King County has delayed a vote on repealing its draconian helmet law. That law is often used by police as a pretext to harass homeless and people of color. It also hasn’t done anything to make cycling safer:
The King County Board of Health held a public hearing Thursday about repealing the law, which requires all bicyclists to wear a helmet. According to the proposed resolution in support of repealing the law, data shows that cyclists of color receive tickets more frequently than white cyclists under the current helmet regulation, and that it is a common reason for law enforcement to engage with unhoused people. Ultimately, the board decided to delay a vote on the repeal until at least late November in order to get more information and allow for further discussion from relevant stakeholders.
Dr. Rivara, father of the bike helmet hysteria, is of course pushing King County to retain the law. He wrote an editorial which again repeats his claim that helmets “reduce the risk of brain injury by 88%.”
As most readers know, this statistic has been widely debunked. In 2013, the Feds were forced to withdraw the long-standing claim from their websites as other studies failed to replicate this result. Dr. Rivara also predicted a spike in head injuries from public bike share programs, when in fact bike share had the opposite effect of making streets overall safer for cyclists.
Systemic Failure 