Vancouver WA Poised to Enact All-Ages Helmet Law

[RobertHurst]

Can't tell you how many bicycles I've ridden by that I KNOW that person could not have purchased - and unfortunately thru the many hands that bicycle passed down thru - it just looked beat, sigh. Sad too. I hate seeing a beat up bike. ...

I'm sure there are people who have similar thoughts upon observing me and my bicycle. They know that I stole it. They know I have no idea what I'm riding. They think what a shame, such a nice bicycle so beat down. And what a waste, that guy riding that bicycle. They may be right about a few of those.

Robert

The Industrialized Cyclist (http://www.industrializedcyclist.com)

[ghettocruiser]

Sad too. I hate seeing a beat up bike. But now I think I'm getting a little away from the subject ...

And seeing a clean shiny bike, with the little rubber bristles still on the tires, riding around all summer on a SUV roof-rack is... better?

[oscaregg]

The real fix for road safety in the US will be a shorting of our oil supplies from overseas--the Saudi dissident who sets off the right bomb under the right oil refinery will be doing us a bigger favor than they have any idea of.

[closetbiker]

... If I were a member of either of those clubs I would send a short but colorfully worded cancellation notice...

From what I understand in BC's situation (and my understanding could be limited), they lost more than half their membership when the BC cycling coalition supported the proposed helmet law. The advocates that stayed on were supporters of the law.

I wasn't involved at the time and knew very little outside of newspaper reports that the legislation was being considered, but apparently there were a lot of hard feelings and to this day, almost 12 years after legislation it is almost impossible to discuss the helmet issue.

The bad part of that of course is at times the issue stands in the way of advocacy. For instance, our regional transit body is considering a plan to bring a shared bike plan to certain areas in the city but the MHL is proving problematic. No one is even willing to discuss the concept of an exemption if it can help the shared bike plan become a reality.

There has been very little examination of how the law has or has not impacted cycling and cyclists.

I've tried to get some discussion going in the context of advocating for people to ride bikes or cyclists to be treated in a fair manner, but it's just a stone wall and no one can advocate effectively without a full examination of an issue and that's just not happening.

So far, from my perspective, the greatest advocates for cycling in BC (outside of the Victoria region) have been the police because they have been using discretion in applying the law and refusing to cite cyclists for going lidless. Ridership is up, because helmet use is back to pre-law levels (with the exception of a slight rise in kids wearing helmets). When they were citing cyclists without a helmet, ridership dropped 30%. The police have done what the local advocacy organizations couldn't. They got people on bikes.

[iltb-2]

And seeing a clean shiny bike, with the little rubber bristles still on the tires, riding around all summer on a SUV roof-rack is... better?

As long as it is ridden by a club cyclist type wearing a helmet, eh?

[StrangeWill]

And seeing a clean shiny bike, with the little rubber bristles still on the tires, riding around all summer on a SUV roof-rack is... better?

SUV with a roof rack, what the hell?

My car, sure, you can barley fit ONE bike in it, and it takes effort... but an SUV? Showoffs. :(