5/25/13, "Head case," NY Post, Editorial
"New York’s ambitious bike-share program launches this Memorial Day
weekend. It’s a joyrider’s dream...but one thing’s missing: There
are 6,000 bicycles for rent but no bike helmets at the rental kiosks.
Looks
like a public-health crisis in the making, and one perfect for Mayor
Bloomberg. But Mike’s not interested in forcing bikers to wear helmets.
To the contrary, he opposes legislation requiring riders to use that all-important safety gear.
What happened to our nanny-in-chief? Bloomberg
will shoot the gun out of your hand, slap the soda from your mouth,
wash the salt from your food and steal formula from a baby.
He’ll do anything he darn well pleases in his pro-health crusade — except make bikers wear helmets.
It’s
an interesting exception. According to one of those city studies he’s
so fond of, 97 percent of the New York bike accidents that prove fatal
involve bikers who are without helmets. But Bloomberg worries that a safety upgrade would “discourage biking.”
And there’s the rub. Inside
the mayor’s soul, there’s a nanny-state war going on, pitting green
living against red asphalt.
Helmets save lives, but if the city starts
ticketing riders for helmet infractions, bikers won’t ride nearly as
often.
They’d drive gas-guzzlers instead. They’d pollute Mike’s city. They’d make Mike mad.
So in the interest of what he sees as an improvement in the quality of life, he’s willing to let bikers put their lives at risk.
We may not have the public-health credentials of Dr. Bloomberg, but it looks as if the wheels are already coming off."
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