STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8271--A
IN SENATE
April 25, 2018
___________
Introduced by Sen. GOLDEN -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Transportation -- commit-
tee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recom-
mitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to required
protective headgear for operators of bicycles under eighteen years of
age
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The section heading, paragraphs (a) and (b) of subdivision
2 5, and subdivision 9 of section 1238 of the vehicle and traffic law, the
3 section heading as amended by chapter 267 of the laws of 1993, para-
4 graphs (a) and (b) of subdivision 5 as amended by chapter 457 of the
5 laws of 1999 and subdivision 9 as amended by chapter 703 of the laws of
6 2004, are amended to read as follows:
7 Passengers on bicycles under one year of age prohibited; passengers
8 and operators under [fourteen] eighteen years of age to wear protective
9 headgear.
10 (a) No person operating a bicycle shall allow a person five or more
11 years of age and less than [fourteen] eighteen years of age to ride as a
12 passenger on a bicycle unless such passenger is wearing a helmet meeting
13 standards established by the commissioner.
14 (b) No person, one or more years of age and less than [fourteen] eigh-
15 teen years of age, shall operate a bicycle unless such person is wearing
16 a helmet meeting standards established by the commissioner.
17 9. (a) Subdivisions [five,] five-a, five-b, and six of this section
18 shall not be applicable to any county, city, town or village that has
19 enacted a local law or ordinance prior to the effective date of this
20 subdivision that prohibits a person who is one or more years of age and
21 less than [fourteen] eighteen years of age from operating a bicycle or
22 skating or gliding on in-line skates or a skate board without wearing a
23 bicycle helmet meeting the standards of the American National Standards
24 Institute (Ansi Z 90.4 bicycle helmet standards), the Snell Memorial
25 Foundation's Standards for Protective Headgear for use in Bicycling, or
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD15561-02-8
S. 8271--A 2
1 the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) bike helmet stand-
2 ards, or that prohibits a person operating a bicycle from allowing a
3 person five or more years of age and less than [fourteen] eighteen years
4 of age to ride as a passenger on a bicycle unless such passenger is
5 wearing a bicycle helmet that meets such standards. The failure of any
6 person to comply with any such local law or ordinance shall not consti-
7 tute contributory negligence or assumption of risk, and shall not in any
8 way bar, preclude or foreclose an action for personal injury or wrongful
9 death by or on behalf of such person, nor in any way diminish or reduce
10 the damages recoverable in any such action. The legislative body of a
11 county, city, town or village may enact a local law or ordinance that
12 prohibits a person who is fourteen or more years of age from skating or
13 gliding on in-line skates, or operating a skate board[, or operating or
14 riding as a passenger on a bicycle] without wearing a bicycle helmet.
15 (b) Subdivisions five and six of this section shall not be applicable
16 to any county, city, town or village that has enacted a local law or
17 ordinance prior to the effective date of this paragraph that prohibits a
18 person who is one or more years of age and less than eighteen years of
19 age from operating a bicycle without wearing a bicycle helmet meeting
20 the standards of the American National Standards Institute (Ansi Z 90.4
21 bicycle helmet standards), the Snell Memorial Foundation's Standards for
22 Protective Headgear for use in Bicycling, or the American Society of
23 Testing and Materials (ASTM) bike helmet standards, or that prohibits a
24 person operating a bicycle from allowing a person five or more years of
25 age and less then eighteen years of age to ride as a passenger on a
26 bicycle unless such passenger is wearing a bicycle helmet that meets
27 such standards. The failure of any person to comply with any such local
28 law or ordinance shall not constitute culpable conduct, and shall not in
29 any way bar, preclude or foreclose an action for personal injury or
30 wrongful death by or on behalf of such person, nor in any way be used to
31 mitigate or diminish the damages recoverable in any such action. The
32 legislative body of a county, city, town or village may enact a local
33 law or ordinance that prohibits a person who is eighteen or more years
34 of age from operating or riding as a passenger on a bicycle without
35 wearing a bicycle helmet.
36 § 2. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
37 have become a law.