Section IX. Appendices

A. Helmet Use Laws for Bicycle Riders

(Source: the Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute)

Excerpts from the BHSI Web site: http://www.helmets.org/mandator.htm

Revised immediately upon receipt of new information

For date of last revision see last line at the bottom.

There is no federal law in the U.S. requiring bicycle helmets. States and localities began adopting laws in 1987, but there is no formal central registry for them. Here are the ones we are aware of as of this date. The States are probably all included, but some localities could be missing.

Jurisdiction	Ages/Conditions		Effective Date
Alabama
	State Law	Under 16	1995
	Montevallo	All ages	1993
	Homewood	All ages	1994
Arizona
	Tucson	Under 18	1993
	Yuma	Under 18	1997
California
	State Law	Passengers under 5	1987
	State Law	Riders under 18	1994
	Bidwell Park, Chico, CA	All ages	1991
Connecticut
	State Law	Under 16
Seymour	All ages	1998 /REPEALED 1998
Delaware
State Law	Under 16	1996
District of Columbia
	Under 16	2000
Florida
	State Law** (excludes Citrus and St. Lucie Counties)	Under 16	1997
Georgia
	State Law	Under 16	1993
Hawaii
	State Law	Under 16	1/1/2001
Illinois
	Barrington	Under 17	1997
	Inverness	Under 16	1999
Louisiana
	State Law	Under 12	3/1/2002
Maine
	State Law	Under 16	1999
Maryland
	State Law	Under 16	1995
	Allegany Co	Under 16	1992
	Howard Co	Under 17	1990
	Montgomery Co	Under 18	1991
	Sykesville	All ages	1995
Massachusetts
	State Law	Passengers under 5	1990
	State Law	Riders under 13	1994
Michigan
	E. Grand Rapids	Under 18	1995
	Adrian	Under 15	1998
	Kensington	All Ages	1998
	Metropark
	Farmington Hills	Under 16	1999
Missouri
	Creve Coeur St Louis Co for unincorporated areas	All ages Under 17	2000 2002
Montana
	Billings	Under 16	2001
New Hampshire
	State Law	Younger than 16	2005
New Jersey
	State Law	Under 14	1992
New York
	State Law	Passengers under 5	1989
	State Law	Riders under 14	1994
	Chemung Co	Under 15	1995
	Erie County Parks	All ages	1993
	Greenburgh	All ages	1994
	Guilderland	Under 14	1992
	Rockland Co	All ages	1992
	Onondaga Co (Syracuse)	Under 18	2001
North Carolina
	State Law	Under 16	2001
	Black Mountain	All ages	1996
	Boone	All ages	1995
	Carolina Beach	Under 16	1994
	Carrboro	Under 16	1997
	Cary	Under 16	2001
	Chapel Hill	Under 16	1992
	Greenville	Under 16	1998
	Matthews	Under 16	2001
Ohio
	Akron	Under 16	2001
	Beachwood	Under 16	1990
	Brecksville	Under 18	1998
	Centerville	Under 16	1999
	Glendale	Under 19	2000
	Orange Village	Ages 6 to 15	1992
	Shaker Heights	All ages over 5 including passengers	1997
	Strongsville	Under 12	1993
	Waynesville	Under 17	2000
Oregon
	State Law	Under 16	1994
Pennsylvania
	State Law	Passengers under 51991
	State Law	Riders under 12	1995
Rhode Island
	State Law	Under 9	1996
		Under 16	1998
Texas
	Arlington	Under 18	1997
	Austin	Under 18	1996/97
	Bedford	Under 18	1996
	Benbrook	Under 17	1996
	Coppell	All ages	1997
	Dallas	All ages	1996
	Fort Worth	Under 18	1996
	Houston	Under 18	1995
Tennessee
	State Law	Under 16	1994/2000
	Clarksville	All ages	1993
Virginia
	Alexandria	Under 15	1994
	Arlington Co	Under 15	1993
	Blacksburg	Under 15	1994
	Fairfax Co	Under 15	1993
	Falls Church	Under 15	1993
	Front Royal	Under 15	1996
	Manassas	Under 15	1995
	Manassas Park	Under 15	1997
	Newport News	Under 15	1997
	Prince William Co	Under 15	1995
	Salem	Under 15	2000
	Virginia Beach	Under 15	1995
Washington State
	Aberdeen	All ages	2001
	Bainbridge Island	All ages	2001
	Bremerton	All ages	2000
	Eatonville	Under 16	1996
	Fircrest	All ages	1995
	Gig Harbor	All ages	1996
	King Co (excludes Seattle)	All ages	1993
	Lakewood	All ages	1996
	Milton		All ages1997
	Orting		Under 17 1997
	Pierce Co	All ages	1994
	Port Angeles	All ages	1994
	Poulsbo	Under 18	1995
	Puyallup	All ages	1994
	Steilacoom	All ages	1995
	Tacoma	All ages	1994
	University Place	All ages	1996
West Virginia
	State Law	Under 15	1996
	Clarksburg	Under 18	1993
	Morgantown	All ages	1993
	South Charleston	Under 18	1994
	St. Albans	Under 18	1995
Wisconsin
	Port Washington	Under 17	1997

That's a total of 20 State laws (including the District of Columbia as a "state") and 84 local laws.

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** Florida permitted Counties to opt out, and three did so, but Brevard later reversed its decision, leaving the Counties of Citrus and St. Lucie not covered by the State law. Private property (a driveway, for example) was excluded but all roads and trails are covered.

This page was last revised on: May 16, 2002.