Posts about Helmets

Few helmets on CaBi: Few Capital Bikeshare users wear helmets, but there were only 20 crashes in 1.9 million rides, and the positive health benefits of bike riding may also outweigh the danger of riding without a helmet. (NPR) (Comment)

The invisible helmet: Rather than go without a bicycle helmet, either to protect your carefully gelled hair or to feel the wind on your balding scalp, perhaps you should invest in an airbag collar that only appears when you're in a crash. (Bloomberg) (Comment)

Bike bits: Biking on Arlington trails doubled in some places from February to March. (CommuterPageBlog) ... NPS released draft pedicab rules for public comment. (TBD) ... CaBi will now sell helmets and offer a payment plan for annual memberships. (Post) (Comment)

Vending machine serves up safety: A prototype vending machine lets bike sharing riders rent or buy helmets, and return them later for a partial refund. (Boston Globe) (Comment)

CaBi users to get helmets: DDOT is providing 500 helmets to frequent Capital Bikeshare users, because most riders don't wear them and you can't rent one. The agency hopes to buy more in the future. (NBC Washington) (Comment)

Should bike helmets be mandatory?: British doctors conclude that bike helmets should not be mandatory because they reduce cycling and don't adequate protect riders. Helmets are not mandatory in DC and could be a factor in CaBi's success. (Telegraph) (Comment)

And...: Copenhagenize's Mikael Colville-Andersen talks about the folly of mandatory helmet laws and the importance of promoting cycling. (TheCityFix) ... Supreme Court Justice Elana Kagan is considering moving into the Logan Circle neighborhood. Does that make it officially gentrified? (14th & You) ... Montgomery County chose to spend $24 million on a new Metro parking garage instead of other developments that would promote transit use. (Transportation Nation) (Comment)

We could have killed 29,000 fewer people: A study estimates that the U.S. could have saved 29,000 lives if it had followed the same aggressive road safety measures as France, Great Britain, and Australia. That would require more extensive traffic cameras, tougher blood-alcohol maximums, sobriety checkpoints, and motorcycle helmet laws, all of which face political obstacles. (Post) (Comment)

Reckless driver sues victim's family: A Connecticut man who struck and killed a 14 year old boy on his bike has sued the family, claiming they are responsible for their son's death because they didn't make him wear a helmet. Never mind the driver was going 83 in a 45 zone. (Associated Press) (Comment)

And...: Over the weekend DDOT converted the 15th Street cycle track to two-way. (BeyondDC) ... A long abandoned building on H Street in downtown DC will remain empty for the foreseeable future because the Secret Service supposedly can't afford to renovate it. (DCmud) ... Since Vancouver only allows helmet-less cycling if wearing one interferes with religious practices, local activists founded the Church of Sit-up Cycling. (District Citizen Cycling) (Comment)

Dresser on a bike: After bicycling around town, Michael Dresser endorses the "Idaho stop", recommends cyclists going fast ride in the general lane to avoid dooring, and argues for mandatory helmets for bicyclists. (Baltimore Sun via RPUS) (Comment)

Posts about Helmets

Smart Growth

Transit

Education & Safety

Public Space

Safe Streets

Historic Preservation

Government