SurferRosa

Seattle will stop enforcing the helmet law. I thought this was the protocol five or more years ago with the rise of the city's bike share program. But apparently, this is a new thing. What's the enforcement like where you live?

https://publicola.com/2022/01/14/sea...ic-violations/

Iride01 

Not much. It's one of those laws that would consume a lot of the courts time if they tried to enforce it. The few tickets they give here, I'm told all you have to do is go buy a cheap helmet, show the traffic court judge the ticket and they waive the fine. And probably a decent number actually do wear it afterwards. Who knows?

I wear my helmet all the time. It saved me once. I hope to never give it the chance to do so again. But I thought I was bullet proof before I smashed it into 11 major cracks. Now I'm not so sure.

Moe Zhoost

In North Carolina, there never has been a state law requiring helmets for adults. We've had a 20 year requirement for children under 16 to wear a helmet when riding on public roads and paths. The penalty for non-compliance is a $10 fine to the parents, which is waived if the parent presents proof of helmet acquisition. I have not heard of a single incidence of a parent getting cited, though.

Your article has a quote that presents the logic: “These violations do not have a direct connection to the safety of other individuals on the roads, paths, or sidewalks,”. One could argue that bike helmets are a safety measure; however the key qualifier is "safety of others".

I've always wondered why laws are enacted, but seldom enforced.

Troul 

I'm not aware of any helmet requirement law in Michigan.

work4bike

My state would have to pass another helmet law first

sdmc530

Same here with motorcycles so no way were ever getting a bicycle helmet law. But we have the Strugis rally so no way there will be a helmet law. That might hurt our tourism.

jfouellette

Our laws make wearing a helmet mandatory but are not strictly enforced. You can’t wear earphones, earbuds or use you phone while bicycling.

sdmc530

I can get behind this!

shelbyfv

There may be a shortage of organ donors.

Troul 

trade-off for thinning out the herd...

zandoval 

In Texas a Helemt not manditory for Adult bicycle riders. But an officer can stop you and check your ID and even your equipment if you present a danger to others or yourself. I had a Park Ranger who stopped me when ridding through our local state park. No biggy, no ticket, and pleasant conversation too, but he said he was going to shake me down every time he saw me ridding without a helmet. So I got one, no problem, but several years latter I took a tumble and certainly would not be writing this if I had not been wearing a helmet... Ha

Troul 

does it stip that you need to wear or just possess the helmet? B/C if all you have to do it stow it like some truck nuts, welp, they can't do much about it then.

scott967

No helments in Hawaii, except bicycle riders under 16. But make sure you have your face mask and vax pass if you want to stop anywhere.

scott s.
.

rydabent

The hairy chested he men that wont wear helmets get they underlovelies in a wad when you suggest that they make good organ donors!!!

Rolla

Thankfully there's no adult helmet law here, so no enforcement. I'm not sure if the law requiring minors to wear them is enforced much, but I'd be surprised if it was.

rydabent

I always wear a helmet, even when riding my trike, even tho I dont have far to fall.

That said I despise the wanna be little dictators that want to command how I should lead my life, and others to. As I say I alway wear my helmet when riding, OTOH I believe others should be free to do as they please. And then too, there would be one less law on the books for the police to worry about. They have enough to do these days as it is.

twistgrip

Around here it feels like bike regulations are designed to make it worth the cop's time. I know folks who have had to pay multiple fines for running through a STOP sign or, in one case, after being hit by a car. Helmet, bell, rear-view mirror and lights (not in daytime, thankfully) are worth a fine in excess of 100$ each. Cops are too busy to worry much about bikes. Twice in the past 10 years they were given short term directives to enforce bike laws. They became very aggressive in catching people for a couple of weeks. Last summer there was a radar campaign to catch bikes going above the 20kmh speed limit in a nearby park. They made a killing on that one!

SpedFast

Wow! Does that include using your phone for a GPS unit? I don't know if I could ride without my buds and have to listen to noisy cars flying by. It's bad enough having to suck in their fumes.

SurferRosa

Note to self: stay out of eastern Canada.

jfouellette

Canada is a quiet place 😀

rydabent

Your city must have greedy b'crats that take great joy in high priced fines so they can blow more money on what they want.

I-Like-To-Bike

I don't know what grows on the chest of people who think that constant repetition of tired cliches and foolish stereotypes makes goofy statements any less ignorant, but it certainly seems as if something is missing.

twistgrip

What is missing is civility. In a very large city like here, people commute mostly alone in a car, two hours a day, five days a week. Eventually, each one of us makes a silly driving/riding error of judgement and piss off someone or, rarely it seems to me, get pulled over. Most drivers are decent. They do get upset and voice their rage at the constant flow of bikes riding through stop signs and red lights, or else flying by pedestrians. They complain and, once in a while, get results and cops are asked to "do something about it". Fines have become excessive because they are treated as a voluntary tax, and I, for one, do my best to avoid them.

rumrunn6

haven't been aware of ANY helmet "enforcement" anywhere, ever. maybe I'm not observant?

mr_bill

Historically, they are VERY selectively enforced.
Three summers ago there were several high profile incidents in Greater Boston.
(Covid has put a temporary stay on the harassments.)

Emphasis added below:

-mr. bill