Will others follow Tacoma and dump bike helmet laws? Maybe. But don’t skip this step
Tacoma may have been a regional trend setter last year when the City Council repealed the local bike helmet law after more than 25 years on the books, concerned that it was used unevenly against people of color, homeless and other disadvantaged individuals.
Officials up north are now exploring whether to take similar action for similar reasons. The King County Board of Health unanimously agreed last week to study the “disparate impacts” of bicycle helmet enforcement.
But there’s one key difference. While Tacoma plunged ahead with its repeal based largely on hunch, speculation and good intentions, King County plans to collect more data before making any dramatic changes.
Likewise, Pierce County officials say they would collect and analyze data before they’d ever scrap the county’s bike helmet ordinance, which has been around as long as Tacoma’s.
That’s encouraging to hear. Bike helmets are a proven tool for preventing serious brain injuries in riders of all ages, widely endorsed by emergency room doctors, pediatricians and other medical professionals. Lack of head protection too often correlates with death; 54 percent of cyclists killed in accidents weren’t wearing a helmet, according to a 2015 study by the Governors Highway Safety Association.
If low-income people don’t wear helmets because they can’t afford them, then more incentive and giveaway programs must be instituted. And if people of color are targeted for violations more than whites, then police need to fix enforcement practices.
But government leaders must be careful not to rush to judgment at the expense of public safety.
In our view, the Tacoma City Council acted prematurely last year by repealing the city’s helmet mandate for cyclists, skateboarders, roller skaters and scooter riders, based on anecdotal information and studies pointing to disparities in other communities.
According to Tacoma Police Department data we requested at the time, helmet violations were issued to 10 white persons, five Black and one unknown between September 2018 and May 2020.
A total of 16 citations over 20 months doesn’t suggest overzealous enforcement. Nor is it a viable sample size.
The city neglected to consult experts, such as the Center for Childhood Safety at Mary Bridge Hospital in Tacoma. And to make the change during a pandemic, when opportunities for public input are limited, was poorly timed.
King County, by contrast, has more compelling data to evaluate, with the intent to collect more. A University of Washington doctoral student analyzed helmet citations issued between 2003 and 2020 in Seattle and discovered, among other findings, that Black riders were ticketed at nearly quadruple the level of white cyclists.
Could such disparities be happening here in Pierce County? Quite possibly, though County Council Chairman Derek Young tells us he suspects that stretched-thin sheriff’s deputies don’t have much time for helmet enforcement.
But Young said conducting that type of research is exactly why the county hired two new data analyst positions this year, at the urging of a local citizens committee.
The Law & Justice Review Committee, formed after George Floyd and Manny Ellis died in police custody in Minneapolis and Tacoma respectively, came up with several recommendations including closing “gaps in data.” Doing so, they said, would help “restore public trust and transparency; demonstrate compliance and sensitivity; dispel misconceptions; and add value to the investment and prioritization of public funds.”
Tacoma officials are also coming around to the value of eliminating gaps and illuminating blind spots; they recently ordered police to start collecting race data for traffic stops and other calls for service.
For justice and truth to prevail, this type of data crunching needs to become standard for government leaders around the South Sound. It will guide them in reforming laws that need reforming — and perhaps stop them from repealing laws that don’t need repealing.
This story was originally published February 24, 2021 at 12:00 PM.