Helmet safety requirements advance in House Transportation Committee

The House Committee on Transportation recommended approval of two bills requiring the use of helmets — one for minors while using a skateboard and one, for anyone of any age, while using a moped.

Senate Bill 344 Senate Draft 1 required all skateboard users under the age of 16 to wear a helmet while operating a skateboard. However, committee Chair Darius Kila amended the bill to increase the age to 18. The second measure, Senate Bill 30, requires anyone, regardless of age, to wear a safety helmet fastened with a chin strap while operating a moped.

Voting in favor of the bills in committee were Kila, Vice Chair Tina Nakada Grandinetti and Reps. Tyson Miyake, Luke Evslin, Lisa Kitagawa and Christopher Muraoka. Reps. Elle Cochran, Trish La Chica and Elijah Pierick were absent and excused.

In written public testimony on the skateboard bill, the state Department of Transportation supported the measure, reporting that using a helmet reduces skateboard head injuries by up to 88%, according to the National Library of Medicine.

The Hawaiʻi Department of Health reported that, from 2019 through 2023, there were 11 serious skateboard injuries on Hawaiʻi roadways; two of which were under the age of 17 and neither of them were wearing helmets.

The Transportation Department clarified that the bill would not infringe upon county ordinances that prohibit skateboards on streets and roadways.

AAA Hawaiʻi backed the bill as well.

“Skateboarding is a fun but risky sport,” said Marianne Kim, senior public policy specialist with AAA Hawaiʻi. “It requires a high level of balance on a small, unstable platform, meaning even slight disruptions or uneven terrain can easily cause a loss of balance and result in a fall.”

Skateboarding injuries account for thousands of injuries each year, most involving children, Kim said. According to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, more than 230,000 people with skateboarding-related injuries received emergency treatment at hospitals in 2022 alone. Of those injuries, more than 3 in 10 involved children under the age of 15.

AAA Hawaiʻi also reported that studies show non-helmeted skateboarders have a 60% greater risk of sustaining an injury than helmeted skateboarders.

Registered nurse Lisa Dau, injury prevention coordinator with the Keiki Injury Prevention Coalition, said the bill “is critical for ensuring the safety of young skateboarders and preventing serious head injuries.”

Young riders with developing motor skills and risk awareness are especially vulnerable to falls and collisions, she said. “Requiring helmet use would help instill safe habits and greatly reduce preventable injuries.”

Dau also said that traumatic brain injuries impose a significant burden on families and the healthcare system. Emergency treatment and long-term rehabilitation for head injuries can be expensive, which makes prevention the most cost-effective solution, she said.

“Many states already have laws requiring bicycle helmets for minors, so it is only logical to extend similar safety measures to skateboarding,” Dau said.

Written testimony opposed to the measure requiring helmets for minors on skateboards was submitted by two individuals.

In contrast, most of the written testimony submitted about requiring helmet use on mopeds for everyone was in opposition.

Manabo Sato, co-founder and vice president of Moped Doctors Inc., a local moped sales and repair shop, said he was against the bill because it’s “broad, overarching and overreaching” to go from the current limited moped helmet laws for non-rental mopeds to “suddenly having to force all moped riders to have them regardless of age.”

“A more nuanced approach makes more sense,” he said. “Hawaiʻi’s beautiful natural environment invites helmets as an option. Some find it more difficult to hear or even see with helmets. And many riders who have never had to wear helmets simply may choose to continue that way.”

Mopeds, as a class of vehicles, has the lowest rate of fatalities, Sato said.

“Helmets do improve the potential safety outcome for moped riders,” he said. “But to force everyone who rides them, not just higher risk age groups, is a clear overreach compared to the long established status quo,” he said.

Both bills have passed first reading in the House. They have been referred to, but not yet heard, by the House Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs, chaired by David Tarnas of Hawaiʻi Island and vice chaired by Mahina Poepoe of Molokaʻi.