The repeal last week of Seattle's 30-year-old bike helmet law by the city's board of health exemplifies the sort of goofy governing that infuriates right-wingers.As reported by The New York Times, Seattle scrapped the law—despite its proven ability to save lives—because police used it as a pretext to hassle Blacks.
“The question before us wasn’t the efficacy of helmets,” a board member said. "The question before us was whether a helmet law that’s enforced by police on balance produces results that outweigh the harm that that law creates."
As the basis of its decision, the board cited a local advocacy group's analysis of court records.
The analysis showed cops disproportionately ticketed Blacks for breaking the bike helmet law.
The analysis neglected to examine whether Seattle's Blacks wore bike helmets less frequently than other citizens, or rode bikes more frequently (both highly likely).
The same board declared racism a public health crisis in 2020.
You might credibly argue the bike helmet law was never fair, or that governments shouldn't "legislate safety" in the first place, and so the board's decision is the right one.
I don't see it that way.
Bike helmet laws have proven to reduce brain injuries and save lives everywhere. Their fair enforcement is a matter of police reform.
But if police harassment outweighs pubic safety, and social justice trumps public health, then it's only logical that all traffic laws be rescinded, and that police forces be defunded accordingly.
We don't need a lot of cops to enforce nonexistent traffic laws. Get rid of them!
And it's that inevitable logic which sends right-wingers into apoplexy.
As it should.
Laws often have unintended consequences. (The mandate to stop at red lights, for example, often makes me late for my art classes, which really pisses me off.)
That doesn't make them laws we should rescind.
Goofy governing like Seattle's gives liberals a bad name.
