Wearing a helmet can be injurious to your right of freedom

Hi there little Rohan. So you've got a new bike. 500cc. Cool. Let's go for a ride Rohan, lets go for a ride.

Drive faster Rohan, drive faster. I know that the uneducated fools who preside over your school system tell you that speed is bad, but I'm telling you that speed is your friend.

Look! Theres another bike on the highway! Why not overtake him? And why, if it isn't a flashy sportscar over there! Fifth gear Rohan, fifth gear.

What's that you're saying? You don't have a helmet? Hey, don't worry. Helmets are for wimps anyway. Did you watch Top Gun? Was Tom Cruise wearing a helmet? You want to be cool too don't you Rohan, don't you?

Yes Rohan, I know your Mummy bought a new helmet for you, but you can trust me. And tell me, why would you want to hide your beautiful face? You look so macho with the wind blowing your hair back.

Drive faster Rohan, drive faster. You'll like it. I promise. Speed is fun. Go Rohan, go.

(crash)

Damn, kid, I was joking. Everyone knows that you should wear helmets and drive safe. You could get hurt. What the hell is wrong with you? Why would you listen to someone you don't know?

Thats the stance taken by the Maharashtra Government in making helmets compulsary from the first of May, 2001.

The primary argument here is that helmets only help therefore force them down everyones throats. Incorrect. I understand that helmets can indeed save ones life. I nearly lost mine due to NOT wearing a helmet, and after that incident, I remain strapped on. But the thought of someone pointing a gun to my head and making me wear a helmet makes me puke. I know that helmets are useful in case of accidents. Inspite of that if I choose to go around without wearing one, it's my business. Not yours, not hers, not his and definately not the Governments. It's my life.

Goverments should just ought to ensure that one citizen's action do not adversely affect the other. And my wearing or not wearing a helmet affects me, no one else. Why should the Government bother if I want to break my head?

But it's not acceptable to be wantonly anti-social in today's society. Wanting to be alone makes one a social pariah. Why do you want to be by yourself? Why do you want to be alone with your thoughts? Why do you not want to be part of the group?

Join us. Become one of us. Throw away your thoughts and opinions. Watch "Kyoki Saans bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi" (She's just so damn spunky). Run headfirst into a wall a few times and lower your IQ. Don't you want to be a team player?

Let the government be your guardian. Thinking is so painful. Why should you have a choice in the matter? Let others choose. You've don't have time to make rational choices. You're too busy attending kitty parties.

But I'm not too busy. I like thinking for myself. And I don't like the word "compulsary". The point under debate is not whether helmets are helpful or not. Thats a non-brainer. Helmets are mankinds greatest invention since fire. Thats not under question. The point under debate is whether or not you should be forced to use them.

And I really can't see a valid reason for forcing someone. Enlighten him/her about the dangers of bike riding, and after that it's his business. It's his individual choice. It's called being responsible for ones actions. The Government ought to stay out.

And if the Government cares so much about the safety of it's citizens, can the Government please ensure wider roads? How about decently cemented roads without holes big enough to swallow Adnan Sahni? How about dividers so that Mr. Mathur who's returning home from work doesn't bang into Mrs. Sharma who's going into the city? And while we are asking, how about street lights to let us see 'where' exactly the roads are?

That is what the Government's duties and responsibilities should be. It should be concerned with society as a whole, not running after each individual member. And take a look around you. Modern India is a hell of place to drive on. The roads are invariably narrow and bad, traffic signals don't work, road sense is almost non-existant, public help in case of accidents is virtually zero. These are the things to be fixed in order to reduce the accident rate.

But what's a little logic when we can save one life?

No. No. If they start using decent quality cement to build roads whatever will happen to Mr. Kapoor who's in the Roads Department and who's built up his life by taking kickbacks and pretending to look the other way while awarding road contracts? And my oh my! How could we ever forget poor Mr. Khanna in the MSEB Department? You just cannot put working lamps in streetlights! If you do, he and his family will be reduced to beggers!

Best to turn to populist measures such as making helmets compulsary. Hey, these fools want it anyway. Most people are too dumb to think logically. They are begging for authority. So lets give it to them. And then Mr. Kapoor and Mr. Khanna can breath easy.

These people crusading for safety for the idiots, and less freedom for the rest of us, aren't addressing the real problem.

Head and helmets. Head and helmets. Gotta protect the head. At all costs. Including logic.

But, hey, if it saves just one life, who cares?

I do.

I'm not against the 'use' of helmets. I wear one myself. I'd prefer it if everyone riding bikes wore one (voluntarily). If by choosing not to wear one you land up in an accident and break your head, then I'd rather that you wear one.

BUT IF YOU DON'T, THEN I WON'T TELL