Florida Bicycle Helmet Laws Explained

An Overview of Florida’s Bicycle Helmet Laws

There are currently no bicycle helmet laws in Florida, however, Florida Statute § 316.2065 does require children twenty years old and younger to wear helmets when riding. Children are required to wear a helmet under Florida Statute § 316.2065 (1) which states that "a person under the age of 16 must wear protective headgear." This helmet must meet the requirements of a governmental unit or an American National Standards Institute (ANSI) approved Bicycle helmet safety standard. (§316.2065 (1)) This law is limited to bicycles, and does not include motorized scooters, or electric bicycles.
If you are caught violating Florida Statute § 316.2065 you will be charged with a civil infraction which carries a fine in an amount set by the county or city ordinances to which you reside. If there are no set city or county fines for this violation , the state will charge you $15.00 for the first violation ($50.00 for subsequent violations). The court can impose the fine, but must limit the amount of the fine to the cost of the helmet if you provide proof you possess a helmet which meets the requirements of a government unit or an American National Standards Institute (ANSI) approved Bicycle helmet safety standard. However, if you do not own a bicycle helmet which meets the government or ANSI standard the court can charge you a fine of up to $500.00. Furthermore, if you have been charged with violating this statute and you do own a helmet that meets the FARS requirements but did not have it in your possession at the time of the citation, the court may dismiss the citation if you do the following: if you provide to the court sufficient evidence that you possess a bicycle helmet which meets the FARS guidelines, the violation will be dismissed.

The Consequences for Not Wearing a Helmet

A person who fails to comply with the requirements of this section shall be deemed in violation of the provisions of this section and shall:

(1) for a first violation, receive a warning for a first violation and attend a bicycle safety education course, provided by a district school board, pursuant to s. 1003.499, prior to the issuance of a citation under subsection (2); or
(2) for each subsequent violation, receive a citation that imposes a fine not to exceed $25.

The Safety Advantages of Wearing a Helmet

The efficacy of wearing a bicycle helmet while riding has been proven to vastly outweigh the likelihood of personal injury while on a bike. "Wearing a helmet while biking in the U.S. is associated with 85%-88% reduction in risk of head and neck injury." Despite the overwhelming degree of evidence regarding the efficacy of wearing a helmet while on a bike, past helmet data has revealed that a vast number of riders do not wear a helmet on a frequent basis. Particularly in South Florida, a large number of Miami’s cyclists do not wear helmets regularly. The consequences of riding without a helmet can be catastrophic. "It is estimated that between 30-50% of cyclist fatalities are thought to involve brain injury." "A cyclist is killed every 6 hours in the United States; one-fourth of these deaths occur from head injury."
Here in Florida, our state has among the highest rates of reported traumatic brain injuries in the country. "In Florida, between 2006 and 2010, 80% of all bicycle injuries involved a brain injury; 60% of injuries to children aged 4 to 14 involved a brain injury; and 55% of workers’ compensation claims in Florida from 2010-2013 involved a brain injury." "Overall, helmets are 39% effective in reducing the likelihood of head injury [and 29% effective in reducing the likelihood of a serious brain injury]."
Florida ranks 2nd in the nation for cycling deaths according to a 2019 report from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. This should be no surprise as not only does Florida have the highest number of cycling fatalities in the nation, but Florida also has the highest number of cyclist fatalities per capita in the country as well. "From 2012-2016, 286 motor vehicle crashes in Florida resulted in the deaths of 293 cyclists. The state’s 39% increase in cyclist deaths during this period was three times greater than the increase for the overall U.S." And the deadliest place in Florida for cyclists is a 275-mile stretch along the Gulf Coast of Florida that corresponds with the route followed by U.S. Route 19, U.S. Route 27, and U.S. Route 29.
Yet another study shows that Florida’s bicyclist fatality rate increased by 37.7% from 2008 to 2017 – almost twice the national increase rate of 19.4%. According to a 2011 study by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) many cyclists do not wear a helmet. In the state of Florida, "approximately 36% of bicyclists were wearing a helmet at the time of a crash."
Studies over the years show that wearing a helmet while riding a bicycle reduces the chance for a head injury by 50%. An anecdotal study indicates that a bike rider who goes 13 mph or faster is at a risk of having a permanent fracture when hitting the ground.
If you are interested in more information about Florida’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Law, we recommend "A Florida Cyclist’s Guide to Traffic Law" by James M. Wensman, Esq.

How the Helmet Laws Impact All Bicyclists

Bicycle helmet laws can affect all bicyclists whether you are a tourist riding around Florida, a parent who has bought a bicycle for your child, or an avid cyclist who enjoys the path in Florida. Helmet law violations can lead to fines for adults and citations for minors, which leads to additional consequences for adults such as your insurance premium increasing. Even if you are simply a tourist visiting the state, you can still potentially be cited for a citation for not wearing a helmet. There are many factors that go into whether a helmet law is enforced against a cyclist, such as the location and the before mentioned factors . If you are an out-of-state resident, you will be held accountable for violations of the bicycle helmet law only if you broke the law while physically located in the state of Florida. Unfortunately, even if you choose to rent and ride a bicycle here in the state of Florida, you must be mindful of your helmet use when on Florida roads. The laws will be enforced against you.
Whether you rent or own your bike, Florida law requires you to wear one regardless of your age. Minors are required to wear a helmet any time they are riding on Florida roadways. The law, however, does not specifically say that you have to wear one while riding alone but it is implied from the statute that you must wear one regardless of who is riding the bike.

Opinions on the Bike Helmet Debate

Public opinion on the issue of bicycle helmet laws has been and continues to be divided. Advocates of the repeal of Florida’s bicycle helmet law include proponents for individual responsibility, those seeking less government regulation, those concerned with costs of the law’s enforcement, those who believe helmets can provide a false sense of security and increased risk-taking, and public health advocates concerned with the public health impact of the law. Those advocating against the repeal include proponents of scaling the law’s application, such as restricting the application of the law to minors, and those interested in the law’s impact on reducing head trauma and severe injuries.
Proponents of the law’s application to only those under 16 include St. Petersburg Councilmember Karl Nurse (quoted above). In an analysis paper he prepared in 2012, Councilmember Nurse wrote: "Repealing the helmet law is more radical than narrowing it to just those 16 and younger. That is because the current law is apparently accomplishing its purpose of increasing helmet usage."
He further quoted the following from a 2011 Pediatric Trauma Society letter: "[T]he evidence is now clear that bicycle helmet use is effective at reducing the frequency and severity of head injury and brain injury for cyclist of all ages. The Pediatric Trauma Society urges your committee to support the mandatory use of bicycle helmets for all cyclists. Children, adolescents, and adults should all be covered by this protection. We are convinced that with the continued urging of the public health community, education campaigns, collaboration with industry partners, and targeted enforcement, the progress that has resulted in the current helmet use rate of 40% for all cyclists can be raised to 85 to 100% over the next few years. To reduce head injury and brain injury in cyclists, we believe the most effective public policy achievable would be mandatory helmet use for all cyclists. We would support legislation that would mandate the inclusion of a helmet in the purchase of a bike (without raising the cost of the bike). In the event that a proposal to repeal the helmet law were adopted, we believe that in the spirit of our organization, there would be some obligation to simultaneously push a rider safety program that involves helmet education and helmet subsidy, and that additional efforts to protect our young cyclists against the known consequences of suboptimal helmet use would need to be prioritized."

How Florida Compares to Other States

Florida’s bicycle helmet laws are fairly strict and one of the most comprehensive in the nation. While there are other states with helmet laws, they aren’t as extensive as Florida’s cyclist helmet law. Any state with a population of more than 2,000,000 people must have a "highly visible", no passenger obstruction, helmet required for riders under 16. Some states, like North Carolina, permit the same for adult riders but it is not as common. States that have "universal" helmet laws for both adults and children will often have outdated definitions of "bicycle" that cover skateboards, scooters, and roller blades.
Even in the "progressive" state of California, they offer a rebuttable presumption for cyclists who wear a helmet that they were not at fault for any injury. California is also one of the states that offers limited "self-defense" immunity to those injured by a wrongful intentional act which more closely resembles Florida Statutes Section 768.041 .
In Virginia, the general rule is that all riders over the age of 14 are expected to wear a bicycle helmet, but there is no specific law that requires this. Virginia’s bicycle law further explains its lack of a bicycle helmet law, stating that the General Assembly of Virginia "does not require, as a condition of the operation of bicycles, the wearing of safety equipment."
The Connecticut legislature is similar to Virginia in that they do not have a law requiring adults to wear a helmet when riding a bike, but do recommend wearing one. In another example of state by state dissimilarity, the state of Nevada has an age specific "youth helmet use law" that is applicable only to cyclists under the age of 18. However, a bill to pass a universal helmet law was pending in their legislature in the summer of 2017.
Another state with a statewide penalty for not wearing a helmet is Illinois, where the fine is $25.00 with a surcharge of $20.00 that is sent to the Illinois Injury Trust Fund.