Dallas has a bicycle hemet law

What bunch of ...
You don't have to wear a hemet when on a motorcycle but dang if you're doing 5 mph on a sidewalk you're fresh meat for revenue. Hey Dallas bite me. What about saving gas? What about going green? I'll stay in the suburbs where you can still have fun and enjoy fresh air.

Riding a bicycle without a helmet is 147 dollars. How much is it for speeding through a school zone? The city of Dallas is a joke.

I guess I'll never ride my bike in Dallas.

Playing God! Seems like a helmet would cause more accidents. I have heard that some motorcyclist have been killed because the neck doesn't support the extra weight in an accident. Snap! Would be the same for a bike.

Kids can't have fun anymore. You can't even ride in the back of a pickup truck.

Nature is cruel sometimes: this explains why so many stupid people grow up that should have been killed in a bicycle accident as a kid.

Ihad a bike cop yell at me sunday at white rock lake. She yelled wear a helmet or get a ticket!

I yelled back get a life...

Its amazing how fast america is becoming RUSSIA or CHINA. Your freedom is disappering....

A helmet for a bike! A seat belt in a car.
Yet no helmet for a car? Makes no sense!!!!

New law in dallas,tx you have to wear knee pads, helmet, elbow pads to walk in dallas.....

White rock cops are really writing up 'warning' citations for no helmets!!! I am sure a lot of people will stop riding there.

Helmets should be an individual choice, not governments!!!

Why'd they bother making that a law? Like anybody in Dallas has a bike anyway :P

This city's government is a total joke and seems another way to generate revenue because they can't budget because they keep stealing all the city money. Reunion Arena is $1M a year to keep and you can't use it for anything. Why is Cowboy stadium in Arlington.

Stupid Dallas. They have no credibility whatsoever.

The city ordinance (not a state or county law) has been in place for 12 years. If they're just writing warnings, the ordinance must be a joke. Every time I see a bicycle wreck in the paper the rider has died and the rider was wearing a helmet. The bike helmets are not controlled to meet any specifications. They seem to be worn to match the 400 dollar outfit on the 3 thousand dollar bike.

One Less in Dallas wrote:

Ihad a bike cop yell at me sunday at white rock lake. She yelled wear a helmet or get a ticket!
I yelled back get a life...
Its amazing how fast america is becoming RUSSIA or CHINA. Your freedom is disappering....
A helmet for a bike! A seat belt in a car.
Yet no helmet for a car? Makes no sense!!!!

Probably the cop that tells people at the American Airlines Center during the Van Halen concert you can't smoke cigarettes. It is strange they never said anything to the crack/crystal meth/pot smokers at all.

I hate to say this... But Big Brother is out of control! It seems everyday we are losing our freedom!

First were a seatbelt in your car.
Now its were a helmet if you ride a bike!

WHAT THE FUCK! DOESNT A COP HAVE SOMETHING BETTER TO DO.. OH WAIT I FORGOT, COPS+TICKETS=REVENUE

this is yet another reason, were turning into china. its happening right infront of our eyes.

Is the spandex also required by city ordinance.

Frickin nazi goose peddling cops pulled me over at white rock lake for no helmet,while he was waisting my time 3 motorcycles ride by none of them wearing helmets.

The ticket is 10 bucks. Only the judge knows how much the ticket is. None of the cops or people that answer the phone know. If it's worth it to you make a court date just for the principal of it and make the city spend some money to uphold the ticket. I figure for that 10 dollar ticket it costs the city at least 250...if you make a court date. The cop will probably not show and if you bring a helmet it will be thrown out anyway (if this your first offense). First offense also includes thrown out previous no helmet tickets. Fight it and make them waste some tax dollars.

I just wont go back. Screw white rock lake and the loser cops. This is a complete waste of my tax dollars. I wish citizens of dallas would fight this and make the city council change the laws. But no! I live in liberal heaven!

It isn't like the city of Dallas has a crime problem to draw their attention. Cyclist without helmets are clearly one of the biggest problems the city of Dallas has to deal with. Forget the thugs and "gangstas," the violent crime, rapes, robberies and murders that plague the city. First things first. The police and the city must deal with these criminal cyclists.

New laws for walking wrote:

New law in dallas,tx you have to wear knee pads, helmet, elbow pads to walk in dallas.....

In Dallas your dog needs knee pads, elbow pads, a helmet and a leash to go for a walk.

The bike police at White Rock are currently out of control with ticketing. All they are doing is pissing people off. I watched a heavy set white male police officer read the riot act to cyclists at the Northwest Highway/Lawther crossing last week. The light is rather long during weekday evening rush hour, about 4 minutes or so. He had already give his little speech to some guy about not wearing a helmet, then went on to say a bunch of stuff about "YOU PEOPLE" and "YOU FOLKS BETTER LISTEN UP" kind of speak. He was on a total power trip. He was even hee-hawing to people wearing helmets, myself included.

I have seen bike cops hiding behind trees, in bushes and ducking behind cars to catch people. They jump out at the last second to catch people. Too bad they cannot catch real criminals in the same manner. I smell marijuana often at the lake and see people drinking beer daily.

The bike officers at the lake are supposed to be community oriented. They are not supposed to take an Us vs. Them kind of mentality. That cop somehow views lake users as an enemy that he can punish and push around. In the past, I have called the police about suspecious activity at the lake but will no longer do so. I have also fixed chains, given tubes and offered help to the police many times. No more. They can walk.

I ride 10,000 miles just around the lake and surrounding areas every year. I ride almost every evening, even in the rain, the cold, the dark. Never before have I seen such jerk cops at the lake.

I only post this and found this thread via google because I saw a bike cop tonight on the Katy Trail setup a "roadblock" of sorts near Fitzhugh. I was puzzled as to why he did not do it further up the trail near Knox, until I got home. What he had done is build his little roadblock 10 feet south of the Highland Park/Dallas border. The city limits of both towns meander down the katy Trail together until Highland Park reaches it's southern end. He was standing -right there- on the line. Highland Park has no helmet law.

I think the spirit of the original law has been lost on revenue generation. It's a $10 fine. When the law was originally passed, no one knew that the city would have the balls to tack on hundreds of dollars of extra fees to that $10 fine. Idiots.

Good people will stop visiting the lake because of this. In it's wake will be criminals, deviant cruising homo men and drug users. That's what was around White Rock before the lake got it's act together.

I agree with Bill. I've been riding this lake for 35 years and I have never heard of an instance where Dallas police have enforced the helmet ordinance until recently when these jerks wrote me a ticket. Their names are Officer Ricky Lee Adams and Scott Jenkins and they rarely get on a bike themselves. I find it even more aggregious that this law is never enforced on Easter Sunday, when these two white officers are far out numbered. There is a policy of tolerence on this day in particular. There were children riding right past them in groups with no helmet last Easter. They choose to enforce the law only when the Dallas City Councilman (Sheffie Kadane-(214) 670-406)leans on the captain at the NE Substation to generate citation revenue.
I agree that this is hardly the time to be enforcing these types of laws. It should be the responsibility of the rider to be concerned for his own safety and welfare. There is no liability if you fall off your bike and hurt yourself without a helmet. Why don't they try enforcing a few litter laws or catch a few people breaking into jogger's cars or drunk drivers that park in the lots around the lake on any given weekday? You know, real crimes.