Should Seattle ditch bike helmets to save its bike share?

Seattle has gone back-and-forth on how to finance, grow, sustain and manage its bike share system. But it turns out, one factor that no one is considering may be among the most critical — bike helmets.

Scott Tillman’s city department was in charge of implementing a bike share in Birmingham, Ala. His city uses the same private operator Seattle is currently attempting to contract with. The Birmingham system is much smaller than what Seattle aims for, but Tillman told The Seattle Times that it shouldn’t be hard to establish a thriving bike share in Seattle.

Could Seattle have less injuries without bike helmets?

That is until Tillman remembered something while speaking with the Times:

Wait, you guys have a helmet law, don’t you?… That will kill your system regardless. You can still encourage it, but when you pass a law like that you have a lot more challenges. Once you make it a law, you just kill it.

Seattle is currently in contract negotiations with a second bike share company in its pursuit to establish a thriving system in the city. This is after the first attempt failed on a few levels — mostly financial. But the new operator — Bewegen — offers an expanded system will all electric bikes, which many hope will make up for past bike share shortcomings.

Bike helmets, the law and Seattle’s bike share

But some critics believe that there is one specific move that will put the bike share into wider use. King County and Seattle both have laws requiring that bike helmets be worn by all riders. Many believe this will hamper any attempt at establishing a successful bike share system. And by taking down the law, more people might be inclined to use a bike share. After all, the thought of placing a bike share helmet on your head after it has been used by countless other strangers doesn’t sit well with many.

Seattle’s Pronto bike share system that is expected to roll into history in 2017, has its own helmet system. The used helmets are returned, cleaned, and returned to service. Despite the cleaning cycle, it could still turn off some potential users. And then, some people just don’t like wearing helmets. But without a helmet law, those issues could be bypassed.

The Times reports that most of the successful bike share programs around the world do not have requirements that riders wear bike helmets. In fact, Mexico City got rid of its helmet law shortly before implementing its own system.

In Seattle, there has been a small movement to get rid of laws around bike helmets, and in turn, remove a potential barrier from using the bike share. Tom Fucoloro with the Seattle Bike Blog is a vocal bike advocate pushing for that change.

Fucoloro has frequently written about Seattle’s bike share system. He believes that helmet laws should be ditched, or at least modified to accommodate the bike share. He even specifically said that removing helmet laws are part of what will make the bike share work.

Another argument is that the bike helmets are a deterrent to wider acceptance of bikes in Seattle, but without them, riding bikes around town would be more sage. The idea is that if people were not forced to wear a helmet, more would ride bikes. More bikes on the road make them more visible to drivers. Higher visibility makes riding a bike safer.

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