Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Does anyone care that it's illegal to ride a moped without a helmet?
Hawaiʻi made moped helmets mandatory last year, but police aren’t issuing tickets and few riders appear to be voluntarily donning the protective gear.
The goal of the 2025 bill was to reduce serious injuries and deaths among moped riders by requiring helmets for riders of all ages. Previously, only minors needed to wear a helmet.
Yet in the first 10 months of the law, the Honolulu Police Department only ticketed three riders for not wearing a helmet — a decrease from the five minors cited during the same period in the previous year, when the state only required riders under the age of 18 to wear a helmet.
It’s hard to blame moped riders for not knowing about the law, which has received little attention, even as moped crashes remain a problem across Oʻahu.
It’s not just that the Honolulu Police Department isn’t enforcing the law. Even some top emergency management officials have expressed a lack of awareness.
In a podcast in January, nearly six months after the law went into effect, Honolulu Emergency Services Director Dr. Jim Ireland pointed to ongoing moped injuries across the city.
“We don’t have a helmet law in Hawaiʻi,” he said. “That contributes to the degree of disability and death, people having death injuries on mopeds.”
Read the story: civilbeat.org/2026/04/its-illegal-to-ride-a-moped-without-a-helmet-does-anyone-care
Does anyone care that it's illegal to ride a moped without a helmet?
Hawaiʻi made moped helmets mandatory last year, but police aren’t issuing tickets and few riders appear to be voluntarily donning the protective gear.
The goal of the 2025 bill was to reduce serious injuries and deaths among moped riders by requiring helmets for riders of all ages. Previously, only minors needed to wear a helmet.
Yet in the first 10 months of the law, the Honolulu Police Department only ticketed three riders for not wearing a helmet — a decrease from the five minors cited during the same period in the previous year, when the state only required riders under the age of 18 to wear a helmet.
It’s hard to blame moped riders for not knowing about the law, which has received little attention, even as moped crashes remain a problem across Oʻahu.
It’s not just that the Honolulu Police Department isn’t enforcing the law. Even some top emergency management officials have expressed a lack of awareness.
In a podcast in January, nearly six months after the law went into effect, Honolulu Emergency Services Director Dr. Jim Ireland pointed to ongoing moped injuries across the city.
“We don’t have a helmet law in Hawaiʻi,” he said. “That contributes to the degree of disability and death, people having death injuries on mopeds.”
Read the story: civilbeat.org/2026/04/its-illegal-to-ride-a-moped-without-a-helmet-does-anyone-care
