The video helped start a conversation in Seattle questioning the fairness of the 1993 bike helmet law. Now, with demands for racial justice ringing across the country, some individuals and organisations are calling for the repeal of the law and the city is auditing how police use it. But others question whether this move could compromise safety for cyclists – using a helmet is associated with a 51% reduction in the odds of head injury and a 65% reduction in fatal head injury.
The conversation could also have ripple effects in the country: Black cyclists are disproportionately stopped in New Orleans, Washington DC and Oakland, California, and law enforcement policies have often overlooked inequity in their system. In Dallas, police have used helmet laws to stop and question cyclists in neighbourhoods of colour, according to a 2014 analysis by the Dallas Morning News. And a 2016 study by the Department of Justice found that Black people accounted for 73% of bicycle stops in Tampa, F
by Matt Baume • Apr 6, 2021 at 2:50 pm
The problem is on four wheels, not two. Goads Agency / Getty Images
“Bicycle helmets are racist now” this is the headline you’re about to see on Fox, or wherever gullible chumps get their news these days.
Tomorrow evening, Seattle’s Bike Advisory council will discuss possible reforms to our bike helmet laws in an attempt to address racial disparities, and I can already see the conservative faux-outrage: “Now the woke PC mob is coming for
bike helmets,” Republicans will complain, shaking their heads and declaring that from now on they’re going to wear bike helmets EVERYWHERE they go, just to make the liberals quiver. That’ll show us.