NYC May Force Citi Bike Riders To Wear Helmets, Mayor Says

NEW YORK — Strap in for another cycling fight. New York City may force users of its bike-sharing system to wear helmets even though state law does not require them, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday.

The Democratic mayor said his administration is discussing the idea of requiring Citi Bike riders to wear helmets amid a major spike in cycling deaths on city streets.

De Blasio suggested the rule could be an effective safety measure, though he said city officials will have to figure out if it could be enforced and whether it would encourage or discourage people from riding bikes.

"There are different viewpoints on what would work and how much impact it would have, but I think it’s a real valid issue, so it’s something we’re studying right now," the mayor said at an unrelated news conference.

De Blasio also indicated support for forcing cyclists to get licenses like drivers, calling it a "valid discussion" even though he had not thought much about it.

It's uncertain how the city would implement a helmet requirement for Citi Bike, which an arm of the ride-hailing giant Lyft operates without any public subsidies through a partnership with the city's Department of Transportation.

Citi Bike indicated that it is not on board with de Blasio's idea. The company noted that mandatory helmet laws have been blamed for the struggles of bike-sharing systems in cities such as Seattle and Melbourne, Australia.

"We're proud of Citi Bike's remarkable safety record over the past six years and encourage our riders to wear helmets," Citi Bike spokesperson Julie Wood said in a statement. "There is extensive evidence that what keeps cyclists safe are protected bike lanes, enforcement against dangerous driver behavior, and more people riding bikes — not mandatory helmet laws."

De Blasio's remarks also drew swift blowback from cycling advocates who said a helmet requirement would only create an unnecessary barrier to biking.

"The mayor should by all means encourage bike helmet use, but mandating the use of helmets is counterproductive," Marco Conner, the co-deputy director of the safe-streets group Transportation Alternatives, said in a statement. "Requiring adults to use bicycle helmets has been shown time and again to discourage people from biking."

City Council Speaker Corey Johnson was also skeptical of the idea. "I am all about safety, but we need to be encouraging cycling, not creating obstacles," he said on Twitter.

State law only requires kids younger than 14 to wear helmets when riding a bike, though the city Department of Transportation encourages all cyclists to wear one. Local governments such as Rockland and Erie counties have passed more restrictive helmet rules, according to the state Transportation Department.

Only one of the 20 cyclists killed by traffic crashes this year was on a Citi Bike, news reports indicate. This year's death toll is up from 10 cycling fatalities in all of 2018.

Citi Bike has proven popular since its launch in 2013 — the roughly 12,000 bike fleet logged an average of 63,253 rides per day in May, up from 20,619 in the system's first full month of service.

While he said he thinks the growing popularity of cycling is good for the environment, de Blasio wants the city to remind bikers of their responsibilities on the road as it carries out his Vision Zero intiaitive to drive down traffic deaths.

"First and foremost it’s about enforcement on the motor vehicles, where we still have the central problem," the mayor said. "We are gonna keep expanding enforcement on bicycles as well because we still have a lot of bike riders who have to remember they have to follow the rules."

But forcing adults to wear helmets has been shown to discourage people from hopping on a bike — which could end up making the streets even more treacherous for cyclists, Conner said.

"When there are fewer people biking on city streets, we see higher rates of bicyclist crashes and injuries, in part because car and truck drivers become less accustomed to operating around bicyclists," Conner said. "The safest cities for biking and walking in the world do not mandate bike helmets or licenses."