A man rides a Bird dockless electric scooter along Fifth Street in April 2018. (Kevin N. Hume/S.F. Examiner)

A man rides a Bird dockless electric scooter along Fifth Street in April 2018. (Kevin N. Hume/S.F. Examiner)

Brown exempts adults from wearing helmets on scooters

Adults won’t need to wear helmets while riding electric scooters on city streets, thanks to a bill Gov. Jerry Brown signed on Wednesday.

The proposal, Assembly Bill 2989 from Assemblyman Heath Flora, R-Ripon, with support from Bird, one of the state’s leading e-scooter rental companies, also permits scooters to be on streets with a speed limit up to 35 mph. Current law bans scooters on streets with speed limits above 25 mph.

Brown signed a different helmet-related bill on Tuesday. Assembly Bill 3077 allows people under 18 cited for not wearing a bike helmet to correct the violation within four months by attending a bicycle safety course and proving they have a helmet that now fits them.

Both measures go into effect Jan. 1

-By Bryan Anderson, The Sacramento BeeCalifornia

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