Delaware treats motorcycle helmets differently than most riders assume, and the rule changed in 2023. If you ride here, or you were hurt on a bike and someone is now asking whether your helmet mattered, the specifics are worth getting exactly right. This page covers what Delaware law actually requires, where lane splitting stands, and how those rules play out if you have to file an injury claim.
Who has to wear a helmet in Delaware
Delaware is a partial-helmet state. The rule sits in 21 Del. C. § 4185, and it splits riders into three groups.1
First, anyone up to 19 years old must wear an approved safety helmet and approved eye protection, whether they are operating the motorcycle or riding as a passenger.1 That has been the standard for years.
Second, and this is the newer piece, is the "newly-endorsed" rule. Under § 4185(b)(3), a newly-endorsed person is someone who obtained a motorcycle endorsement on or after July 30, 2023. For the first two years after getting that endorsement, the rider must wear a helmet and eye protection regardless of age. The requirement follows the bike, so a passenger riding with a newly-endorsed operator has to wear a helmet as well.1
Third is everyone else: an adult 19 or older who is past that two-year window. These riders are not required to wear a helmet. But § 4185(b)(1) still tells them to carry an approved helmet and to wear approved eye protection while riding.1 A rider who leaves the helmet clipped to the seat is technically supposed to have one with them and to have eyewear on.
The penalty is small and civil. A violation of § 4185 carries an assessment of not less than $25 and not more than $50, and the statute says it cannot be charged as a criminal offense or padded with extra court costs.1
Why Delaware added the two-year rule
The two-year requirement came from Senate Bill 86, signed by Governor John Carney on June 30, 2023, with the helmet language taking effect September 1, 2023.2 The reasoning was specific. Over the previous five years, roughly a quarter of the fatal and serious-injury crashes involving Delaware-licensed riders involved someone in their first two years of holding an endorsement.2 Instead of an all-ages helmet law, the legislature targeted the window when new riders are most likely to be badly hurt.
Lane splitting and filtering in Delaware
Delaware has no statute that legalizes lane splitting, and none that names and bans it either. What it has is the general lane rule at 21 Del. C. § 4122: a vehicle "shall be driven as nearly as practicable entirely within a single lane" and cannot leave that lane until the driver has confirmed the move can be made safely.3 A motorcycle is a vehicle, so that rule applies to it.
With no motorcycle-specific exception on the books, riding the line between lanes of stopped or crawling traffic, or filtering to the front at a red light, is not permitted in Delaware, and an officer can cite it under the single-lane requirement.3 For an injured rider the practical effect matters most. If you were splitting lanes when a crash happened, expect the other driver's insurer to argue you share the blame. In Delaware that argument runs into the comparative negligence rule, covered below.
Not wearing a helmet usually can't be used against you
Here is the point Delaware riders most often get wrong. If the law let you ride without a helmet and you were hurt, the fact that you had no helmet on generally cannot be held against you in your case.
The Delaware Supreme Court decided this in McKinley v. Casson, 80 A.3d 618 (Del. 2013). At trial, the jury was allowed to hear that the injured rider had not been wearing a helmet. The Supreme Court reversed and sent the case back for a new trial, holding that because no statute required an adult to wear a helmet and no common-law duty required it either, the rider's decision not to wear one could not be treated as negligence or assumption of the risk. Letting the jury learn about it was reversible error.4
Delaware handles seat belts the same way. Under 21 Del. C. § 4802(i), failing to use an occupant protection system cannot be considered evidence of comparative or contributory negligence, and it is not admissible in a civil suit or an insurance claim adjudication.5
One caveat: this protection tracks the requirement. If you were in a group that had to wear a helmet, a rider under 19 or one inside the first two years after endorsement, and you weren't wearing one, a defense lawyer has a real argument that the McKinley rule doesn't cover you.
The deadlines and numbers that decide a rider's claim
Delaware is an at-fault state, so the driver who caused the crash, and their insurer, is responsible for the harm. A few Delaware-specific numbers control how a rider's claim plays out.
You generally have two years from the crash date to file a personal injury lawsuit, under 10 Del. C. § 8119. The same two-year clock applies to property damage to the bike under § 8107. If the injured rider was under 18, the deadline is tolled while they are a minor under § 8116.67
Delaware follows modified comparative negligence with a 51% bar, set out in 10 Del. C. § 8132. You can still recover if you were partly at fault, but your damages drop by your share of the blame, and you recover nothing once your share crosses 50%.8 That rule is why an insurer's lane-splitting or speed argument is worth taking seriously even when the other driver clearly blew it.
Insurance minimums are set by statute. Every registered vehicle must carry at least 25/50/10 in liability coverage, meaning $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident for bodily injury and $10,000 for property damage, under 21 Del. C. § 2902.9 Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage is built into every auto policy at the same limits unless the named insured rejects it in writing, under 18 Del. C. § 3902.10
No-fault PIP is where motorcycles get their own treatment. Delaware requires personal injury protection on registered vehicles under 21 Del. C. § 2118, but § 2118(a)(2)f lets a motorcycle owner elect to exclude PIP for injuries to a person on the bike when the crash happened off a highway or when no other vehicle was involved.11 Plenty of motorcycle policies are written with exactly that exclusion, which means a rider hurt in a solo crash may have no PIP medical coverage at all. Check your own policy before you assume those benefits are there.
After a Delaware motorcycle crash
Get the official report. It anchors the who-hit-whom question that the comparative negligence rule turns on, and you can request it through the process on our Delaware crash reports page. If your bike was totaled or badly damaged, the loss in resale value after repairs is a separate claim from your injuries, explained on our Delaware diminished value page. And if fault or the size of your losses is contested, this is the point to talk with a lawyer who handles Delaware motorcycle cases, which you can start through our legal directory.
This is general information about Delaware law, not legal advice.
Sources
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Delaware Code, 21 Del. C. § 4185 (motorcycle helmet and eye protection requirements). https://delcode.delaware.gov/title21/c041/sc11/index.html
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State of Delaware, "New Motorcycle Helmet Law Aims to Reduce Fatalities" (Aug. 31, 2023). https://news.delaware.gov/2023/08/31/new-motorcycle-helmet-law-aims-to-reduce-fatalities/
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Delaware Code, 21 Del. C. § 4122 (driving on roadways laned for traffic). https://delcode.delaware.gov/title21/c041/sc03/index.html
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McKinley v. Casson, 80 A.3d 618 (Del. 2013) (No. 465, 2012, decided Oct. 31, 2013). https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/5147357/mckinley-v-casson/
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Delaware Code, 21 Del. C. § 4802(i) (occupant protection systems; non-use not admissible). https://delcode.delaware.gov/title21/c048/index.html
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Delaware Code, 10 Del. C. § 8119 (two-year limit for personal injury). https://delcode.delaware.gov/title10/c081/index.html
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Delaware Code, 10 Del. C. § 8116 (tolling of limitations for minority). https://delcode.delaware.gov/title10/c081/index.html
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Delaware Code, 10 Del. C. § 8132 (comparative negligence). https://delcode.delaware.gov/title10/c081/index.html
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Delaware Code, 21 Del. C. § 2902 (minimum liability limits). https://delcode.delaware.gov/title21/c029/sc01/index.html
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Delaware Code, 18 Del. C. § 3902 (uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage). https://delcode.delaware.gov/title18/c039/index.html
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Delaware Code, 21 Del. C. § 2118 (required insurance coverage and PIP). https://delcode.delaware.gov/title21/c021/sc01/index.html