Safe Bicycling

* It makes good sense to wear a helmet while bicycling, as you pointed out (editorial, Jan. 15). It is especially important in the Los Angeles area, where bicycling is inherently dangerous.

When in Amsterdam recently, I was surprised to see no helmets at all, in a city where bicycles are everywhere. Yet they have a much better safety record than we do. How can this be? They have a better record because they have strong programs to provide safe pathways in order to prevent bicycle-car crashes, rather than focus on what will happen to cyclists when they get hit.

Without letting up on the campaign to protect cyclists’ heads, we need to give more attention to making Los Angeles a safe place to ride bikes. It will be safe only when we make sure that the bicycle rider is treated as the equal of the car driver.

JOEL WOODHULL

Los Angeles