Thats like telling a bicyclist not to run stop signs....

Why are seatbelts required, but bike helmets are optional? And no snark, please--what IS the reason?

"Why are seatbelts required, but bike helmets are optional?"
Because the BTA and Sammyboy think it will deter people from riding a bicycle. Obviously all Sammyboy’s safety rhetoric and propaganda only applies when he wants to fund more bicycle infrastructure at the expense of drivers.

They are good helmets, too. I own a couple from that program. Take advantage of it!

TR is correct. I called the City's bicycle office about this and was told helmets are not required because they do not want to deter ridership. It's insanity that this is one of the few areas the government doesn't want to tell people what to do, and this is clearly an area in which they should.

The "BTA and Sammyboy" might indeed oppose an expanded helmet law, but FYI, Oregon is just one of 21 states that requires children to wear helmets and no state requires adults to wear a helmet while bicycling.

http://www.iihs.org/laws/HelmetUseCurrent.aspx

Portland only wants to tell normal people what to do.

For self-described libertarians, you folks sure get off in an unseemly way telling others what to do. Too much high fructose corn syrup?

I would go so far as to say that the type of person who would decide to not ride a bike because they can't be troubled with a helmet is precisely the type of person who *should* be deterred from riding a bike.

You have to wear one while riding a motorcycle. Racing requires helmets to participate. Perhaps the city should use water and sewer money to give out free helmets? Lighting is required at night and they gave out free lights for a while. Not having adequate lighting doesn't seem to prevent people from riding without them. How are helmets any different? Perhaps phase in a requirement for existing sixteen year olds as they age? Make the first ticket free and you get a free helmet. There has to be a way to improve safety that the BTA can get behind.

I know there is a debate that helmets are not very effective. I do not believe on the whole that they are right. Psychological arguments especially. Lane swerving makes people less likely to pass you closely too, but should unsafe behavior be permitted because it makes people more concerned to watch out for you? The excuses are absurd.

I want to ride my to the local grocery store on my quiet neighborhood streets, and you want to force me to wear a helmet? Who are you people?

They make me look uncool.

I want to ride my to the local grocery store on my quiet neighborhood streets, and you want to force me to wear a helmet? Who are you people?

We care about your safety! We know better than you what is best for you!

The reason seat belts are required has nothing to do with safety. It has to do with money. It was a bill passed by big insurance under the pretext of safety. Nanny state nonsense but backed by big donors. Surely it's a good idea to wear a belt, and to require them as standard safety features in cars, but to require the individual to wear it? Bad use of government.

Helmets are not yet required because the big $$$ hasn't gotten involved yet. If they find a reason for it, they'll be on that in a heart beat.

Seat Belts:
We watched a spectacular T-Bone explosion at high speed in horror the other day.
A movie scene couldn't match that one.
One SUV flipped and rolled multiple times across 7 lanes.
Three rigs totaled leaving an immense field of debris.
Seat belts, airbags and other modern mandated features resulted in no one dying.

Click it and give oneself a chance at not becoming an unthinkable burden on family, and or Gov't.

Pass a law;
No seat belt, No Gov't taxpayer funded help of any kind, period.

I've seen statistics that suggest car drivers are more aware around bicyclists who don't wear helmets. While hardly empirical, in my own rides this seems to be true. I feel safer around cars when not wearing a helmet, and get cut off far less often.

There is a European Company who actually builds bike helmets that look like regular hats (albeit, goofy European style ones,) for just this reason.