Bill Text: NY S08271 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Requires operators of bicycles who are under 18 years of age to wear protective headgear.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-05-31 - PRINT NUMBER 8271A [S08271 Detail]
Download: New_York-2017-S08271-Amended.html
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. LBD15561-02-8S. 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 or14riding 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.
