“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.

From The Dallas Morning News:

Sergio Portillo, 33, was stopped July 11, 2008, as he rode his bicycle while not wearing a helmet near downtown. He was then searched and charged with drug possession after police said they found that he was carrying crack cocaine.

Abuse of power is one of [Attorney David] Pire’s concerns. Complaints from clients about the helmet law “popped up periodically and it’s always a minority” who has been stopped by police, he said. “I started looking at it and I thought this law can’t be valid.”

And then the Dallas police claim (falsely) “…hospitals are filled with patients from those injuries who were not wearing helmets.” What a bunch of hokum.

Via Streetsblog.

Mark Seawall was hit from behind by a drunk driver while riding his bicycle. He was knocked unconscious and didn’t know what happened. “I knew something bad had happened. I knew I had been in a bicycle accident apparently,” he said about the moment he came to in the ambulance. But now the news media claims the truck ran over Mark’s head and he was saved by his helmet!

If you’re naive enough to believe this ludicrous claim, consider these photos. This is your brain:

This is your helmet-protected brain under the wheel of a car.

Any questions?

See more photos and commentary about these types of claims that helmets can protect against rollovers by cars and trucks, see the Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute page. There are more photos here along with a description of the testing.

I can definitely see some useful cycling applications for this material.

The material is called D30, which is described as a “lightweight material is very flexible and malleable, until subjected to abrupt force, making it useful in protective clothing in situations where the wearer may be exposed to blunt trauma.” D3O has been used for protective ski gear, soccer gloves and shinguards, and motorcycle gloves.

Via CycleDog, who found it via WIRED.