Delaware Code Title 21. Motor Vehicles § 4198K. Helmet requirements

(a) A person under 18 years of age shall not operate or ride as a passenger upon any bicycle unless that person is wearing an approved, properly fitted and fastened bicycle helmet.  This requirement shall apply to a person who rides upon a bicycle while in a restraining seat which is attached to the bicycle or in a trailer towed by the bicycle.  For purposes of this section, an “approved helmet” means a bicycle helmet which conforms to the following standards:

(b) Any parent or guardian who fails to cause the parent’s or guardian’s child to wear a bicycle helmet, as provided herein, shall be fined for the first offense $25, and for each subsequent offense, $50.

(c) The Court may dismiss all charges pursuant to this section upon presentation of evidence that a violator hereof has purchased or obtained a bicycle helmet which meets or exceeds the standards set forth herein subsequent to the violation.

(d) The requirements of this section shall apply at all times while a bicycle is being operated on any property open to the public or used by the public for pedestrian and vehicular purposes.

(e) Failure to wear a bicycle helmet as herein described shall not be considered evidence of either comparative or contributory negligence in any civil suit arising out of any accident in which a person under 18 years of age is injured, nor shall failure to wear a bicycle helmet be admissible as evidence in the trial of any civil action.

(f) It is an affirmative defense to a violation of the helmet requirements of this section that the violator is a member of a recognized church or religious denomination and whose religious convictions, in accordance with the tenets and practices of the violator’s church or religious denomination, are against the wearing of a helmet.