balto charlie

Funny thing about our politicians, they love to pass laws. Enforcement however is often lacking. Cyclists get hit by cars in Maryland and citations are never written(unless you are drunk and kill the cyclist with a few witnesses nearby). Yet they want to force worthless laws on us. WABA and Baltimore Velo are trying to stop this bill.


https://hq-salsa.democracyinaction.o...st_KEY=1266843

https://baltimorevelo.com/2013/01/29/...tive-headgear/

Le_Tigre

I already signed on against it this morning. WTF is going on in the State House? They want to up the gas tax, but at the same time make cycling less attractive to most of the people out there. [If only mass transit wasn't a cruel joke if you didn't live in Baltimore, or want to travel/commute anywhere but DC...right?]

I should have known it would come to this after they came down hard on motor scooters and mopeds last year with mandatory helmet laws and forcing registration down their throats.

teufelhunden222

Sorry but helmet laws are a good thing as long as the ticket is reasonable. gives the police a reason to check serial numbers

JoeyBike

Probable cause? Like someone jack-booting my house front door because I didn't mow my grass this week?

Do not be so hasty to give up your hard earned (with other people's blood) FREEDOM. Riding bare-headed hurts no one but the bare-headed rider - if ever. I have worn a helmet (call it my mirror-holder) every ride since 1988. Tens of thousands of rides and guess what? Have not hit my helmet on the ground (with my head in it) even once. I don't know if wearing a helmet would do any good in a crash anyway (been argued to death here already) but wearing one is my free choice. Not wearing one is the other guy's free choice. If I were a politician I would wear out the word FREEDOM. People would get tired of me saying it, but my job as a public servant is to protect your freedom foremost, while protecting your health is a distant second.

If your freedom somehow has a negative impact on other free people, then we have a discussion and perhaps a law - like DUI. Drunk drivers kill other people regularly and needlessly. I think we can all (even drunks) agree on a law like the DUI law.

It amazes me how dangerous things that ACTUALLY kill people are not outlawed - like smoking cigarettes. If people are free to clog the healthcare system with smoking related illness because they WILL get sick from smoking, why pick on a few bare-headed cyclists who will very likely make it through their entire lives without splitting their melon on the tarmac? Silly.

jon c. 

I never ride without one. But helmet laws suck.

Le_Tigre

Two things:

First, since when is riding without a helmet probable cause to suspect you're a bike thief? (Just how many people, law-abiding or otherwise, have bothered to register their bikes with the authorities anyway?)

And second, wouldn't the police better serve the public doing anything aside from handing out citations for riders without a helmet, god forbid running the serial numbers on the rider's bike? I'm certain if that little time was spent policing motor vehicle drivers instead, there would be a far greater payoff in public safety than a mandatory helmet law.

JoeyBike

If anything, given the sad statistics for motorists smashing into things (and each other), all motorists should be required to wear full-faced NASCAR helmets. In other words "You first!"

99Klein 

X2

B. Carfree

Hear hear! Among my friends and family, we often say that if motorists had to put up with the crap cyclists regularly deal with, no one would drive. Maybe a mandatory helmet law for motorists is a good way to see if that is the case.

I think there is actual evidence that a mandatory helmet law for motorists would actually save lives, unlike the situation for cyclists.

-=(8)=-

Really? Your police have time enough, and know bikes, care enough--keep a database of bike Serial #'s and would follow through on bike thefts/crime vis a vis that system ?
I was going to move to Amsterdam or France, should I put Escondito on my list of places to retire to, also?

JoeyBike

That and 4-point harnesses. Throw in a fire ******ant jumpsuit with TheNorthFace embroidered on it to complete the picture.

howsteepisit

After following the links, I discover that it applies to persons under the age of 16, no big deal,

Edit I take it back, they are proposing to eliminate the under 16 language, I misread. So now I can say I am against it, but I really think things like this are irresistible to people who are attracted to elected politics - they really believe in making the world safer, whether you need t or not. Glad I do not live in Maryland.

-=(8)=-

As you should be. Maryland is the Dark Horse no one knows about in its efforts to be Florida or Texas. A totally under-the-radar valhalla for the most violent of rednecks.

wsbob

Helmet laws covering people 16 yrs and under probably are a good idea. Question occurring to me, is why someone in Maryland's legislature is feeling the need to have Maryland's 16 and under bike helmet law changed to be an all ages law. First thing to check, is who is sponsoring the bill, and then next, try to find out why they're sponsoring it. Maryland Legislature has a nice site, lots of easy to read info.

Delegate McIntosh...Maggie McIntosh, is the primary sponsor of the bill. Also, the chair of the Environmental Matters Committee that's reviewing the bill. Been in the legislature for while, has a long list of accomplishments. On the page via the following link, scroll down to the bill number, find her name and click on it to navigate to a page offering connections to info about Delegate McIntosh. The names of the bill's co-sponsors are also there:

https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/webmga/fr...b=02&ys=2013RS

Below, is a link to the text of law, with proposed changes. Not sure if I'm reading the second page of the bill text correctly, but if so, it seems Maryland doesn't fine people for not wearing a bike helmet. Instead, the state's response to people not wearing bike helmets while riding, is this:

"...(d) This section shall be enforced by the issuance of a warning that informs the offender of the requirements of this section and provides educational materials about bicycle helmet use. ..." https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2013RS/bills/hb/hb0339f.pdf

I wouldn't be too upset if it's only educational materials offered, and no fines. Some people might be upset about police being given another pretext to stop and question people, but, not sure how much of an issue that is in Maryland.

krobinson103

Been argued to death already but afyer 30 years of wearing a helmet on my bike - and it was because of the law I would never ride without one.

unterhausen

I didn't put a serial number on my frame, took it to the painter while it was still hot from welding

contango 

Agreed. Personally I think it's stupid to ride a bike without a helmet. I also believe it's for each adult rider to decide for themselves whether to wear a helmet or not.

rydabent

This is one of the major problems with b'crats. They jump on something they know nothing about and take away the freedoms of everyone to prove they "care".

I ALWAYS WEAR A HELMET. Look at the posts in the helmet thread. Now let look at MHLs in the light of common sense and reality. First there is some question about age. Is some cop going to arrest and haul off to jail a 6 year old kid for not wearing a helmet?? That would be just plain stupid. How will this young criminal view the police after that? How about a cyclist that happens to be out on a road that is so little used there isnt a car in sight except for the police car that the cop jumps out of and arrests this public menace of a cyclist riding with out a helmet. Again that is just plain stupid. Police time is better spent on violent crimes that are happening all the time.

ZmanKC

It's the elected members of the state legislature, not "b'crats".

Zorba

Ah yes, the Socialist-Liberal Nanny State (tm).

GrouchoWretch

In Maryland, the sidewalks are slick with the blood of cyclists who dared cycle their bicycles without strapping a Styrofoam bowl to their heads. You can scarcely walk a block in Glen Burnie or Rockville without having to step over the corpse of some benighted soul who has dashed his brains out against a tree or a parking meter. HOW LONG, cry the people, how long before our lawmakers spring into action to save us??

asmac

I too wear a helmet but have no use for helmet laws.

We have the under-16 helmet law and its ironic that only about 10% of under-16s wear a helmet (unless they're with their parents) while about 80% of those over 30 do wear one.

We don't need more unwanted unenforceable laws.

wsbob

Who it is you're speaking of here, when you write 'we', you don't say. Nor do you mention how you come by the percentage estimates you've used to suggest helmets not being used by people of certain ages. Sounds like what you've written is just your general impression, which is fine to read about in this discussion.

I think helmet laws covering people 16 yrs and under probably are a good idea because this type of mainly safety motivated law is something that can be beneficial to both individual and society. Oregon, in the Portland Metro area, is where I ride. I don't think I'd venture to offer informal percentage estimates of how many riders in the Portland Metro area wear helmets, of what age groups, and so on, other than to say that a lot of people riding, of all ages, appear to be wearing them, even though Oregon has just a 16 and under use law. I don't think the use is happening because police are out issuing citations for failure to use a helmet. I read the news quite regularly, and can't remember if I've ever read of someone out here being written up for not wearing a bike helmet while riding...which by no means is intended to imply police haven't occasionally done so. My guess, is that, being the increasingly bike conscious place the Portland Metro area is, because of discussion about bike helmets coming up regularly, people having decided to wear helmets have reasoned out for themselves that wearing bike helmets is worth whatever protection the gear can offer.

Bike helmet laws may be one of those somewhat extraordinary types of laws that individuals and society benefit from without the law being 'enforced' in the common sense....by fines, court appearances, and so on. The effect of such a law tends more to take the form of encouragement than imposition. Maryland's approach to the concept of mandatory bike helmet law is made more than usually interesting by the fact the state doesn't exact fines from people that don't wear bike helmets. That's why in part, I wondered as noted in the earlier post, why people in Maryland's legislature would seek to expand its already existing law. It would be great to hear directly from some of the sponsors of the bill, what they expect the effect of the expansion of a no fine, 16 and under law, to an all ages law, will be.

What the effect will be in Maryland, depends a lot on who Maryland residents are individually, and what type riding they do. At any rate, this is how most people, aside from people below a certain age where some oversight is reasonable, should be deciding whether or not their riding situation calls for wearing a helmet. In Maryland, with the type of bike helmet law it has had and intends to expand it to, I think what the law revised to an all ages requirement mainly could do, is get people to think a little more thoroughly through the question of whether they may benefit from using one. Nothing much wrong with that.

skye

Actually, what the research has shown is that mandatory helmet laws have either had no effect or actually increased the risk of injury and death to cyclists. See:

https://www.cyclehelmets.org/1241.html

https://www.cyclehelmets.org/1242.html

Robinson, D (1996). "Head injuries and bicycle helmet laws". Accident Analysis & Prevention 28 (4): 463–475.

Robinson, D L (2006). "No clear evidence from countries that have enforced the wearing of helmets". BMJ 332 (7543): 722–725.

capejohn

You would be hard pressed to find someone wearing a helmet in my area. The Sunday roadies are the exception and the speed and style of riding they do kind of calls out for helmet use.

In general however I would estimate helmet use at under 10% of the riders.