If bicycle helmet laws were as effective as bicycle helmets, the Spokane City Council would deserve a rousing cheer.

The council voted 5-1 on Monday to override Mayor Jim West’s veto of a helmet ordinance passed two weeks earlier. A month from now, when the new law takes effect, it will be illegal in Spokane to ride a bicycle, skates, skateboard or scooter unless wearing a helmet. Violators will be subject to a $25 fine.

The motive behind the measure is sound as can be. The kinds of activities covered put those who engage in them at risk. The Violence and Brain Injury Institute estimates that 140,000 brain injury cases a year are treated in U.S. emergency rooms from bicycle accidents alone. Most studies conclude that wearing a helmet reduces the chance of head injury by 85 percent.

Given the grave physical, emotional and economic consequences such injuries can inflict on families and communities, the documented value of helmet use clearly outweighs the pioneer bravado of those who oppose helmet laws on grounds of personal liberty.

But the issue is more complicated than that. The safety gains to be achieved won’t materialize unless community members comply with the ordinance – and, because voluntary helmet use has been in sharp decline during the past seven years, there doesn’t seem to be much public appetite for the requirement.

The value of a law, of course, is that the police power of the city can be used to mandate compliance. For a city in the midst of a budget-crunching crisis, however, the idea of diverting scarce police resources to ticketing unhelmeted skateboarders while residential burglaries are ignored poses problems of its own.

The alternative is to enact the law without enforcing it. Let public pressure and a sense of civic duty take the place of a police officer and a citation book.

As West said, though, “Unenforced laws become meaningless and devalue all laws.”

West’s veto was not spawned by philosophical objection to the concept. As a state senator, he had proposed a similar measure on the state level. He did take exception to the scope of the measure – which included riders of all ages, rather than just juveniles, and which included skates and skateboards, which he believes pose enforcement difficulties.

Mostly, though, the mayor felt the legislation was premature. It should have been preceded by an intense public-education campaign. Building awareness of the risks of head injuries and the advantages of helmet use – especially in the case of youngsters – offered the benefit of building public acceptance.

History is on his side. In the 1990s, such a campaign drove voluntary helmet use in Spokane County as high as 64 percent in 1997. It’s now down to about 40 percent, according to the Spokane Regional Health District. If a similar campaign could restore the 1997 levels, that would be better than a 50 percent improvement.

By comparison, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety estimates that helmet laws increase usage by only 18 percent.

Increased helmet use is a goal everyone can agree on. Unfortunately, the council chose an unproven strategy that puts untimely pressure on the city’s Police Department.