to think bikers leathers should be a legal requirement just as much as helmets?

[Bogeyface]

There is a reason why, even on the hottest day of the year, you see bikers in sweltering hot leathers. Its because that is all there is between them and the road if they come off their bikes.

But the number of tossers I see on chicken chasers (usually with L Plates, but not always) riding like twats in canvas shoes, shorts and tshirt (and sometimes not even a tshirt).

Do they not want to stay attached to their skin? It turns my stomach when I think of what could happen and while you could say that its their choice (as H does, he says let them kill themselves if they want to), the damage they could do to themselves would be far more traumatic for others to deal with, and would cost the NHS thousands more in treatment.

AIBU? DH says I am.

No banning, just a bit of thought in how to best protect yourself should the worst happen that's all. In this case it is wearing leathers on a motorbike. Be safe. Seems common sense to me.

But as with everything-everyone do what you like. Can't do much about people having no regard for their own safety can you?

OP YABU. Motorcyclists should be free to choose whether they lose their skin and flesh or not. If they feel that's a risk they're prepared to take then let them.
It's okay. I know a couple of people on the donor register. They would have to wait longer if everyone wore the appropriate safety equipment.

No you can't do much for people having no regard for their own safety and I'm not entirely sure you should. The Nanny Culture is pretty endemic and not helpful.

But I'd be all in favour of riders having to take out personal injury insurance and having discounts for wearing leathers/some of the very good synthetic protective stuff. Also for a reduction in premiums if you've done Rospa / IAM courses. They're free or very cheap and you learn a lot, specially if you're a newbie.

It is absolutely the same thing. Full leathers are designed to reduce the risk of injury and death in the event of an accident while riding a motorcycle. There is scientific evidence that demonstrates this which is why they're compulsory in motorcycle racing.

Crash helmets, neck braces and five-point harnesses in cars are specifically designed to reduce the risk of injury and death in the event of a vehicle accident. There is scientific evidence that demonstrates this, too, which is why they are compulsory in car racing.

They are all devices specifically designed for enhancing safety and they work. How come you feel one should be made compulsory while completely ignoring the others? Double standards much?

howard there's a pretty big body of evidence that says proportionally your average rider is much more likely to be injured than your average driver. Pragmatically, there could be more of an argument for enforcing protective gear for riders.

Im not in favour of such a blunt approach though, even though the price of a bad accident is so so high for riders' families. Encouragement through insurance and training is less coercive, to my mind

Yabu, vegans and vegitarians don't wear leather.

However mother bike users should be wearing the proper clothes.

Yanbu.

Every morning I see a parent at DS's school on a motorcycle in full leathers with his 10 year old DD on the back in a little gingham school dress and a pair of lelli Kelly shoes.

It infuriates me.

Everything Meerka just said!

I should point out I don't ride bikes anyway, they're nice looking and I like the noise they make, but they seem horribly dangerous. I'll stick to riding 750kg of mentally unbalanced flight animal.

*Yanbu.

Every morning I see a parent at DS's school on a motorcycle in full leathers with his 10 year old DD on the back in a little gingham school dress and a pair of lelli Kelly shoes.

It infuriates me.*

What. The. Fuck.

Now in the case of minors, yes, full protective gear should be a legal requirement. It's not as if they can make an informed choice regarding the risks involved.

I'm amazed anyone would be that careless with their own child. I have a better regard for my dog's safety and well being.

IOn the other hand, making car drivers wear crash helmets etc would have a bigger impact on reducing the overall number of people killed/seriously injured on our roads because of the vastly greater number of cars out there.

But if it's proportionality that's important, world you join me in campaigning for full-face crash helmets, neck braces and body armour for house riders? After all, in terms of killed/seriously injured per-mile travelled horse riders are more at risk than bikers are.

I live in an area of the country very popular with bikers, some of whom drive very badly (beautiful open roads but poor visibility and lots of bends which have a lot of foliage on in summer so effectively blind). Our "norm" is almost a biker a week during summer killed or badly injured. We've had some horrific ones - biker through back of combine harvester, a decapitation etc - but we've also had quite a lot who have been saved purely by having leathers on.

I've seen enough crashes to put me off riding forever but if I ever had a child who wanted to ride, I would beg them to invest in good leathers. As someone else posted, they can save limbs which otherwise could basically be ripped off by the road.

Denim / heavy duty fabric is not enough. Fabrics can effectively be stuck to the skin through the heat generated in a skid. Try cutting that out without pain.

Howard I thought I was clear that Im not in favour of mandating protectiver gear. I do think that there's a good argument for the strong-encouragement via insurance etc route

I'd be cool with extending that to horse riding and to paragliding which i think is the sport with the highest risk attached iirc? soemthing like paragliding anyway

Yanbu DH is a biker and whatever the weather he wears the full gear, armoured trousers, jacket, gloves, helmet & boots. Not cheap & maybe not comfortable but not worth the risk of doing anything else.

Wow! You pop off to watch TV and miss all this!

I would like to say to Subtle that I am not a "vindictive Mumsnetter" (what does that even mean?!) and I dont care if you kill yourself with your own stupidity. But I do care for the people who are first on the scene, who wont be medical professionals trained to deal with seeing your bones exposed to the world and your skin and muscle smeared on the road behind you.

And for "leathers" read "protective clothing" I am afraid that I dont know the brand names or types of biker clothing so I used "leathers" as a catch all phrase.

A 'chicken chaser' as you call it

My brother came off his bike going round a roundabout (diesel spill) and skidded about 20 feet on his backside. Even through his leathers he managed to skin his arse, not badly, but enough for him to wince for a week when he sat down. That simple little accident made me realise that leathers were an essential part of bike equipment.

My DNephew is a MX rider. He is kitted up like Robocop whenever he rides. His father wouldn't let him if he didn't. He's had a lot of spills over the years but his only injury ever has been a broken little finger.

I actually agree that some form of protective clothing should be mandatory, whether riding a 50cc moped or the beautiful Harley I saw yesterday (and yep, that guy was protected but still managed to look Hells Angel style cool).

My brother had Thame - came off his bike and shredded his leathers. I think he didn't damage his skin much but those shredded leathers could have been him had he not been wearing them.

I saw someone riding in shorts and trainers the other day. just shorts and trainers (and helmet??). I wanted to shout 'degloved' after him.

All the gear, all the time. They'll literally save your skin, if not your life.

YANBu
And agreed, doesn't have to leather. Dh came off three times and in two of those he was wearing nylon/armour outer trousers and jacket over his normal clothes. Did the job and kept injuries to a mild scrape/bruising. His very hefty boots were messed up though, st just 40mph, which was sobering.

When I was young and stupid as opposed to old and still fairly stupid I used to ride a little moped.

I did not have a lot of the gear, although I had some fairly substantial waterproof trousers.

One very hot day, I decided to forego the protective gear, including my gloves.

That would have to be the day that I fell off, on to gravel. My left hand got pretty much ripped to shreds. Luckily I was heading to work in a hospital, so the nurse I was working with cleaned me up and put me back together.

If it had been the law that we had to wear protective gear, I would have been wearing it. It would have protected me from my own stupidity.

YANBU!

I always wear leathers on my bike....like these!

Practical AND stylish.

Ps. it is only a push bike.

Ahh donor cycles. Keeping me employed.
Honestly, if people knew that they scrubbed out your gravel rash with a scrubbing brush you'd think they would wear better protective clothing.
As for shorts,my shirt and things it seems to be the Aussie uniform for a lot of bike riders (unless you're part of can do Campbell's evil. Okie nemesis gang).

Okie? Bikie.