Where to Find Mandatory Helmet Laws
Our list of Helmet Laws
We keep a current list of mandatory helmet laws by state
and local jurisdiction.
The National Traffic Safety Board
The
NTSB has made an unprecedented study of bicycle injuries and countermeasures, announced in 2019. They recommend major
improvements in almost all of the elements that make up the bicyclist environment, and also the passage of all-ages
helmet laws. An early press release in November 2019 said the study would be available soon.
LAB Position Paper
The current helmet
position paper of the League of American Bicyclists is not on their site at present but here is their reaction to the NTSB
recommendations saying they oppose mandatory helmet laws.
How to treat standards
Advice for anyone writing a new helmet law on what helmet standards
to reference.
Ohio Youth Bicycle Helmet Ordinance
Toolkit
"Assisting local communities in educating decision makers on the importance of a youth bicycle helmet
law." If you are lobbying for a law, the Ohio Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics has produced this unique
guide.
Texts of Laws
We have a number of mandatory helmet laws from states and localities in the U.S. on our site, and
have direct links when available. These are recommended for unique features:
- We recommend looking at the Hernando, MS, law passed in 2010 as one that covers all
the bases and has up-to-date language on standards.
-
Vancouver, Washington's all-ages law, Effective in March, 2008. It covers almost all
the bases, and is well worth a look if you are drafting a law. We liked their treatment of helmet standards.
-
New Mexico's 2007 law covers
tricycles, the only law to do so at the time it was passed.
-
Spokane, Washington's all-ages law, passed by their City Council in June, 2004 and
effective later that summer. It has some new wrinkles, and unfortunately cites the old defunct ANSI standard.
- The California law now
including scooters, skateboards, skates and electric bikes. Passed in 2002, amended several time since.
- The Louisiana law for kids under 12 has what we
consider the best language yet for handling the standards question. It requires the CPSC standard for helmets
manufactured after March 1, 1999 and permits other standards for helmets manufactured earlier than that date.
- The Sierra Vista, AZ
law for children under 18. It includes skateboarding and requires rental bikes to come with a helmet.
- The
North Carolina Law for children under 16. They wisely left out anything at all on standards and used the words
"protective bicycle helmet" instead. But they require the helmet to be "of good fit," whatever that may mean.
-
The Massachusetts state
helmet law for children under 12.
-
The Delaware state helmet law for riders under 18.
-
The federal government's Child Bicycle Safety Act of 1994 (full title: PL 103-267, enacted
6/16/94), which required CPSC to put together a Federal bicycle helmet standard. We also have the full text of the law in plain ASCII format (an 18K file). There was, of course, no funding ever
approved to implement the Act, but CPSC carries on regardless.
States
- The District of Columbia helmet law for children under 16 , adopted in 2000 with antiquated
standards requirements.
- The Hawaiian helmet law for children under 16.
-
Maine's law for anyone under 16
took effect September 18, 1999.
-
The Oregon state helmet law for children under 16.
- The Rhode Island helmet law for children under 8.
- The law for the Canadian province of British Columbia.
Counties and cities
-
Albany County NY ebike and escooter law for all ages. It has unique exemption
language for economic hardship.
- The Tucson, AZ helmet law
including rentals. It has antiquated standards requirements.
- The Howard County, Maryland helmet law for children under 16 adopted in 1990 with antiquated standards
requirements.
- The Billings, Montana helmet law for children under 16 adopted in 2000 with antiquated
standards requirements.
- The Cary, North Carolina, law for children under 16, adopted in 2001 with antiquated
standards requirements.
- The
Bainbridge Island, Washington, all ages law, with provisions requiring race organizers to notify participants,
and a requirement for helmets certified to the CPSC standard or "such subsequently nationally recognized standard for
bicycle helmet performance as the City Council may adopt."
- The Suffolk County NY law supplementing
the State of New York's law covering riders up to 14 with their own ordinance to cover riders and skaters from 14 to
17.
- Helmet requirements under U.S. military regulations.
More Laws
- To search municipal codes and county codes in many US jurisdictions, we find Municode.com very useful.
Exemptions for some riders in some laws
We have a page on helmet law exemptions with some of the exemptions that have been written into laws. A helmet law with exemptions is more difficult to enforce, since with some of the exemptions police cannot determine whether or not a bare headed rider might be exempt.
Evaluations of Helmet Law Effectiveness
- Our page on Journal Articles has many links to helmet law evaluations.
-
CDC's compilation of evaluations done on helmet laws to date. (You should be aware that
there were problems with the methodology of the sampling for some of the surveys.)
- An article from the San Jose Mercury News on compliance with the California helmet law
in northern California.
Other Views - some even opposed to ours!
We have a page up of responses to points
raised in the Internet "helmet wars". It includes links to a number of sites that oppose helmet laws.
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