Motorcycle passengers DO need helmets – yes: absolutely, positively, definitely.

Just like motorcycle riders do.
And here’s why.

Motorcycles are dangerous: there’s no way around it.
But they’re also wonderful, wild metal beasts that can change your life for the better.

A motorcycle ride will fix most of your problems – often within minutes.
A bad mood, a terrible day at work, an argument with the wife.
It doesn’t matter what’s turned to custard in your life.
After a few miles in the sun and wind on a motorcycle, everything suddenly looks different, and a whole lot better.

And that’s why motorcycles are worth the risks.

The risks just need to be managed – by riders AND motorcycle passengers.
There’s one huge thing you can do to make every motorcycle ride safer…

Wear full motorcycle safety gear.

 

 

Motorcycle passengers need helmets just as much as motorcycle riders.
Either one of you can fall off – and face the same potential injuries.
So it’s essential to protect your precious head every single time you get on a motorcycle as a passenger.
And that means wearing a helmet.

Even though you’re sitting on the back of the motorcycle, you’re subject to the same road conditions as the rider.
So you both need to be wearing motorcycle safety gear.

That means:

• A leather or textile jacket
• Riding jeans or leathers
• Motorcycle boots and gloves, and…
• Yep, a motorcycle helmet.

Need more details?
Try this post: What Motorcycle Passengers Should Wear.

So Why Would People NOT Wear Motorcycle Helmets?

Plenty of bikers are seriously anti-helmet, and won’t wear one unless they legally have to.

You can read rants about it all over the internet.
Their reasons for hating motorcycle helmets range from wanting to feel the wind on their face, to helmet laws interfering with their personal freedoms.

 

 

I just don’t get that way of thinking.

I’ve been riding on the back of the hubby’s motorcycles for 30 years now.
And I’ve never, never gotten on a motorcycle without a helmet.

If I had to choose only one piece of safety gear, it would be a motorcycle helmet.
Every single time.

A motorcycle helmet will help protect you from serious harm, like:

• A brain injury
• Concussion
• Fractured skull
• Eye, nose or teeth damage
• Loss of facial skin.

Pretty gruesome and terrifying outcomes, right?
If you could protect yourself from horrific injuries like these just by taking 20 seconds to strap on a motorcycle helmet, why wouldn’t you?

 

 

And there are other, non-medical emergency reasons to wear a motorcycle helmet too.

For example, a motorcycle helmet also protects:

• Your eyes

Snap your helmet visor shut, and you have a physical barrier between your eyes, and the wind.
Not to mention all the flying dirt, dust and insects.
That means your eyes are less likely be watery and irritated.

Oh, and you can also see better.
That’s kind of handy on a motorcycle, right?

• Your ears

Without a motorcycle helmet, your ears will be ringing painfully by the end of the ride.
You might wonder if it’s 1976 and you’re at a Black Sabbath concert.

There’s a lot of noise going on when you ride.
The motor roars.
The wind screams like a chorus of demons shrieking directly into your ears.

All that noise is exhausting.
And it’ll also make you deaf way before your time.

 

 

And while we’re talking about the benefits of wearing a motorcycle helmet for passengers, here’s an important point for the ladies.

Wearing a motorcycle helmet also helps you look better.

Now, you might not care about that.
You might just love getting out in the wind.
If so, more power to you.

Personally, I need a little help in the appearance department.
So I love that a motorcycle helmet makes me look a little less like Godzilla’s sister by the end of a ride.

That’s because a motorcycle helmet protects:

• Your hair

Sure, you might end up with a case of flat helmet hair.
But that’s better than having your hair whip wild and free in the wind.

By the end of the ride, long hair turns into a giant, tangled bird’s nest.
If your hair is short, the wind will sculpt it into terrifying shapes that will frighten small children.

Aside from these dodgy style statements, hair that’s not tucked safely away inside a motorcycle helmet will be damaged by the sun and wind.
It’ll be split, damaged, dry – and take half the next day to detangle.

And anyways, helmet hair can be fixed – here’s how to do it.

 

 

• Your skin

A barrier between your face, and the elements makes a huge difference.
A closed motorcycle helmet reduces windburn, and a tinted visor is another layer between your skin and the sun.

A helmet visor also stops dirt and bugs sticking to your face.
Without that physical barrier between your skin and the elements, your face will be raw, dry, and burned by the end of the ride.

And sure, elephants are amazing creatures – but do you actually want to look like one?

Here are some tips on skincare for motorcycle riders, while we’re on this subject.

 

 

• Your makeup

A motorcycle helmet makes wearing makeup on a bike possible.
Here’s how to do motorcycle helmet makeup right.

Without a helmet, your face is exposed to sun, wind, and rain.
Your mascara and eyeliner will be running down your cheeks in no time.
Your foundation will be partly washed off.

By the end of the ride, you’ll look like you slept in your makeup.
For about a week – outdoors in a park.

Yikes!

So Do Motorcycle Passengers Need Helmets?

Well, I guess that depends.

If you want to avoid potential brain injury and a whole heap of other possible horrors, then the answer is YES, motorcycle passengers need helmets.

BUT

If you want to look cool on the open road, and just trust to chance that nothing will go wrong, then your answer will be NO.

You already know which side of the helmet debate I stand on.
Because honestly, why would you just cross your fingers and hope for the best, when there’s a really easy way to increase your safety?

Personally, I’d rather deal with helmet hair than a brain injury.

How about you?

---

Like this article?

Then you might also be interested in:

Women’s Motorcycle Helmets Made Simple