HB 1147 and the Culture of Fear

Helmets are all the rage in today’s cycling culture. Many feel that cyclists would be a lot safer if everyone wore these helmets while cycling. We’ve even gone so far as to mandate cyclists wear one in many municipalities.

The issue recently came up in Colorado with HB 1147, which in its original revision would have mandated anyone under 18 to wear a helmet while operating a non-motorized wheeled conveyance. A few people were shocked (such as @AndyMan1) when I called it a win for Colorado that the mandatory helmet law portion of the bill was cut out. After all, isn’t keeping brains inside the skull a good thing?

The original version of HB 1147 was quite interesting. First, it mandated that anyone under 18 operating a non-motorized wheeled transportation device (such as a bicycle, a skateboard or inline skates) wear a helmet. This is a rather big departure from the typical under 16 mandate. The other interesting part was the nature of the punishment for violating the fancy mandate. The punishment is a law enforcement officer would stop you and hand you an information pamphlet about why you really should be wearing a helmet, then send you on your merry, helmet-less way.

Before I go into why that’s a bad idea, you need to know that there are some disturbing trends in places where mandatory helmet laws are in effect. Here’s an excerpt from a working draft of a study which looks into this (this isn’t the only study out there, just the first one that came to my mind):

“Over 20 states have adopted laws requiring youths to wear a helmet when riding a bicycle. We confirm previous research indicating that these laws reduced fatalities and increased helmet use, but we also show that the laws significantly reduced youth bicycling.”

I’ve emboldened the last part for emphasis. We’re talking about curbing childhood obesity, right? Isn’t riding a bicycle a good thing? Wouldn’t having children riding bicycles reduce the childhood obesity rate? (I know, its all conjecture)

I know what you’re thinking, “but its unsafe to ride a bike without a helmet.” Unsafe, relative to what? Relative to walking without a helmet? Relative to riding in a car without a helmet? Are you sure?

There’s been a few tries at comparing relative risk amongst activities. Each time, the results are quite clear. Per hour of exposure, cycling is no more dangerous than driving or riding in a passenger car. (See this and this) So, if we want to mandate helmets for children riding bikes, why don’t we mandate for children riding in cars?

So, when you consider that cycling is not necessarily any more dangerous than riding in/driving a car and that mandatory helmet laws tend to reduce the number cyclists out there is it still a good idea to mandate helmet use?

Now, I’ll give two reasons why HB 1147′s helmet mandate was a bad idea. First, it required those under 18 to wear helmet. Second, it put law enforcement officers in the position of safety education.

The first reason, requiring persons under 18 to wear a helmet. It’d be one thing if it was persons under 16, the legal driving age in Colorado. However, requiring those under 18 effectively encourages further use of the automobile. I don’t need to tell you how reckless 16 year olds are with driver’s licenses. We were all there. So, when teenagers are at the best age to be riding bicycles for transportation instead of driving cars, we turn around and discourage their use.

On top of that, you put a law enforcement officer in the position of safety education. You ask the guy whose primary job is to serve and protect the citizens to now also educate the citizens. Law enforcement officers are frequently not trained in bicyclist safety skills.  They are hardly experts when it comes to providing lectures on how to ride a bicycle safely.

If you’re still reading this, I hope that you can see why mandatory helmet laws, especially HB 1147, are potentially damaging to the bicycling culture.

Wear a helmet if it makes you feel safe out there. Just do not force its use among others.

Disclaimer: I’m not against the use of helmets. In fact, it is this authors opinion that it is never a bad idea to wear a helmet. Just, keep an open mind. Also, many of the sites I linked to are not the greatest sources of information. Feel free to tear them apart.