Somewhere between 100-200 people showed up at BU’s Morse Auditorium for the mayor’s bike safety summit yesterday. i was among them.

First off, kudos to MassBike for providing free bike parking.

Second, kudos for the mayor for showing up … I had thought this event would be “endorsed” by him but not attended. Nice to see him.

Third, major props to the mayor and bike czar Nicole Freedman for sticking their necks out re: bike helmets. Menino described how a helmet may have spared him from a serious injury when he was struck by a car last year, and urged everyone in the room to get over their hair etc. concerns and strap in.  Even more gratifying was to hear Nicole point out that the student killed a couple of weeks ago wasn’t wearing a helmet. The silence on that fact from all sorts of cycling advocates has been deafening.

Fourth, it was useful to hear from several constituencies re: their cycling plans. In fact, I wish they had taken more time. For whatever reason, the bulk of the time was given to event attendees to speak their mind and pose “questions” which were usually lengthy (and thinly veiled) comments. My guess is they did this so that people would feel “heard” but a lot of it was the usual venting with not too many productive questions.

Fifth, one of the more productive questions yielded the most disappointing moment of the evening. One man observed that if helmets save lives, as the mayor and Nicole memorably reminded the crowd, then why are they not required under state law? To my grave disappointment, this wholly rational suggestion was met with boos. I was shocked and almost got up and left.  What is it with the cycling crowd?  Good grief.

That said, many thanks to the mayor and his staff for orchestrating the event. Time well spent.