So now it's just the kids on crotch rockets who need safety gear? Maybe where you live, but around here the vast majority of the deaths and serious injuries seem to involve folks on Harley's.
Even though riding season got a very late start this year due to the wonderful weather, we have already had several helmetless Harley riders, some sober and some drunk as a skunk, wind up in the morgue. I can think of many examples over the past year where the medical folks indicated the lack of head protection was a major factor in the death (in other words, survivable crashes otherwise).
I still like the idea of giving adults the choice, as long as they agree to sign waiver's limiting their and their estate's right to sue, and to post a bond to cover projected medical expenses and loss of income to the family if they need perpetual care. In other words, if they want to be "free to choose", then as long as the rest of us are "free to choose to not support them", go for it. All the rhetoric about right to choose is just more shifting of responsibility. If that right is so dear to someone, they should have the backbone and decency to at least hold the rest of us harmless when the stuff hits the fan. Real easy to say give me freedom or else, but not always so easy for you or your loved ones to deal with the consequences if your luck abandons you. And when it comes right down to it, it's luck. Anyone who thinks they are so good they'll never be in a crash is delusional at best.
BTW, while exercising that right to be unsafe, don't forget to disconnect the airbags in all your 4 wheeled vehicles and cut off the seatbelts, pull the fuses on the stability control and ABS, etc. Throw away the ground fault interrupters in the household wiring and the railings on the stairs too. Hate to screw up the macho image. And who cares if someone else gets injured, as long as you get to exercise your "rights".
Jerry