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Sunday, October 29, 2006

#259: Bike Helmet Police

When mountain biking in a new location, some guy yelled at me as I was going down "Hey guy, you need a helmet here." What's it to him? My lack of wearing a helmet in no way affects his use of the trails. And there's no law that requires helmet usage for bikers, regardless of what the open space preserves claims the regulations are. Severity: 2

3 comments:

Andy said...

Actually, at least if you are in the East Bay Regional Park District, you could very well get a helmet ticket. They are a governmental entity (a District) that has the ability to pass ordinances and enforce them in their jurisdiction (i.e. the parks). In fact, just about anywhere in a EBRPD park where you see a sign telling you not to do something, you'll see a reference to "Ordinance 38", which is their ordinance of park regulations. Technically a park ranger could write you up for an infraction for not following it. Of course, if you ask me, you going mountain biking without a helmet is an annoyance (severity: 4) because one unplanned move could result in one of my friends not being able to do much more than drool on his Chrismas Disco albums, rather than share them with me and my wife on his Realistic hi-fi.

Marc Schoenfeld said...

Well, jaywalking is a crime too, but I don't yell at people on the street when they do it. However, I'm touched at your concern for my safety.

Andy said...

Oh, you mean this was just some shmoe yelling at you? What a tool. That's like the kids in elementary school who would tell other kids "no running" in the halls. The closest that I ever get to that is flashing my headlights when I see someone else driving after dark without their headlights, although that is more because they've pissed me off by making it not possible for me to see them on the road, and also because I've forgotten my headlights sometimes (usually in brightly lit parking lots) and I'm glad when somebody else points it out to me. Of course I doubt that you just forgot to wear your helmet and needed a reminder.