the summer?

A. Please tell me.

I am a biker myself and would not leave home without leathers etc. I have seen the results from friends who did not.

Might I suggest a new catagory here - 'Road Safety'?

regards to all.

safety - Cris_on_the_gas
Hi Satts,

Well I suppose the highway code does state that we SHOULD wear suitable clothes which affords protection and states that any eye protection must be approved. However I have to agree with you that it is total madness to ride without the proper clothing. Always wear my leathers or textile suit when out on the bike.

I guess that bikers are penalised for only wearing T shirts if they are unlucky to fall off. Although a friend of mine fell of at 70 mph wearing only a leather jacket, jeans and trainers, he was very lucky not to have any serious grazes.

If a biker was not wearing the correct clothing and had a crash caused by a third party would the damages received for his injuries be reduced ?. Was there something similar about cycle helmets recently ?
safety - Simon
I suppose it is all about drawing a line somewhere, you could legislate for ever and a day in a bid to reduce injury. For example maybe car drivers should wear crash helmets to reduce head injury in the event of a crash. What about cyclists, should it be compulsory that they wear a helmet too when on their push bike? Then I guess the other thing is that it is all very well coming up with these laws, but you need to be able to realistically enforce them.
safety - SteVee
British riders are *generally* good at using suitable gear for motorcycling - I've not been to any country where I've been more impressed at the general use of decent safety-wear.

It would be hard to legislate - there are always changes in this area.
It's possible to buy Kevlar-reinforced jeans for motorcycling.

Most men know what happens if they come off their bike wearing shorts, just as we've seen 'plum damage' on fuel tanks. This is a big deterrent against complacency !