Forgetting About Terrible Accidents

Posted on: 24 January 2018

If you are involved in a motorcycle crash while not wearing a helmet, you may be apprehensive about pursuing damages for your accident. However, the lack of helmet doesn't automatically disqualify you from lodging a motorcycle claim, you can still get compensation for your damages if:

The State Doesn't Have Mandatory Helmet Laws

Some states have mandatory helmet laws that require all motorcycle riders to wear helmets whenever they are riding. In such states, it can be difficult to collect damages (or your damages may be limited) if you were not wearing a helmet. However, there are also states without mandatory helmet laws, and the helmet question only comes in if it could have prevented the crash or lessened your injury. Therefore, you shouldn't hesitate to file a motorcycle accident claim if you were injured in a state without express helmet laws.

You Did Not Incur Head Injuries

Wearing a helmet is not a way of preventing motorcycle crashes; the helmet's job is to avoid or limit head injuries. Therefore, a defendant in a motorbike accident claim cannot use your lack of helmet as a way of denying your damages if you were injured on the legs because a helmet couldn't have prevented such an injury. In fact, sans head injuries, the lack of a helmet should not feature in your car accident negotiations or claim.

You Can Prove Your Reliability

In some cases, if you were not wearing a helmet during the crash, the defendant can use the information to show that you are generally a negligent person. The argument is that if you could ride without a helmet, then you could also be negligent in other areas (maybe you didn't maintain your motorcycle properly). This argument can be particularly helpful if you have a shady past, for example, if you have some DUIs in your past, which can show your negligence.  However, if you have an excellent driving history and also have good character witnesses, you should have no problem pursuing your case.

You Were Severely Injured                                                                                             

Lastly, if you have severe injuries, then the issue of the helmet may only reduce your potential recovery a little bit, and you can still proceed with the lawsuit and get substantial damages. This may be the case even if you had head injuries, but also have serious injuries on other parts of the body that the helmet couldn't have prevented in any way.

Talk to an auto accident lawyer on how the lack of helmet will affect your claim. Hopefully, the lawyer will be able to minimize the effect of the lack of helmet on your damages.