Motorcycle accidents can have terrible consequences, resulting in serious injuries and property damage that can exceed that of a car accident. To make matters worse, your accident may have been caused by someone who wasn’t paying attention, was driving drunk or was simply being too aggressive. Despite that it was their fault, you come across a potential problem to filing a claim: you weren’t wearing a helmet at the time of the crash. Here is a breakdown of how not wearing a helmet might affect your chances of getting compensation for your accident.
Responsibility of Wearing a Helmet
Whether you live in a state that has a mandatory helmet law or not, wearing a helmet can serve as proof that you are a careful and considerate rider. It can help your case to show that you care to wear a helmet, especially if you are in a state where no law requires it. Your odds of getting compensated for injuries in an accident are usually increased if you were wearing a helmet, no matter what the law says, because it shows the severity of your injuries despite your safety precautions.
States Where Helmets Are Required
If you are injured in an accident while not wearing a helmet and are in a state where helmets are required by law, your chances of getting compensation for the injuries are slim. Even if the accident is not your fault, you still violated the law that is meant to help prevent those injuries in the first place, so part of the neglect falls on you. In this case, you may attempt to prove that the injuries you sustained would have happened even if you were wearing a helmet, but this will be highly hypothetical and much harder to prove.
States Where Helmets Are Not Required
This is more of a gray area, but again, you will have a greater chance of gaining compensation if you were wearing a helmet. Though a helmet is not legally required, not wearing one shows disregard for your own safety, and you may still be found partly responsible for your injuries because of it. You may have a harder time getting the full compensation you want, and it can be difficult to prove that the injuries would have occurred regardless of a helmet.
If you weren’t wearing a helmet when your accident occurred, you may be in for an uphill battle to get properly compensated for your losses. Contact a motorcycle accident lawyer to discuss your options and obtain advice on how to get the most out of it.
Source: Auto Accident Lawyer Trenton, NJ, Davis & Brusca, LLC