II

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 228

To establish a grant program under the National Highway Traffic Safety

Administration for the purpose of promoting the use of bicycle helmets

by individuals under the age of 16.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JANUARY 27 (legislative day, JANUARY 5), 1993

Mr. BRYAN (for himself and Mr. DANFORTH) introduced the following bill;

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce,

Science, and Transportation

A BILL

To establish a grant program under the National Highway

Traffic Safety Administration for the purpose of promoting the use of bicycle helmets by individuals under the

age of 16.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Children’s Bicycle Hel5 met Safety Act of 1993’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds that—
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1 (1) 90 million Americans ride bicycles and 20

2 million ride a bicycle more than once a week;

3 (2) between 1984 and 1988, 2,985 bicyclists in

4 the United States died from head injuries and

5 905,752 suffered head injuries that were treated in

6 hospital emergency rooms;

7 (3) 41 percent of bicycle-related head injury

8 deaths and 76 percent of bicycle-related head inju9 ries occurred among American children under age

10 15;

11 (4) deaths and injuries from bicycle accidents

12 cost society $7.6 billion annually; and a child suffer13 ing from a head injury, on average, will cost society

14 $4.5 million over the child’s lifetime;

15 (5) universal use of bicycle helmets in the Unit16 ed States would have prevented 2,600 deaths from

17 head injuries and 757,000 injuries; and

18 (6) only 5 percent of children in the Nation who

19 ride bicycles wear helmets.

20 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.

21 The Administrator of the National Highway Traffic

22 Safety Administration may, in accordance with section 4,

23 make grants to States, State political subdivisions, and

24 nonprofit organizations for programs that require or en25 courage individuals under the age of 16 to wear approved
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1 bicycle helmets. In making those grants, the Adminis2 trator shall allow grantees to use wide discretion in design3 ing programs that effectively promote increased bicycle

4 helmet use.

5 SEC. 4. PURPOSES FOR GRANTS.

6 A grant made under section 3 may be used by a

7 grantee to—

8 (1) enforce a law that requires individuals

9 under the age of 16 to wear approved bicycle hel10 mets on their heads while riding on bicycles;

11 (2) assist individuals under the age of 16 to ac12 quire approved bicycle helmets;

13 (3) develop and administer a program to edu14 cate individuals under the age of 16 and their fami15 lies on the importance of wearing such helmets in

16 order to improve bicycle safety; or

17 (4) carry out any combination of the activities

18 described in paragraphs (1), (2), and (3).

19 SEC. 5. STANDARDS.

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Bicycle helmets manufactured 9

21 months or more after the date of the enactment of this

22 Act shall conform to—

23 (1) any interim standard described under sub24 section (b), pending the establishment of a final

25 standard pursuant to subsection (c); and
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1 (2) the final standard, once it has been estab2 lished under subsection (c).

3 (b) INTERIM STANDARDS.—The interim standards

4 are as follows:

5 (1) The American National Standards Institute

6 standard designated as ‘‘Z90.4–1984’’.

7 (2) The Snell Memorial Foundation standard

8 designated as ‘‘B–90’’.

9 (3) Any other standard that the Consumer

10 Product Safety Commission determines is appro11 priate.

12 (c) FINAL STANDARD.—Not later than 60 days after

13 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Consumer Prod14 uct Safety Commission shall begin a proceeding under sec15 tion 553 of title 5, United States Code, to—

16 (1) review the requirements of the interim

17 standards set forth in subsection (a) and establish a

18 final standard based on such requirements;

19 (2) include in the final standard a provision to

20 protect against the risk of helmets coming off the

21 heads of bicycle riders;

22 (3) include in the final standard provisions that

23 address the risk of injury to children; and

24 (4) include additional provisions as appropriate.
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1 Sections 7 and 9 of the Consumer Product Safety Act (15

2 U.S.C. 2056 and 2058) shall not apply to the proceeding

3 under this subsection and section 11 of such Act (15

4 U.S.C. 2060) shall not apply with respect to any standard

5 issued under such proceeding. The final standard shall

6 take effect 1 year from the date it is issued.

7 (d) FAILURE TO MEET STANDARDS.—

8 (1) FAILURE TO MEET INTERIM STANDARD.—

9 Until the final standard takes effect, a bicycle hel10 met that does not conform to an interim standard

11 as required under subsection (a)(1) shall be consid12 ered in violation of a consumer product safety stand13 ard promulgated under the Consumer Product Safe14 ty Act.

15 (2) STATUS OF FINAL STANDARD.—The final

16 standard developed under subsection (c) shall be

17 considered a consumer product safety standard pro18 mulgated under the Consumer Product Safety Act.

19 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

20 For the National Highway Traffic Safety Adminis21 tration to carry out the grant program authorized by this

22 Act, there are authorized to be appropriated $2,000,000

23 for fiscal year 1994, $3,000,000 for fiscal year 1995, and

24 $4,000,000 for fiscal year 1996.
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1 SEC. 7. DEFINITION.

2 In this Act, the term ‘‘approved bicycle helmet’’

3 means a bicycle helmet that meets—

4 (1) any interim standard described in section

5 5(b), pending establishment of a final standard

6 under section 5(c); and

7 (2) the final standard, once it is established

8 under section 5(c).

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