This week’s Transpo Notes highlights include: repeal of King County’s bike helmet law, return of cross-border Amtrak Cascades train service, preliminary report of King County Water Taxi expansion, Colman Dock construction progress, and Tacoma Link project woes.
King County bike helmet law repealed
On Thursday, the King County Board of Health decided to end the all-ages bike helmet law on an 8-1 vote. The full helmet law repeal ends enforcement of a law that has long been disproportionately implemented across the county by local policing agencies and discourages biking as a means of transportation through a gatekeeping barrier. An attempt to repeal the law in the fall had stalled out as opponents came out of the woodwork to block a policy change.
Prior to the vote, Seattle Councilmember Tammy Morales raised important points around bike safety and helmet. “According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the most common cause of bike accidents is getting hit by a car. So if our goal is to reduce brain injury from biking, we need to focus on street design that prioritizes the safety of people outside of cars instead fo the convenience of people inside them,” she said. “I think what we all agree on is that this helmet racist enforcement of the law. I think we all agree that helmets are important and that there’s a lot more work to make sure that people who bike to navigate their way around the city deserve protection.”
