- Only California, Delaware and New Mexico have laws requiring all children riding a bicycle to wear bicycle helmets.helmet boy 2 image by Paul Moore from Fotolia.com
In the United States, there is no federal motorcycle or bicycle helmet law. As a result, child helmet requirements for motorcycles, low-power cycles and bicycles vary from state to state. However, in 1967, the federal government promoted the passage of motorcycle helmet laws at the state level by requiring states to pass motorcycle helmet laws in order to be eligible for a variety of federal funding grants. - Of the fifty states and the District of Columbia, only three (Illinois, Iowa and New Hampshire) do not require children to wear helmets while riding motorcycles as they have no motorcycle helmet law. 20 states have legislation that requires all motorcycle riders to wear helmets. 19 states require only children 17 years and younger to wear helmets while riding motorcycles. One state (Delaware) requires motorcycle helmets for riders 18 years and younger. Seven states require motorcycle helmets for riders 20 years and younger.
- Only three states (California, Delaware and New Mexico) have laws requiring all children to wear bicycle helmets. In addition, 16 states and the District of Columbia have laws that require some children to wear bicycle helmets. Of these 16 states, 12 and the District of Columbia require children 15 years and younger to wear helmets while riding a bicycle. The states are Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island and Tennessee. Both Massachusetts and New York prohibit children younger than one year to ride bicycles, and require helmets for children younger than 17 years and 14 years respectively. The other 29 states have no state-wide laws requiring bicycle helmet use, but individual municipalities in these states may have such laws on the books.
- According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, "low-power cycle" is a generic term that refers to scooters, mopeds, and a variety of other two-wheeled cycles that do not fall under the definition of motorcycle. There are 22 states whose motorcycle helmet requirements cover low-power cycles as well. These states are Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and Washington. An additional 25 states and the District of Columbia have motorcycle helmet laws that cover some---but not all ---low-power cycles. The three states that have no motorcycle helmet law (Illinois, Iowa, and New Hampshire) have no low-power cycle helmet law either.
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