Don't count on dying

We've all heard the horror stories of people dying in wrecks, and you can't ride regularly without friends or family telling you how dangerous it is (over and over...) so I rarely heard any stories about how survivable riding is.Anyway, I guess this is another "always wear your helmet" post but not for the traditional reasons: I don't care if I live or die. The chance of accidental death is a small part of why I ride (cuz that's how depression works, apparently).That's how I felt last summer, so paid the full shebang for liability coverage and very little for my health insurance. I figured I'd end up with a broken arm if I crashed or I'd suffer a severe case of death, and that is free so I wouldn't have to pay for it (side note: apparently American healthcare is ridiculously expensive. Who knew?). I still wore my helmet because it's the law, but I rarely buckled it because, again, I thought I'd die anyway so it was a waste of time.Last summer I had an "altercation" with a guardrail. I don't remember the specifics because I was knocked unconscious, but the bike was trashed, I was probably going too fast, and there's a good chance I didn't fasten my helmet. I got a deep cut above my eye (but only seven stitches so not too bad), but I survived (goddammit, lol). So now I have a $32,003.80 bill (just from the hospital, even though I had no significant injuries. Expensive because 'MERICA. That's why) and minor brain damage. Now I'm no vegetable, it was just a concussion, but a year later I'm still noticing mood swings, personality changes, poor focus and a spotty memory. All of which I know would have been greatly reduced by a securely fastened helmet. And if I hadn't been knocked out, the stranger wouldn't have called the ambulance, and the hospital wouldn't have charged me literally $30,000 more than my measly insurance would cover.So TL;DR: Even if you don't care about dying, wear a helmet. Death is not as guaranteed as they say, and whatever your current life situation, I promise it's worse with brain damage. (And for you proud Americans out there, buy insurance for yourself, not just your bike) via /r/motorcycles https://www.reddit.com/r/motorcycles/comments/cav5ln/dont_count_on_dying/?utm_source=ifttt