Model shots

Paul, from the Sexiness of Biking website, wrote to say hi and show us some helmet photos. Check out these photos by Norah Hoover - more great pics on the website.

I <3 Monareta!

Check them out on their website .

Thinking Saves Lifes

Bike Safety PSA #1

Thanks to Gwadzilla for passing on this great video!

Riding Pretty

We just discovered the Riding Pretty website, an online store offering stylish bicycle helmet covers! Founder Shelly S. says her helmet covers are "sustainable, handmade, 'slow fashion' designs". Check out the Riding Pretty blog, where you can write Shelly to request a custom design!

Custom design by Riding Pretty

The Confederation for the Protection of Heads and Brains

Dustin John Bromley wrote in to let us know about his awesome non-profit organization, PROHAB. Read about it below and also check them out on facebook:

The Confederation for the Protection of Heads and Brains (PROHAB) is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing helmets by donation to active individuals who wouldn't normally use them. We strive to destroy any negative image projected upon helmets and protective wear. We love fun, and being safe while having it. For more info, or to request a helmet, please contact Dustin.

Times are Tough

Due to an overwhelming number of recent requests, we are now sending out stickers to folks who can help us out with a small donation. (We also have decided to start asking for donations because we are in a recession...and everyone needs to blame something on the recession.)

Any bit helps to keep us sustainable - seriously, any bit - $1.00 is all we ask to cover the cost of postage, material & sticker printing. If you want a bigger handful, let us know, throw a buck or 2 more our way, and they will be at your door step. Donations can be made via PayPal, a secured link. Once we hear from you, a handful of stickers will be sent to your post address (be sure to include a post address) within the next three weeks or so. All donations go directly towards the printing and delivery of stickers.

Thank you so much for helping to spread the "You'd look hotter in a helmet" message!

Cheers,
Lauren
The Safety is Sexy Campaign

Death sparks helmet debate on the slopes

Actress Natasha Richardson's recent death, due to an epidural hematoma after a skiing accident, has reopened the helmet debate for winter sports.

The tragic death on Wednesday of actress Natasha Richardson, following what a first appeared to be a minor fall while skiing, has sparked a debate on whether it should be mandatory for skiers and snowboarders to wear safety helmets. According to a BBC report, there has been a sharp increase in the number of skiers and snowboarders wearing helmets after several high profile skiing accidents this year - Medical News Today

Read these articles surrounding the topic through the Chicago Tribune and The Guardian.

HEADS UP! ReDefine the Helmet Competition

HEADS UP! ReDefine the Helmet Competition

Calling all artists of all ages, backgrounds and descriptions to showcase your talents. Your charge is to Re-invent, Re-define and Re-brand the bike helmet to save lives. Design is the extra sizzle and awesome sauce that can change minds and shift actions. We are reaching out to others with ideas and imaginative design skills. Can you help to redefine bike helmets as an essential fashion statement?

To Submit: Contact Adam or Noma @ The Renaissance Youth Bike Shop to register, submit designs and receive special prototype helmet canvas. Concept Designs due April 24th, 2009. Completed helmets due May 22nd, 2009

Award & Exhibition Opportunities: You could be eligible for a 25% creator’s commission on a custom line of helmets offered for sale at local shops. Selected entries will also be featured in Art-O-Matic 2009, on our University-linked website and in many other broadcast and print media.

Eligibility: Any resident of Washington, D.C. metro area, Maryland, Virginia.

Judging criteria: Youth appeal, humor, and audacity rule. Vibrant colors, powerful letterforms and character renderings welcome. Creative pastiche, sampling o.k. Please, no copywrite or trademark violations. Collaborations encouraged. A fully realized, completed helmet is a necessary part of the final entry.

Jurors: Youth and staff at The Engaged University (http://www.engagedu.umd.edu/)

Who we are: The Renaissance Youth Bike Shop (a project of The Engaged University @ UMCP). We are a youth-based, bike recycling shop and afterschool program that uses the bicycle as a catalyst to enhance the lives of young people through educational, recreational and entrepreneurial hands-on learning opportunities.

Contact us!
• Adam Schwartz, 301-405-3213, adamgs@umd.edu
• Noma Mpofu, 301-405-2285, nmpofu@umd.edu

Obitchuary lookin' hotter!

From the DC Rollergirls Season Three, Game Two bout. Thanks for the support, Obithuary! Check out more photos and learn about the awesome DC Rollergirls on their website and flickr page.

Birds overhead

Check out Let's Go Ride a Bike's blog for one of their many reasons to wear a helmet!

Photo Shoot!

Recent photo shoot for The Safety is Sexy Campaign!

Photographs by Meredith Zielke.

In the News!!

What do cyclists have against helmets?

The cover story in this week's Washington, DC CityPaper seeks to answer this question!Journalist Tanya Snyder's article is all about helmets. She gave The Safety is Sexy Campaign a shout out, along with a lot of great helmet stories.

Let us know what you think! Read it in the CityPaper here.

What's IN in 2009!

That helmet is so 2008!

No worries, The Safety is Sexy Campaign is here to help you keep up to date with the latest styles in helmets for the very fine 2000 & nine!

Check out what the Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute has to say about helmet trends for 2009!

(But, just to note, if you're in love with your current skid lid, no real need to change it up unless you've been in an accident, it's damaged, or has been dropped multiple times. The website says that "there are no radical safety improvement this year that would compel you to replace your current helmet".)

Not for the faint at heart

From Bill in Madison, WI:

I had an accident on a moped while I wasn't wearing a helmet. These are pictures of me a year ago. I am working on moped safety here in Madison, have done news clips, changed my major, changed my career choices, and I give speeches and make statements to the helmet-less. I intend to use these stickers to prove the point.

Disposable Bike Helmets?

Folks, it's a fact.

We are in a cresession (crisis/recession).

But now is not the time to skimp on safety. Instead, just go cheap! We found helmets in bulk for less than $4 through the ProRider website. Now that's a deal!

The future of bike helmets!

Read here about future helmet designs!

NEW! Stickers in multiple languages!

In response to multiple requests, stickers are now available in multiple languages through The Safety is Sexy Shop. Spanish, Portuguese, Korean and Mandarin are currently available - more to come. We hate to see the price set so high, but this is the minimum base price for bumper stickers through the Zazzle company.

Check 'em out below!

Monareta

This band was just featured on NPR's TheWorld (listen here). Monareta performs shows and do their interviews while wearing bicycle helmets! We're very excited to find out about this group and we're going to write them and see if they would like to be a celebrity sponsor for The Safety is Sexy Campaign!

Check out their myspace page here.

A note from the Big Apple

A recent e-mail from Morgan of NYC:

Tuesday morning I was riding my bike eastbound on 46th st when a jaywalker coming towards me decides to do the dear in the headlights dance and in trying to avoid him I went down fast and hard. Fortunately my hip took the brunt of the fall but my helmet took the rest causing it to crack through 2 foam vents. Had it not been for the helmet I'd be dead and after posting to a board I'm on telling people to buy a helmet a friend suggested I post here:+) So wear a helmet and be safe and sexy!

Around the world

The Safety is Sexy Campaign made its way all around the globe to Japan!

If anyone can translate, let us know! ヘルメットはクールで魅力的

Happy Holidays from The Safety is Sexy Campaign!

Seasons Greetings!

The Safety is Sexy Campaign is taking off some time for the holiday season.

Also, just a bit of news, when we start things back up after the New Year, we will be stationed in a new spot -- we're moving to Chicago! Just as soon as we return on January 12th, 2009, all sticker orders will be sent out from good olde midwest Chi-town! So long, Washington, DC, you've been good to us!

Cheers & Happy Holidays!

The Safety is Sexy Campaign

Image borrowed from the 2005 Calendar by Emma.

The economy is down, buy a helmet!

This holiday season, buy a loved one a new helmet! Let us know about it and we'll send you a 'You'd look hotter in a helmet' sticker for you to throw in with your presents!

More cavers!

Never too young to look hotter

Check out this little caver! (and a bigger one behind her). This is an addition to our posts covering all helmeted sports! (climbing, skateboarding, and skiing recently featured)

International Travel

Rosgani, from Subang - West Java, Indonesia, found us and has added a story on his blog. It is written in Bahasa Indonesia, but you can translate it with Google Translate in the right column. It comes out to be a pretty funny interpretation!

It's dark outside!

Winter is here and it's getting dark outside! It's time to not only put your helmet on, but get bright with light!

Enjoy this video with some HOT tips on getting VISIBLE!

Interbike Urban Legend Fashion Show Video

Check out these fashion pics from MOMENTUM's innovative "Urban Legend" bikefashion show. A video of the event and more photos are on the MOMENTUM website.

To the Gym

Work

Semi-Formal

Weekend Casual

Daytime Casual

Climbing around

Beautiful photos from a reader's recent mounting climbing adventure in Yosemite Valley. Thank you Jason for sending these in!

Rocking the board

'nuff said

Get ready for winter!

Snow bunnies, Nick, Emily and Maggie!

Looking sexy on the slopes!

Out with the old, in with the new!

Thanks to You!

A huge thank you to all who have generously contributed this year to The Safety is Sexy Campaign. With your support, the campaign was able to purchase our first sticker shipment solely on the financial donations from our supporters.

THANK YOU!!!

Out of the summer haze

It has been a busy summer for The Safety is Sexy Campaign! We have been traveling around the States and went as far as Portland to experience the most incredibly bicycle friendly city in the USA! Take a look at these photos - bike parking! traffic lights just for bikes! It was truly amazing.

A sincere apology to any supporter who has ordered 'You'd look hotter in a helmet.' stickers within the past two months. Although our sticker order is late in its shipment, we too have been on summer vacation -- and apologize for the delay!

We are now back on track and all sticker requests from the months of July and August are out the door. September's requests will be sent out just as soon as our shipment comes in, hopefully within the next two weeks!

Cheers,
Lauren
The Safety is Sexy Campaign

D.C. Bike Sharing Kicks Into High Gear

Declare the District's urban-cool inferiority complex officially over...the city [has joined] the ranks of Paris and Barcelona with the launch of the first high-tech public bike-sharing program in the United States, forcing such cities as San Francisco and Chicago to look here to see chic alternative transportation in action in America.

Read more here.

Brainwear for smart people

Make your helmet look like a hat! Check it out at Yakkay.

Your Ode to Biking had one Flaw

Responses to a recent Washington Post article about summer cycling

I'd like to offer an addendum to the fine Aug. 2 Style article "Cycling Back Around," which promoted the joys and benefits of commuting and doing errands by bike: Wear a helmet! I cannot emphasize it enough. This should have been repeated throughout the article, not just mentioned toward the end of it. I'm in the midst of a month-long recuperation from a serious accident that happened while I was running errands on a bicycle. I don't even remember the ambulance ride that landed me in an intensive-care unit for 36 hours. Without my helmet I would probably be dead, not recovering from a brain bleed, a concussion and broken ribs.
-- Mary D. Gorman, Chevy Chase

I was surprised and disappointed to see you glamorizing riding without a helmet. Not only did the text describe women with their "hair flowing helmet-free," but a photo illustrated this very risk. Even my 9-year-old had no trouble pointing out the stupidity of depicting a helmet-less woman riding a bike in traffic.
-- Melinda Kelley, Potomac

Because I love cycling, I was appalled by your positive references to pedaling without a helmet. Helmeted cycling is still joyful, and even if it's a little less so than riding without a helmet -- well, so what? All sorts of ill-advised things feel good, but we learn not to do them because the risks to ourselves and others aren't worth it.
-- Lennie Magida, Potomac

A bit of variety

Time to update your style? Check out nutcase helmets for some options.

Safer drivers, Safer bikers and Safer roads.

As More Cyclists Take to The Streets, Dangers Persist...Bike Safety Hits Close to Home.

Sticker sighting at this year's RAGBRAI

Just traded a sticker for this picture.

How things works

Cozy Beehive gives a good explanation of how a bicycle helmet works.

Any cheap helmet programs out there (besides Portland)?

The Legacy Emanuel Hospital's Trauma Nurses Talk Tough program runs Bicycle Helmet Sales throughout the year in Protland, Oregon, where you can purchase and have professionally fitted, a new bicycle helmet for a mere $5 donation. Helmets of all sizes (from toddlers to adults) are available and will be fitted to each person. Kids can bring in their own helmets for correct fitting and adjustment. Bicycle and pedestrian lights also are available.

One just occured in July, but you can find out about future events where they will be having their $5 helmet program on their website here.

Any other programs accross the States like this?

Another sleek helmet design

Design concept for a 'Commuter Bicycle Helmet' by Björn Bengtsson

Lovely in Lacoste

Kyle of Safety meets Chic came out with her final design. Check it out.

Hey. Your house is on fire.

Bike accident victim urges UF students to wear helmets, read here.

According to [David] Sutton, bicyclists hospitalized with head injuries are 20 times more likely to die than those without, and wearing a helmet reduces your risk of head injury by 85 percent.

...the No. 1 reason why most people don’t wear helmets is that they don’t think it’s cool. “That’s 100 percent it,” Sutton said. “It’s like wearing a tie; people think they look dorky.”

Good morning!

Follow-up on death of biker

Alice Swanson was uneasy about riding her bike through city streets to work every morning, so a colleague told her to always wear a helmet for the trip, which was just over two miles.

The helmet was not enough yesterday morning. Swanson, 22, was hit by a trash truck during rush hour near Dupont Circle and killed.

Read an update here.