King County to reexamine decades-old bicyclist helmet law
The move by the King County Board of Health comes after a Crosscut report showing disproportionate enforcement toward homeless people.
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Cyclists bike past the Paramount Theatre, an arts venue in Seattle, on Sept. 30, 2020. (Jovelle Tamayo for Crosscut)
The King County Board of Health will reexamine its nearly 30-year-old law requiring bicyclists to wear helmets, raising the possibility that the rule could be repealed in the face of new evidence that it isn’t enforced equitably.
Members of the board, made up of both county and city officials, voted Thursday to add reconsideration of the 1993 law to its 2021 work plan. Board member and King County Councilmember Jeanne Kohl-Welles, who brought the amendment forward, said she was not presupposing that the law be rolled back, but wanted to look more deeply at the data around its enforcement. While she has supported the law in the past, she said apparent disparities in its enforcement have concerned her.