“I will pursue any legislation in order to protect children as best I can,” says Colorado state senator Bob Bacon of Fort Collins. To that end, Senator Bacon and Represenative John Kefalas (also of Ft Collins) are sponsoring legislation to mandate helmet use for children under age 18. The proposed law doesn’t have teeth — enforcement will consist of police lecturing bike riders to ride their helmets, instead of any actual citation or fine.
Kefalas says he’s responding to “numerous tragedies on Fort Collins roads involving car collisions with children riding bicycles,” according to the Coloradoan. There were 38 bike / car collisions involving children in Ft Collins in 2008 reported to the Ft Collins police.
Long time cycling advocate Rick Price of Ft Collins believes cycling education for children would be a much more valuable use of state resources to improve cycling safety for children.
I have to agree with Rick Price – cycling education would be a much better investment, if a car hits a kid on a bike a helmet won't do much to protect them