S 3096 IS
102d CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 3096
To establish a grant program under the Administrator of the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration for the purpose of promoting the use of bicycle
helmets by children under the age of 16.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 29 (legislative day, JULY 23), 1992
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 Administrator of the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration for the purpose of promoting the use of bicycle
helmets by children under the age of 16.
  Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
  States of America in Congress assembled,
FINDINGS
  SECTION 1. The Congress finds that--
  (1) Ninety million Americans ride bicycles and twenty million ride a
  bicycle more than once a week;
  (2) between 1984 and 1988, two thousand nine hundred and eighty-five
  bicyclists in the United States died from head injuries and nine hundred
  and five thousand seven hundred and fifty-two suffered head injuries that
  were treated in hospital emergency rooms;
  (3) Forty-one percent of bicycle-related head injury deaths and 76 percent
  of bicycle-related head injuries occurred among American children under
  age fifteen;
  (4) deaths and injuries from bicycle accidents cost society $7,600,000,000
  annually; and a child suffering from a head injury, on average, will cost
  society $4,500,000 over the child's lifetime;
  (5) universal use of bicycle helmets in the United States would have
  prevented two thousand and six hundred deaths from head injuries and seven
  hundred and fifty-seven thousand injuries; and
  (6) only 5 percent of children in the Nation who ride bicycles wear helmets.
ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM
  SEC. 2. The Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety
  Administration may, in accordance with section 3, make grants to States
  and State political subdivisions for programs that require or encourage
  individuals under the age of sixteen to wear approved bicycle helmets. In
  making those grants, the Administrator shall allow grantees to use wide
  discretion in designing programs that effectively promote increased bicycle
  helmet use.
PURPOSES FOR GRANTS
  SEC. 3. A grant made under section 2 may be used by a grantee to--
  (1) enforce a law that requires individuals under the age of sixteen to
  wear approved bicycle helmets on their heads while riding on bicycles;
  (2) assist individuals under the age of sixteen to acquire approved
  bicycle helmets;
  (3) develop and administer a program to educate individuals under the age
  of sixteen and their families on the importance of wearing such helmets
  in order to improve bicycle safety; or
  (4) carry out any combination of the activities described in paragraphs (1),
  (2), and (3).
AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS
  SEC. 4. For the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to carry out
  this Act, there are authorized to be appropriated $2,000,000 for fiscal year
  1993, $3,000,000 for fiscal year 1994, and $4,000,000 for fiscal year 1995.
DEFINITION
  SEC. 5. In this Act, the term `approved bicycle helmet' means a bicycle
  helmet which meets the testing standards of the American National Standards
  Institute or the Snell Memorial Institute.