Latest salvo in the war on cyclists in Austin...

So it looks like the newest push for an all-ages MANDATORY helmet law has just begun. If you read the following stories you'll see what I'm talking about, but the short version is that Seton just released a very skewed and biased study claiming a number of bogus statistics, specifically that non-helmeted cyclists are twice as likely to suffer brain damage from a fall, and that non-helmeted cyclists who have been drinking are 3.6 times as likely to suffer serious head injury.

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/05/29/0529bikes...
http://www.kxan.com/global/story.asp?s=8393045
http://www.kvue.com/news/top/stories/052808kvuecyclinginjuries-cb.3b17f8...

Thankfully we have the League of Bicycle Voters to hold up the banner of personal responsibility and accountability in the eternal war against the nanny state.

Here's the original text of the Seton press release, and here's the LOBV response to Seton's "study".

Look at these statistics:

Over 50% of all fatal highway crashes involving two or more cars are alcohol related.
Over 65% of all fatal single car crashes are alcohol related.
Over 36% percent of all adult pedestrian accidents are alcohol related.

According to the Seton study, 40 out of the 200 injured cyclists represented by the study were under the influence of alcohol. That's 20%. Twenty. Percent. according to the above information, 36% of all adult PEDESTRIAN accidents involve an intoxicated pedestrian. If this is the case (and since these are "statistics" they're immediately suspect in my mind) then it looks to me as if walking intoxicated is nearly TWICE as dangerous as cycling intoxicated. Where's the outcry for all the pedestrian traffic of this city to helmet-up before walking out their front doors and lawlessly invading our fair streets with their jaywalking and general disregard for traffic laws.

Seriously folks. Maybe you should spend your monies trying to EDUCATE DRIVERS to pay attention and be alert for all forms of alternative transportation, be it bicycles, scooters, motorcycles or pedestrians. Maybe these statisticians know something I don't, but I can't fathom how me wearing a helmet would have kept the last several cars who disobeyed the law (either passing illegally, failing to yield or running a light) and managed to impact me doing so. Do helmets make us more visible to cars?

I'll keep y'all posted as this develops, but since it affects all of us (unless you don't mind being FORCED to don a helmet irregardless of the circumstances of your journey) I'd urge you to check out the LOBV website and educate yourselves on both the history and the current state of the mandatory helmet law in Austin. It's some serious bullshit that y'all should know about.