A Great Debate: Bicyclist Safety Laws

Tuesday, April 4, 2023

9:00am – 10:30am PDT

Location: Room 620

Track Leader(s)

Sandy Spavone

Executive Director
Family, Career & Community Leaders of America (FCCLA)
Herndon, VA
Jennifer Hogan, MS

Section Chief, Injury Prevention Programs
Bureau of Occupational Health and Injury Prevention, New York State Department of Health

Moderator(s)

Michelle Atwell (she/her/hers)

Chief, Safety Countermeasures Division, Office of Safety Programs
NHTSA, USDOT
Washington, DC

Speaker(s)

Stephen Mooney (he/him/his)

University of Washington
Seattle, WA

Slides
Ken McLeod, JD (he/him/his)

Policy Director
The League of American Bicyclists
Washington, DC

Slides
Ethan C. Campbell (he/him/his)

Central Seattle Greenways / Whose Streets? Our Streets!

Slides

Bicycling is safe, efficient, low-cost, low-impact, and improves physical health. At the same time, bicycling is dangerous, expensive, elitist, and exclusionary. Can we improve traffic safety and public health by getting more people to bike, even if that means more people on e-bikes or riding without helmets? Are helmets a necessity for cyclist safety or a barrier to a world where cycling is safe and normal? In the absence of functional, connected bike networks, states have turned to traffic laws and their enforcement to improve the safety of people who bike, but many advocates question their impact even as they advocate for them. Learn and discuss the benefits and impacts of bicyclist safety laws hotly debated among politicians, roadway users, and safety advocates.