Rhode Islands Bicycle Helmet Law
G.L.R.I. 31-19-2.1 requires any person age fifteen or younger that uses or is a passenger on a bicycle or uses skateboard, roller skates, scooter, or inline skates to wear a helmet meeting the standards of the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission on public property. Public property includes highways, bicycle trails or paths, shared use paths, parks, recreational areas, school property, and any other public right of way.
Limited Scope of the Bicycle Helmet Law
While a useful law, I do not see many significant cases regarding helmet laws on bicycles or other non-motorized wheeled vehicles as a Rhode Island bike lawyer. I suspect the reason for this lack of attention is the bicycle helmet laws limited usefulness to Rhode Island bike lawyers in pursuing litigation. G.L.R.I. 31-19-2.1 specifically states than failure to wear a helmet is NOT considered contributory or comparative negligence, nor shall the failure to wear a helmet be admissible as evidence in the trial of any civil action. As I discussed in previous articles, negligence is a persons unintentional failure to comply with a legally imposed duty or standard of care. Comparative negligence is a system to assign fault when more than one person acts negligently, as discussed by G.L.R.I. 9-20-4. By removing itself from civil litigation, this law limits the additional consequences a bicycle operator or passenger may face from their failure to follow the law.
As a point of interest, G.L.R.I. 31-19-2.1 indicates on its face that while all operators and passengers of wheeled vehicles must wear a helmet, apparently only the operator must use one that fits their head and is secured by straps. While it may be tempting to take advantage of this instance of clumsy draftsmanship, I can tell you as a Rhode Island bike lawyer that it is far more important to pay attention to your safety.
Other Information
There are a number of other traffic laws useful to assist Rode Island bike lawyers help their clients in the case of an injury. Two useful ones are G.L.R.I. 31-15-17, governing when a motor vehicle or farm equipment can cross or drive in a bicycle lane, and 31-17-9 which establishes right-of-way for crossing bicycle lanes. More people should be aware of these laws, as the Rhode Island Department of Transportation has constructed more than 50 miles of off-road bike paths throughout Rhode Island and has identified more than 120 miles of roadway as bike routes that are most suitable for cycling.
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