A Gentle Push for Bikers, Not a Shove

So New York City is trying to encourage people to ride bikes more often by offering up a community bike share. Great idea! And as much as I won’t even look at a bike without a helmet on and think anyone who doesn’t wear one is a moron of the highest degree, I don’t think the law should require you to wear one. If you get your brain splattered across the pavement because a helmet might mess up your hair, well, that’s your business. But read this nonsense! And I mean NON-sense:

Some people even oppose wearing helmets at all. George Bliss, the owner of the West Village shop Hudson Urban Bikes and a longtime bicycling advocate, says helmets imply that cycling is dangerous, frightening away potential riders. Going bareheaded, he said, sends a message that city riding is safe [ital is me].

WHAAAA?!?!?!? So no one should wear helmets to encourage more people to ride bikes…and not wear helmets, because city riding is “safe.” Now, full disclosure, I’m slightly bias as I was hit by a car while riding a bike in NYC a few years ago, but still. It doesn’t take someone whose life was saved by a helmet to see the idiocy of this statement. City riding is dangerous. That doesn’t mean don’t do it, it just means be smart about it, and that means wearing a helmet every time you hop on your bike. They can be cute! Check out these bike helmets you’ll want to wear on Refinery 29.