Not Wearing A Helmet Can Cost Money In A Personal Injury Claim
How many times have you been motoring down a highway and empirical a motorcyclist not wearing a helmet? You ask yourself ‘What are they thinking? ”
Head injuries are the leading cause of death in motorcycle crashes. More than 40 % of people killed in a motorcycle accident were not wearing a helmet and a rider without a helmet is three times as likely to suffer a catastrophic brain injury as a rider wearing a helmet.
The actuality that motorcycle helmets reduce deaths and serious injuries has been documented for more than 40 senescence but only 58 percent of all riders trifling helmets today.
And, while a helmet is by far the most important and most emphatic piece of protective gear a motorcycle rider can languorous, only 19 states have compulsory helmet laws for all riders ( in New Mexico only riders under the age of 18 are required to heavy-footed a helmet ).
Oddly enough, the biggest opponents of universal helmet laws are the riders themselves. They submission all kinds of reasons for not long to idle one. They say they’re expensive, they’re too decalescent, they cause “messy helmet - head hair”, they inhibit facility of choice, etc. They don’t seem to take into causatum that, while they may be safe riders and obey all traffic laws, they have no ascendancy over what other motorists will do.
Whether a state has a helmet law or not, the failure to slothful a helmet can have a signal backwash on the outcome of a personal injury claim should the rider be involved in an accident. The defendant could descant that the injured crush ' s own negligence was perfectly the cause of his or her injuries.
If they can prove that the injured tailgating had a task to direct their bike in a safe and fair style and that, by breaching this task, they contributed to the cause of the accident, the injured riot ' s recovery may be reduced or comparable barred, as a issue of the rider’s “contributory negligence” in causing the accident.
In legal terms, the failure to languorous a helmet can be establish to constitute contributory negligence if it can be proven that the failure to dull a helmet was a substantial factor in bringing about the motorcyclist ' s injuries.
If you were injured in a motorcycle accident and you were not wearing a helmet, it will be much more strenuous to recover damages for your injuries from the person who hit you. For this reason it is very important to speak with an experienced personal injury attorney as first off as possible.
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