BIKE: Helmet law was not repealed

[Kevin Winert]

My opinion, and I have children that are requird by
law to wear a helmet in Austin, is that I am glad it
was not repealed as this is a good law.  Of course, I
am also in favor of the carseat laws and seatbelt
laws.  I believe that sometimes we need to be
protected from ourselves and also since we all pay
when someone is injured or killed (our insurance rates
 or taxes increase to cover this) we have a
responsibility to implement laws that will ultimately
protect us all.

Finally, where do you get these figures? 
"since the last time anyone checked, over 90% of the
no-helmet tickets which went to kids, went to black
and Hispanic kids."

As my children are hispanic and they have never been
bothered by the police, they do, however, where
helmets when they ride their bikes.




--- Michael Bluejay <bikes> wrote:
> 
> On Mar 12, 2005, at 2:02 PM, 
>
forum-bicycleaustin.info-request
> wrote:
> 
> > Ancient and elephantine listites will recall that
> this
> > was the same Editorial Board that called Bill
> Spelman to the mat for
> > repealing the short-lived but extraordinarily
> divisive, destructive, 
> > and
> > dangerous bicycle helmet law.
> 
> 
> I hate to get picky, but the helmet law was not
> repealed, it was 
> amended to apply only to chlidren (<18).  This is
> important to me for 
> two reasons:
> 
> (1) It's still a problem that the law exists for
> kids, since the last 
> time anyone checked, over 90% of the no-helmet
> tickets which went to 
> kids, went to black and Hispanic kids.  I also ran a
> story a while back 
> about a nine-year-old boy in Florida who was
> arrested and handcuffed 
> for not wearing a helmet.  The responsibility for
> making sure kids wear 
> helmets should lie with the parents, not the police.
> 
> (2) At he city council meeting where cyclists showed
> up in large 
> numbers to press for a repeal (not an amendment),
> Councilmember Slusher 
> tried to cut the proceedings short by telling the
> assembled crowd that 
> we might want to waive our right to speak and just
> let the council 
> vote, because they had enough votes for a repeal
> [not an amendment], 
> and that the longer we talked the more likely that a
> councilmember 
> might change their mind.  So we waived our right to
> speak, and then the 
> council proceeded to vote on an AMENDMENT, not a
> repeal.
> 
> I was furious that Slusher, intentionally or not,
> misled the cyclists 
> and talked them out of exercising their right to
> speak.  I wrote to him 
> about it but I never got a reply.
> 
> 	http://BicycleAustin.info/laws/helmet-laws.html
> 
> -MBJ-
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Get on or off this list here: 
> http://BicycleAustin.info/list
> 

Thanks,
Kevin Winert
kwinert1


		
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