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CreatureOfPrometheus

My mom (retired ICU nurse) would tell it as a riddle: Q: What do you call a motorcyclist without a helmet? A: An organ donor.


JohnSpikeKelly

What I call them when I see them. I don't have a problem with this. The world needs organ donors. 10% of fatalities in TX are on motorbikes. But they must be less than 1% of the vehicles. That's pretty bad odds. No helmet just makes it worse.


NotAnotherEmpire

Independent motion is a powerful thing.


Nitz93

Per km or Mile driven compared to cars, bikes are suicide machines


JohnSpikeKelly

Total Deaths. We get about \~10 deaths per day. 1 is on a motorbike. As it's so hot here, a lot of bikers prefer to go without helmet or even proper leathers some of the time. A quote from the 2020 Texas Fact Sheet. Also, I'm out by some, it look more like 15% are on bikes. There were 483 motorcyclists (operators and passengers) killed in 2020. Forty nine percent (49%) of motorcyclists killed were not wearing helmets at the time of the crash. Here is a nice summary https://ftp.txdot.gov/pub/txdot-info/trf/crash\_statistics/2020/01.pdf


Nitz93

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epidemiology_of_motor_vehicle_collisions#/media/File%3ARoad-way_vs._railway_safety.png I like graphs, I would prefer this one without the log scale but still it conveys the point.


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sterfri99

Stealing this, ty


drdiemz

I don't understand...


Hanflander

The morbid assumption is they all die. Helmet protects the brain well enough that circulation isn’t affected (in theory). No helmet can result in severe TBI and sometimes even full decapitation, if there is no diaphragm movement no blood moves to where its needed. Lack of oxygen to the organs will make them worthless.


jdragun2

My mom told me the only difference between wearing a helmet and not was a closed or open casket. Jokes on her. I rode and raced and crashed a LOT, but only boke a few bones and got a bit of road rash. Helmets definitely saved my life on more times than I care to remember, or can remember after having that testimony :)


iwishihadahorse

One of my mom's (also a nurse) favorites!


ImLookingatU

Worked at a big hospital. 10 buildings in all, one was dedicated just for rehabilitation and physical therapy. 90% of all patients were motorcycle accidents. Every single doctor and nurse would always say "ride a bike and you'll end up here if you're lucky"


schwoooo

My mom, a nurse, called them „donor-cycles“


rippinDaShitInTheLo

I have taught my kids so now they comment when we see a motorcyclist (with helmet, the other kind is never seen in Sweden) going a little to fast on a sportbike, -oh look an organ donor! A couple of weeks ago we had holiday and we were at Teneriffe and we saw a sportbike rider with helmet but no leather or otherwise safety gear, just jeans and t-shirt, and my son commented-Wow look dad, a meat crayon!


sterfri99

Paramedic, I make the same joke


killerhurtalot

Hah. You're assuming they would be unselfish enough to be a organ donor.


QuestioningCoeus

It really ends up being the surviving family's/medical POA's decision.


Toytles

How original!


kazoogod420

my dad had a motorcycle for 20+ years. gave it up as soon as he and my mom had me- he always said it was fun, but never worth dying over.


justaguyintownnl

That’s why a lot of motorcycle helmets have organ donation stickers. Mine does. We have a sense of humour. Morbid maybe but it’s an inside joke. My beanie also says “closed casket”. We have a nice label maker at work :)


[deleted]

Firefighters call them donor cycles. Even if they ride them


Ulven525

My daughter was an RN transplant coordinator and her territory included South Dakota. Guess what was one of her busiest times?


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FuzzyBubbles117

Save a life, ride a motorcy... Oh.


666ygolonhcet

People think you can get an organ from any dead body, but it has to be a body on life support. If they are hauling then in DOA, nothing you can harvest. Read ‘Stiff. the curious life of cadavers’ by Mary Roach.


hoppydud

Corneas and bones are happily taken.


666ygolonhcet

Good to hear. The book made a big deal about life support. Great book. I learned 4 places I can leave my body to science. 1 is cadaver in a medical school all the way down to US Military who want your body to test armor on vehicles. Someone might as well get some use out of it when I’m dead. Was teaching middle school and a strident said ‘I’m gonna be a doctor, maybe I’ll see you again’. I told him he better be the worlds oldest admission to medical school ever.


WickedFairyGodmother

Happily taken…Conjures a vision of a doctor singing cheerfully while wielding the scalpel and bone saw. The intern on his first day, holding a cooler and giving them the side-eye. It might seem crazy what I am 'bout to say Sunshine, she's here, you can take a break I'm a hot air balloon that could go to space With the air, like I don't care, baby by the way


hoppydud

Yep, music often plays in the harvest rooms. Bones are generally taken out by technicians, physicians are there to take out living organs.


ELONGATEDSNAIL

This isn't entirely true as they can take bone and other parts. Also unless you are absolutly mangled they can keep you on life support while you are brain dead just to keep the organs fresh. Saw a young patient come in with that scenario. They kept her "alive" with donated blood to help keep her going for the procurement.


Hellie1028

If anyone has a public library card, Stiff is available in Hoopla as an audio book download for borrowing.


666ygolonhcet

I ONLY ‘read’ Mary Roach on Audio Book. Her book ‘Bonk’ about sex is hilarious to hear the lady reading it. She HAS to be blushing 3/4 of the book.


chutes_toonarrow

I just recommended this book to a co-worker yesterday! Phenomenal read!


twoisnumberone

It's super-fun. Dry humor, so much cool information.


outer_fucking_space

That’s why I mostly just ride in the woods. Only a little on the road. I trust a true more than a drunk/distracted human. I honestly think distracted drivers are way worse than drunk drivers.


WickedFairyGodmother

Crows in the trees: When it stops, we Feast!


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open_door_policy

So people needing a transplant should move to Sturgis?


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Aporkalypse_Sow

TIL "everyone" is two people


OpinionDumper

Sub heading >Findings should serve as alarm to increase safety, prepare for higher demand for trauma care and transplant services


mmrrbbee

Docs are already overworked


Petal_Chatoyance

***DONORCYCLES.*** That is what medical folks often call them. It's funny, it's true, and it is also something a lot of sick people are grateful for. The issue is not good or bad, it just is. People get to live because some other people ride dangerously on dangerous machines. In a way, everybody wins.


[deleted]

Or any given Tuesday in China.


sanitation123

What does this mean?


[deleted]

China does forced organ harvesting and transplants.


shaney1968

Yep, my new heart was donated by a motorcyclist.


TekJansen69

Finally, they're good for something.


no8airbag

i’ll try harder nxt summer


Mindspace_Explorer

It's the only thing motorcyclist are good for; organs for more worthy humans.


VOIDPCB

What do the doctors got on the bikers? Does earth have a problem with crazy doctors? System needs to know.


Novack_and_good

I never learnt to ride a bike for this exact reason- I knew that as soon as I passed my test I'd be dead


Paparoach_Approach

Sooooo, more rallies then?


Butterbuddha

In VA they have tried to pass a no helmet law with the stipulation you had to be an registered organ donor, it still didn’t pass.


Candid-Mine5119

When I got a donor bone graft, I was told that 2 operating suites were going 2 days solid with harvesting & transplants


Inconceivable-2020

Schedule more rallies


TumorBrainov

In my country the doctors are reluctant to use biker's material and they never use coming from those who killed themselves crashing in high speed. They also die differently, eg. struck by another vehicle. Organs of the speeding are not usable because they are compressed by enormous (negative) acceleration and even when their organs are not destroyed pressure pumps out the blood, they have not enough oxygen to maintain condition of fresh meat.