Originally Posted by
wsbob
If anyone has a link to the helmet law bill proposal Colorado Legislature is considering, please post it so people reading can see what's on the table.
A .pdf file of the proposed bill can be found at:
http://www.leg.state.co.us/clics/cli...e=1147_ren.pdf
[I see pueblonative beat me to it as I was typing.]
It provides for some education and distribution of literature in addition to the helmet provision. I don't see any value added by the helmet provision of this bill. The only enforcement is to hand out flyers to kids and their parents if they are seen riding without helmets and I doubt that many police departments will be very eager to spend any significant effort to do that. And presumably any town that wants to have their police force spend the time and effort to hand out flyers could already do so even without this bill.
OTOH, the publicity associated with trying to get the bill passed and signed is likely to overemphasize the dangers associated with bicycling. That's been shown elsewhere to lead to decreases in cycling by minors as parents become more concerned about the possibility of bicycling injuries and opt to drive their kids to school and other activities rather than letting them ride bikes. Since bicycling is actually pretty low risk and also has clear health benefits, such a decrease in cycling would be a net loss to society that is likely to be far more significant than any benefits that may result from an increase in helmet usage.