Will Not Wearing A Helmet Affect My Motorcycle Case?

How Does Motorcycle Helmet Usage Affect Motorcycle Accident Claims? 

All motorcycle accident claims hinge on the concept of negligence.

If you’re involved in a motorcycle accident, you have to prove that the other party was responsible for the accident to get them to pay for your damages.

When evaluating your case, the insurance companies or the courts will look at several factors involved in the case to determine liability.

They will work to determine:

• If speed was a factor in the accident
• If a driver made a turn without looking for oncoming traffic
• If a driver was driving distracted
• If drugs or alcohol were a factor in the accident
• If any citations were issued at the scene

And finally, they will ask if you were wearing your helmet.

And if you were, they’ll make sure it meets all national safety standards.

Like speeding or driving distracted, not wearing a helmet while riding your motorcycle breaches your duty of care to others on the road and can be evidence of fault or negligence, legally speaking.

Once all of the facts of the case have been reviewed, the insurance company will assign fault to each party involved.

So, if the other driver was speeding and driving distracted, and you weren’t wearing your helmet, the other driving may be assigned 80% of the fault while you are assigned 20%.

This is due to comparative negligence law.

This can be extremely frustrating, especially if you know the accident was 100% caused by the other driver.

After all, why should you get less for your damages if the accident wasn’t at all your fault?

The insurance will argue that even though you weren’t responsible for the accident, you are responsible for your injuries because you weren’t wearing a helmet.

They’ll say that your injuries wouldn’t have been as severe if you were wearing a helmet.

That’s how you can be twenty percent at fault for the accident, even if your actions didn’t cause it.