Posted on 02/19/2022 9:16:34 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
A law requiring Seattle bicyclists to wear helmets had been in effect for nearly 30 years, but was revoked in the name of racial equity. The King County Board of Health voted to repeal the helmet mandate because of accusations that the law was disproportionately enforced against people of color and homeless people.
In 1993, King County passed the law that requires all bicyclists to wear helmets. The law was expanded to explicitly include Seattle in 2003. The law was enacted to decrease the severity of bicycling incidents.
However, the community began noticing data that suggests black and homeless bicyclists were receiving more tickets than others.
"Seattle Police Department data collected and analyzed by Seattle Neighborhood Greenways and the Helmet Law Working Group shows that police disproportionately gave helmet law citations to black, indigenous, and people of color cyclists," states the press release from the Public Health Insider for Seattle and King County.
(Excerpt) Read more at theblaze.com ...
“Mandatory bicycle helmet law revoked in Seattle for racial equity”
If that’s the excuse to give kids some DIGNITY when riding a bicycle, then so be it.
LOL! Black people don’t wear helmets, so let’s cancel the law. I guess it wasn’t that important after all!
clown world.
Right action, wrong reason. JMO.
“data that suggests black and homeless bicyclists were receiving more tickets than others”
Stupid is as stupid does..............
Behind the curtain are certain electric bicycle rental companies that have city contracts, and somehow money is involved.
this has nothing to do with racial equality
In any case the last research I saw was this:
Drivers pass closer when overtaking cyclists wearing helmets than when overtaking bare-headed cyclists, increasing the risk of a collision, the research has found.
Dr Ian Walker, a traffic psychologist from the University of Bath, used a bicycle fitted with a computer and an ultrasonic distance sensor to record data from over 2,500 overtaking motorists in Salisbury and Bristol.
Dr Walker, who was struck by a bus and a truck in the course of the experiment, spent half the time wearing a cycle helmet and half the time bare-headed. He was wearing the helmet both times he was struck.
He found that drivers were as much as twice as likely to get particularly close to the bicycle when he was wearing the helmet.
Across the board, drivers passed an average of 8.5 cm (3 1/3 inches) closer with the helmet than without
The research has been accepted for publication in the journal Accident Analysis & Prevention.
“This study shows that when drivers overtake a cyclist, the margin for error they leave is affected by the cyclist’s appearance,” said Dr Walker, from the University’s Department of Psychology.
“By leaving the cyclist less room, drivers reduce the safety margin that cyclists need to deal with obstacles in the road, such as drain covers and potholes, as well as the margin for error in their own judgements.
can't have that ....
now, what will happen is that sensible people will continue to wear helmets and there will be a tremendous increased number of brain injuries or deaths in the minorities from bike accidents and wait for it, we'll be blamed again.
Next: Bipoc people getting injured in bicycle accidents due to inequity of not having bicycle helmets.
Nice going, Seattle voters. You morons have elected morons.
Embarrassing what my home town has become.
Solved easily enough.
Just outlaw bicycle helmets.
lol...Great experiment...And hit by a bus and truck and Dr. Stupid is still alive...
Pass a law that only white people must wear helmets.
If they are the majority of offenders its not racist.
o different than if they donlt study and fail classes, that doesn’t mean they didn’t rightfully deserve failing grades.
Even better!
At last, we are coming full circle. The Karen’s passing crap like this is part of why we are in this mess.
You are a racist!
The Karen’s have not yet begun to screw things up.
Shouldn’t have added the apostrophe.
When I first started bicycle racing, we wore “helmets” that had little leather straps. Then in one year in Washington alone three bicycle racers died from head injuries. One of them was trying to keep up with me as we went through a difficult part of a criterium racecourse. The guy was an incredible sportsman, a straight A college student, a devout Christian, and a friend to just about everyone he met.
I bought a helmet with a plastic shell after that. I didn’t need the helmet laws that were passed ten years or so later to convince me.
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