Bill Text: NY S08271 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

---

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-Introduced.html

---

                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                          8271
                    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
        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
    26  the  American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) bike helmet stand-
    27  ards, or that prohibits a person operating a  bicycle  from  allowing  a
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD15561-01-8
        S. 8271                             2
     1  person five or more years of age and less than [fourteen] eighteen years
     2  of  age  to  ride  as  a passenger on a bicycle unless such passenger is
     3  wearing a bicycle helmet that meets such standards. The failure  of  any
     4  person  to comply with any such local law or ordinance shall not consti-
     5  tute contributory negligence or assumption of risk, and shall not in any
     6  way bar, preclude or foreclose an action for personal injury or wrongful
     7  death by or on behalf of such person, nor in any way diminish or  reduce
     8  the  damages  recoverable  in any such action. The legislative body of a
     9  county, city, town or village may enact a local law  or  ordinance  that
    10  prohibits  a person who is fourteen or more years of age from skating or
    11  gliding on in-line skates, or operating a skate board[, or operating  or
    12  riding as a passenger on a bicycle] without wearing a bicycle helmet.
    13    (b)  Subdivisions five and six of this section shall not be applicable
    14  to any county, city, town or village that has enacted  a  local  law  or
    15  ordinance prior to the effective date of this paragraph that prohibits a
    16  person  who  is one or more years of age and less than eighteen years of
    17  age from operating a bicycle without wearing a  bicycle  helmet  meeting
    18  the  standards of the American National Standards Institute (Ansi Z 90.4
    19  bicycle helmet standards), the Snell Memorial Foundation's Standards for
    20  Protective Headgear for use in Bicycling, or  the  American  Society  of
    21  Testing  and Materials (ASTM) bike helmet standards, or that prohibits a
    22  person operating a bicycle from allowing a person five or more years  of
    23  age  and  less  then  eighteen  years of age to ride as a passenger on a
    24  bicycle unless such passenger is wearing a  bicycle  helmet  that  meets
    25  such  standards. The failure of any person to comply with any such local
    26  law or ordinance shall not constitute contributory negligence or assump-
    27  tion of risk, and shall not in any way bar,  preclude  or  foreclose  an
    28  action  for  personal  injury  or wrongful death by or on behalf of such
    29  person, nor in any way diminish or reduce the damages recoverable in any
    30  such action. The legislative body of a county, city, town or village may
    31  enact a local law or ordinance that prohibits a person who  is  eighteen
    32  or  more years of age from operating or riding as a passenger on a bicy-
    33  cle without wearing a bicycle helmet.
    34    § 2. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth  day  after  it  shall
    35  have become a law.