Letter to The Washington Post
On an article attacking bicycle helmets
Summary: Our June 9, 2008 letter to The Washington Post protesting their article titled Taking
More Risks Because You Feel Safe.
Shankar Vedantam's article about risk and bicycle helmets degrades the credibility of every other article in your
newspaper today.
Minimal research on the web would have revealed that
Dr Ian Walker's measurements back in
2006 showed that under some conditions British drivers leave 3.3 inches more passing distance if the cyclist is not
wearing a helmet, and another 2.2 inches if the cyclist is bearded and wearing a wig. But the average passing clearance
for all cases was more than four feet. Urban cyclists in the US would feel safe with that. When riding one meter from the
curb, there was no difference at all in passing distances. All measurements were taken on a single street in England.
The poison-pen approach to airbags--the biggest life saving intervention on our highways in decades, was equally
ludicrous.
Use of pseudo-science to support your sensational article mimics the New York Times article on Dr. Walker's research of
February 2007. In either case, attacking a successful injury prevention measure to support failing readership indicates
the desperation of a declining newspaper.
Randy Swart
Director
Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute
Arlington, VA