BILL REQ. #:  H-1437.1 

Read first time 02/12/2003.   Referred to Committee on Transportation.

     AN ACT Relating to required use of helmets with nonmotorized vehicles; adding a new section to chapter 46.61 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 5.40 RCW; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that:
     (1) Head injuries in children cost the residents of Washington state both in terms of human suffering and financial costs. Head injuries are the leading cause of death to children ages five to nine. Over a lifetime, a severe head injury can cost over four million five hundred thousand dollars and have long-term effects on the person's quality of life.
     (2) Nationally, over four hundred thousand children are admitted to emergency departments every year for injuries related to bicycle accidents. Almost half of serious injuries caused by bicycle accidents result in traumatic brain injuries. Of the six hundred cyclists under fourteen years old who die from bicycle-related accidents, head injuries are the leading cause of death.
     (3) Bicycles are a primary form of transportation and recreation for many children, which leads to children ages five to fourteen spending fifty percent more time riding bicycles than adult cyclists. The large amount of time spent riding bicycles increases the likelihood that these children will suffer an accident. Many head injuries to children involved in bicycle accidents are easily avoidable through the use of properly fitting helmets. Bicycle helmets can reduce the risk of serious head injury by eighty-five percent and brain injury by eighty-eight percent.
     (4) Most bicycle accidents occur on bike paths, in parks, or in driveways and do not involve contact with automobiles. Other nonmotorized wheeled vehicles such as in-line skates, roller skates, skateboards, and scooters use these facilities and can also benefit from the use of helmets.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 46.61 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) No person under sixteen years old may operate or ride upon a bicycle, nonmotorized scooter, or skateboard, nor wear in-line skates or roller skates on a highway, bicycle path, or a sidewalk, unless he or she is wearing a properly fitted and fastened protective helmet.
     (2) The Washington state patrol shall make available on their web site and upon request by mail a list of manufacturers of protective helmets that meet the standards of either the American Society for Testing and Materials or the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   A new section is added to chapter 5.40 RCW to read as follows:
     Failure to wear a bicycle helmet does not constitute fault, nor may such failure be admissible as evidence of the fault of any entity in any civil action.