Bicycle Austin forum

tomwald

Moderator

From: 78722

Registered: 2008-05-27

Posts: 290

OMG:"Obama is pro-bike helmets, but does not wear one for family ride"

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch … -ride.html

Obama is pro-bike helmets, but does not wear one for family ride

August 27, 2009 3:38 PM

ABC News' Karen Travers and Yunji de Nies report:

President Obama took a bike ride with his family today in Aquinnah, on Martha's Vineyard. The First Family cruised along Lobsterville Beach on a gorgeous sunny day but there was one glaring omission in an otherwise picture perfect tableau – the president was not wearing a bike helmet.

White House spokesman Bill Burton said he did not know why the president was not wearing a helmet because he generally does.

"He supports the wearing of bicycle helmets," Burton said.

-Karen Travers and Yunji de Nies

There is video evidence, if you're interested....

In any case, it's nice to see our president biking with his family.

MichaelBluejay

Webmaster

From: Austin, TX

Registered: 2008-05-26

Posts: 1,455

Website

Re: OMG:"Obama is pro-bike helmets, but does not wear one for family ride"

"The Hill" newspaper interviewed me yesterday, and included my comments, but their headline chastised the President for not wearing a helmet.  Here's the bit that quoted me:

But Michael Bluejay of Bicyclesafe.com doesn't believe helmets are necessary.

In an e-mail, Bluejay wrote, "It's no more irresponsible to bike without a helmet than it is to drive without one. The benefits of helmets are largely unproven, especially considering that when helmet use surged in the 1990's, so did head injuries among cyclists. And the countries with the lowest helmet use also have the lowest fatality rate for cyclists. I promise you, if the head of any European country went biking without a helmet, it would be a non-issue, as it should be here."

http://briefingroom.thehill.com/2009/08 … -a-helmet/