Massachusetts Lawmakers Weigh Changes to Motorcycle Laws

Massachusetts lawmakers are weighing changes to the state’s motorcycle laws, including bills designed to ease the requirement that riders wear helmets.

Current law requires all riders and passengers to wear protective head gear, except those participating in parades.

One proposed change would lift the helmet requirement for riders and passengers over the age of 21. Another would exempt riders whose motorcycles are registered in a state without a helmet law.

Other bills would ban children under 5 from riding on a motorcycle traveling more than 30 miles an hour, ban the sale of exhaust pipes designed to make motorcycles louder and prohibit cars from passing through groups of two or more motorcycles.

The bills are the subject of a Wednesday public hearing by the Transportation Committee at the Statehouse.