The King County Board of Health voted Thursday to repeal a law mandating that bicycle riders wear helmets, citing studies that showed people of color and the homeless were disproportionately targeted.
The board, which governs public health in Seattle and the surrounding areas, said the 1993 law allowing police to fine cyclists riding without helmets has"shown racist and discriminatory enforcement," according to the press release. Black cyclists were four times more likely than white cyclists to be fined, and in Seattle, nearly half the citations went to homeless people, police data from the last several years show.
The board affirmed the safety benefits of wearing a helmet while cycling and allocated money to programs that provide free helmets. It said it will closely assess the safety ramifications of dropping the helmet law in the coming years. Enforcement of the law has been minimal in recent years, the Seattle Times reported.
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