HELMETLESS MOTORCYCLIST DIES WHILE PROTESTING MOTORCYCLE HELMET LAW1 Comment

By Binside TV

Posted on 05 Jul 2011 at 12:30pm

A New Yorker died while protesting motorcycle helmet laws. The motorcyclist was not wearing a helmet when he flipped over the handlebars and fell to the ground. He later died from his injuries. Police claim the cyclist may have survived the crash if he was wearing a helmet.

A motorcyclist riding to protest upper New York’s helmet laws was killed after flipping over the handlebars. Police say he would have likely survived if he had been wearing a helmet.

State troopers say the motorcyclist hit the breaks, causing the bike to fishtail and spin out of control. This caused the rider, 55-year old Philip A. Contos of Parish, NY, to flip over the handlebars, hitting his head.

Contos was pronounced dead in hospital. Police say Contos would probably still be alive if he had been wearing a helmet.

His older brother, Richard, spoke to the Post-Standard about his sibling:

“He’s a rebel. That’s what he felt like doing. He protested everything.”

If his brother were still alive, Richard said he would have done the protest ride all over again, saying “he would have wanted it that way.”

The ride was part of the 11th annual Helmet Protest Run, which is put on by the Onondaga County chapter of American Bikers Aimed Towards Education (ABATE). The group, whose main aim is to support the training and education of bikers, is working to lobby state and national transportation officials to invest more funds into motorcyclist training, and less into bike-specific roadblocks.

The group also believes that the government has no right to make helmets mandatory, saying that it should be up to the individual cyclist to make that decision. [via]