Are you one? Nope, me neither. But we all know them don’t we? The motorcycle riders who are Motorcycle Helmet Evangelists.

You may be thinking, “What the hell is Mike rambling on about?” Please, aficionados of two wheeled transport, let me take a minute or two of your time to explain.

The Motorcycle Helmet Evangelists are the guys who continually preach to us about motorcycle helmets. They fall into two camps the ones that wear ‘em and the ones that don’t. Now you know where this is headed right? You’re on a ride, and you meet a fellow biker and before pleasantries are explained, he will dive in about the evils of being forced to wear a helmet, how its all a communist plot, subversives at work, invasion of our fundamental right to do what we like when we like and to hell with the consequences….

Or he will immediately launch into a tirade of statistics about how those stupid riders who go lidless are pushing up all our insurance premiums, don’t deserve to get hospital treatment, should be left to fend for themselves at the side of the road when, not if they have that serious accident in the middle of nowhere…

Guys and girls, stop.

Think.

Do we need it? I mean do we really need to turn on each other when we have enough people gunning for us already? Motorcycle legislation is increasing worldwide, despite the clear benefits related to two wheels as an economical means of transport for the masses. Why try and force people to car share when riding a motorcycle could in some cases be better for the environment? And wouldn’t we all, even most of the cage drivers, like to see fewer cars on the road?

So what do we do? Well we could stop sniping at other motorcycle riders because they do or don’t wear motorcycle helmets. I will always choose to wear a motorcycle helmet, that’s my choice. I also choose to wear leather boots and jacket (not always on a motorcycle but lets not get into my sordid private life). But I won’t waste my energy chipping away at other bikers because they would choose not to wear a helmet. I’d rather use my energy to positively promote the riding of motorcycles generally as a viable means of transport for all, not the few.

And if some of those converts to motorcycle riding choose to wear a motorcycle helmet, or not as the case may be, well whatever. I could live with that knowing there are more bikers around.