ALEXANDRIA, Va. — City Council advanced an ordinance Tuesday extending Alexandria's youth helmet requirement to electric bikes, motorized scooters and motorized skateboards. A public hearing and final vote are set for Saturday.
City code already requires riders 14 and under to wear a helmet on a bicycle on any roadway, sidewalk or shared-use path in the city. The ordinance adds electric power-assisted bicycles, electric personal assistive mobility devices, motorized skateboards and motorized scooters, and retitles the section from "Bicycle helmets" to "Protective helmets." Helmets must meet the Consumer Product Safety Commission standard, and the rule covers passengers as well as riders. Nothing else in the section changes, and the ordinance takes effect on final passage.
The change follows HB 343, which took effect July 1 and expanded the devices a locality may cover. The staff memo says the state amendment added "motorized skateboards or scooters and nonmotorized scooters" to that list; the ordinance does not include nonmotorized scooters, the kick scooters common on city sidewalks.
