Child Helmet Laws

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported 773 fatalities and 44,000 injuries from traffic accidents involving bicyclists in 2006. Ninety-eight of the fatalities involved children under the age of 14. These statistics underscore the importance of helmet use of bicyclists of all ages, but especially children. Although there’s no federal child helmet law, most states and several municipalities have enacted child helmet laws for bicycles and other wheeled recreation, such as rollerblades, skateboards and non-motorized scooters.

  1. State Bicycle Helmet Laws

    • Twenty-one states and the District of Columbia have passed state and district helmet laws for bicycle riders. The states include Alabama, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee and West Virginia. The laws mostly require children to wear helmets, although the age requirements vary by state to state. Delaware and New Mexico require children under 18 to wear a helmet when operating a bicycle, while North Carolina and Maine (among other states) call for children under 16 to wear helmets. West Virginia sets its age limits for helmet use to children under 15. California even requires bicycle passengers under the age of 18 to wear helmets, and New York imposes a similar provision for passengers under the age of 5. Thirteen states—Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, South Carolina, Utah, Vermont and Wyoming have no helmet laws in place at all.

    States with Municipal Helmet Laws

    • A number of municipalities in each of the following states enacted helmet laws: Alaska, Arizona, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin. Like state helmet laws, municipal laws also vary greatly as far as the age group they pertain to. For the most part, they apply to children under age 18, although municipalities in Alabama, California and Illinois, among other states, have laws pertaining to riders of all ages. All municipalities in Virginia with helmet laws require children 15 and under to wear helmets thanks to state legislation permitting municipalities to enact laws for this specific age group.

    Non-Bicycle Wheeled Vehicle Helmet Laws

    • Several states, such as New Jersey and Oregon, and municipalities in states like Kansas and Washington, passed child helmet laws for non-bicycle wheeled vehicles. These vehicles mostly include rollerblades, skateboards, non-motorized scooters and Segways or similar-type vehicles. New Mexico’s child helmet law also pertains to tricycle riders.

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