FLORIDA HELMET LAWS

The Highway Safety Act of 1966 pushed states to adopt universal helmet requirements. This federal law empowered the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to withhold highway funding from states that did not pass a law requiring all motorcyclists to wear helmets.

At its high point, 47 states had universal helmet laws. After Congress withdrew the DOT’s power to withhold funding, 31 states repealed or diluted their laws. Florida was one of those states.

Florida’s law begins like a universal helmet law. It states that you may not ride on a motorcycle unless you wear a DOT-approved helmet. This law applies to both operators and passengers. If the law stopped there, helmets would be mandatory for all motorcyclists.

But the law then has an exception that renders it nearly unenforceable.

Riders do not need to wear a helmet if they meet both of the following conditions:

• Over 21
• Covered by health insurance that pays for motorcycle crash injuries

As a practical matter, the following riders must wear helmets under Florida law:

• Under 21; or
• Over 21 and uninsured.

Police officers usually cannot determine a rider’s age or health insurance status without stopping them. Additionally, if an officer stops a rider who meets the age and health insurance requirements, they waste the department’s resources and the rider’s time. As a result, officers usually only issue tickets for helmet violations in two situations.

First, they might issue a helmet ticket after stopping a rider for another violation. Thus, when an officer stops an unhelmeted rider under 21 for speeding, they may also issue citations for speeding and a helmet violation.

Second, officers would likely stop a motorcyclist with an unhelmeted child passenger. Motorcycle operators are responsible for making sure young passengers wear helmets and can receive a citation when they fail to do so.