see url:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/apr/20/us-helmet-laws-police-citations-cyclists-of-colour-homeless
see full report...I find it just amazing how there are all those
different ways of discriminating against ethnics and poor people...in
the US of A...Yet, their leadership says that they have the best human
rights in the world, protected by a Written Constitution, and are always
complaining about how all those terrible dictatorship nation states like
China and North Korea, and Iran and Russia discriminate against their
citizens...the hypocricy is unbelievable...
Quote<<<
In Seattle, 43% of citations since 2017 have gone towards homeless
people, while Black cyclists received citations at nearly four times the
rate of white cyclists
On the streets of Seattle, 130 vendors sell non-profit Real Change’s
weekly newspaper for $2 apiece. They’re no strangers to police
attention: King county has a law requiring all cyclists to wear a
helmet, but not all do. Some vendors on bicycles have received
citations; others are just stopped by police.
But on 19 March 2019, a vendor was riding a bright green rental bike
when a driver struck him in a hit-and-run. Witnesses said the driver was
at fault. As the vendor lay on the street, receiving medical treatment
before going to the hospital, police officers mocked him. Ultimately,
the man – who was homeless and of self-described “mixed-race” – received
a citation for not wearing a helmet. The driver received no citations at
the scene.
“How they treat this driver is a far cry different from how they treat
the vendor,” said Tiffani McCoy, advocacy director for Real Change. The
organisation, which advocates for homeless and low-income people, edited
officers’ body camera footage into a five-minute video that was released
in November 2020 as a form of activism.
‘It’s always like this’: Brooklyn Center residents describe history of
racial targeting
Read more
The video helped start a conversation in Seattle questioning the
fairness of the 1993 bike helmet law. Now, with demands for racial
justice ringing across the country, some individuals and organisations
are calling for the repeal of the law and the city is auditing how
police use it. But others question whether this move could compromise
safety for cyclists – using a helmet is associated with a 51% reduction
in the odds of head injury and a 65% reduction in fatal head injury.
>>>End of Quote
