Can I Still Recover Damages If I Wasn’t Wearing a Helmet During a Motorcycle Accident?

Riding a motorcycle on a sunny day can be an exciting and fun experience. Thousands of people around the country enjoy riding a bike on their days off, and many others also use it as a means of transportation to work. However, it is well known that motorcyclists are at a much higher risk of catastrophic injury, or even death, in accidents because they have much less protection than they would in a car. Nonetheless, several studies have also shown that safety helmets have saved many lives when used by both rider and passengers.

California was one of the first states to make helmet use mandatory for motorcyclists, thus reducing deaths from these types of accidents by 37.5% during the first year. When a person riding a motorcycle is involved in an accident, some of the most common injuries we can encounter are:

• Traumatic brain injuries
• Lacerations to the face and neck
• Eye injuries
• Fractures of the skull, bones of the face, and vertebrae of the neck
• Spinal cord injuries
• Soft tissue injuries

While it is true that helmets cannot protect us from all injuries, they can reduce the risk of many of them. When a person who crashes on a motorcycle is not wearing a helmet, he or she is acting illegally. However, this does not mean that he or she will necessarily be held responsible for the accident. This is where the law of comparative fault comes in to determine who was most at fault during the accident.

On this basis, an experienced motorcycle accident attorney can present you with the following scenarios when seeking compensation.

• You wore a helmet but did not suffer injuries. In this case, wearing a helmet would be irrelevant, but doing so would make you seem like a responsible person.
• No helmet, and no injuries. As in the previous example, the helmet is irrelevant in this situation, although the other driver could claim negligence on your part.
• Wore a helmet and suffered head or neck injuries. In this situation, the use of a helmet is extremely relevant since it could have saved your life. It is very difficult for the other party to deny any type of responsibility.
• No helmet and suffered head or neck injuries. In this situation, it will be challenging to obtain compensation for your injuries unless the injuries are in another part of your body, such as arms or legs, where it would not have made a difference if you were wearing a helmet or not.

As you can see, it is a complicated situation. So if you need help with your biking accident case, please call SM Law. We can help you.