Source: John Pucher and Ralph Buehler. “Cycling for Everyone: Lessons from Europe.” Transportation Research Record #2974, 2008.

Helmet laws are a false dichotomy: every cyclist I know agrees that helmets make us safer and that we should all wear them whenever possible. I wear one daily, most riders I know do too. It’s a non-issue. Safety statistics agree, too, but only mildly: quite simply, helmets might protect 1 head in 1 crash, but they do not overall make cycling dramatically safer. The only thing that does that is putting more cyclists on the road, most likely because all road users become used to seeing bikes and understand how to behave reasonably. We can see this in any bike-heavy city (Copenhagen, Amsterdam, even Quebec or Portland) where thousands of cyclists use the safely-designed streets daily without incident but many ignore helmets. In fact, a helmet law might hurt our goal of getting more cyclists on the road if it is enforced selectively, SJPD-style. Giving the cops something new to harass cyclists about may encourage more people to skip the two wheels and drive their SUV.

Overall, we need to be cautious to avoid getting sucked into someone else’s debate. This is politics, after all, and we can see how badly this has happened with the overall country in the past few years, where the most absurd arguments have gotten the most airtime and thus shifted the debate toward their agenda. We need to be shifting the debate toward OUR agenda: make city life more enjoyable and human by getting more cyclists on the streets and making the streets safer and more inviting for ALL non-car users. In other words, build community through cycling.

To be honest I think even the helmets that cyclists do wear are pretty worthless, since you need both the bottom and the top half of your head to stay alive. I ride with nothing less than my MTB fullface even during bike party. No it’s not too hot, no it’s not heavy, and I ride a 20 inch with one speed and I pedal like a madman most of the time. Even if the helmet doesn’t save me, it can make the difference between dusting myself off and continuing, or going to see the medic or to the hospital.

While I agree with many of the points above about sharing the road and about cyclists rights, you should not have the right to go without a helmet. Car drivers don’t have to weak one because they have a seatbelt and airbags and a roll cage. Motorcyclists have to wear helmets and cyclists should most definately have to as well. If you want equal rights on the road, then step up and take equal safety measures. No one balks at being required to have lights, how can you guys in good conscience say that we should be exempt from a safety rule that all other occupants of the road must adhere to?

And we want our own column too. Your thoughts on restricting bicycles only continues to create a devise notion that “cars own the road”. Thankfully California and Federal legislators don’t have the same idea as Mr Road Show or the letters he chooses to endorse.

http://www.completestreets.org/webdocs/media/cs-ca-pressrelease.pdf

Shame on you. I drive, motorcycle and bike. You must never have had a knee brush with a two ton vehicle under the control of a self righteous car drivers who values their possible “inconvenience” greater than cooperating with all road users safe travel.

What’s your next idea. Eliminating crossing guards because they increase pedestrian use of public roads and slow vehicle traffic? Eliminate crosswalks because people get hit and killed in them? Stop Caltrain due to fatalities? Close undivided highways due to head on accidents?

For many, age and economics drive the style of conveyance. Not all citizen’s can afford the luxury of “car” travel and resort to any means possible to get from point A to B without being assaulted by inconsiderate drivers.