Wearing a properly fitted and designed safety helmet while riding a motorcycle can decrease your risk of suffering a serious brain injury or spinal cord damage in a wreck that could leave you permanently paralyzed. Pennsylvania follows along with many other states in not strictly requiring motorcycle helmets for all riders.
There are some people who do have to wear helmets while riding in the Commonwealth, so understanding Blue Bell motorcycle helmet laws can be important to keeping yourself safe and out of legal trouble. A skilled motorcycle accident attorney can go into more detail about these regulations.
Who’s Required to Wear a Helmet?
Under Pennsylvania law, every person under the age of 21 must wear a safety helmet while operating or riding on a motorcycle. Technically, this same restriction also applies to operators and riders over the age of 21, but there are two key exceptions to this motorcycle helmet law that may allow riders in Blue Bell to go without.
First, no one older than 21 years old and with at least two years of motorcycle riding experience—which is typically measured based on how long they’ve had a valid motorcycle operator license—is required to wear a helmet while riding. Second, the motorcycle helmet requirement does not apply to any rider over 21 who has completed a motorcycle safety class approved by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.
Safety Standards for Motorcycle Helmets
Another thing to note about motorcycle helmet laws in Blue Bell is that not all helmets count toward the requirements set by these regulations. If someone is required to wear a helmet while riding, the helmet must be Department of Transportation-approved. You can tell if a helmet is DOT-approved by looking for a DOT sticker somewhere on the helmet’s outside.
All motorcycle helmets must also have stickers on them noting the helmet’s manufacturer, size, model number or name, and the date it was manufactured. This sticker can technically be affixed anywhere on the inside or outside of the helmet, but it must be legible to a law enforcement officer inspecting the helmet.
Finally, while it’s not strictly required for motorcycle helmets to have visors attached to them, all riders of all ages and experience levels are required to wear some type of eye protection while riding. This can come in the form of a visor attached to their helmet or a separate piece of safety equipment such as goggles or a face shield.
A Blue Bell Attorney Can Explain Motorcycle Helmet Laws in More Detail
Even if you’re not strictly required to wear a helmet while riding a motorcycle, it’s still highly recommended that you do so in order to minimize your risk of suffering a life-altering injury in a crash. On top of that, failing to follow Blue Bell motorcycle helmet laws might be seen as a form of comparative fault if you end up suffering an injury that a helmet likely could’ve prevented, which might affect how much money you can recover for crash-related losses.
Guidance from a seasoned legal professional will be crucial to overcoming legal obstacles and getting the best result possible from your motorcycle accident claim. Call Ostroff Godshall Injury and Accident Lawyers today to learn more.
