Using Motorcycle Safety Equipment Can Affect Your Injury Claim

A lot of different factors come into play when determining fault for (and the value of) a motorcycle accident claim, including whether anyone violated a traffic law. One thing that many people fail to consider, however, is how a motorcyclist’s use of safety equipment could affect the outcome of an injury claim. The reality is that whether or not a rider wore a helmet or other safety gear can have a significant impact on his or her recovery.

Oklahoma’s Motorcycle Helmet Law 

In Oklahoma, motorcycle riders under the age of 18 years old are required to wear a helmet. Those over this age, however, are not bound by the same rules. Still, more and more people are opting to wear helmets because they have proven to be so successful at preventing traumatic brain and neck injuries in riders. For instance, research reveals that helmet use lowers the risk of head injury in motorcyclists by as much as 85 percent, brain injury by 88 percent, and severe brain injury by 75 percent. These statistics have led many motorcyclists to make helmet use a regular part of their riding routine. Helmets are not, however, the only type of safety gear that can help protect riders from serious injury.

Protective Apparel for Motorcycle Riders 

Motorcycle riders are much more at risk of injury than other motorists, due to the fact that their vehicles are so much smaller than the average passenger car and that they lack protection upon impact. To help reduce the risk of severe injury, safety experts recommend that motorcyclists, besides wearing helmets, also make use of:

• Heavy-duty jackets and pants, which can help prevent road rash;
• Heavy boots;
• Gloves; and
• Eye protection.

While wearing this gear doesn’t guarantee that a person won’t be injured in a motorcycle accident, it can go a long way towards preventing the worst of potential injuries.

How Safety Equipment Can Affect a Motorcycle Accident Claim 

Although Oklahoma law doesn’t legally require that motorcyclists wear a helmet when riding, whether or not a person does so could still affect how much they can recover in an injury claim. This is because Oklahoma adheres to a modified comparative negligence standard when apportioning fault for an accident. Basically, under state law, a claimant can still recover for an accident despite being partially at fault for that crash as long as his or her degree of fault is lesser than the other parties involved, although the amount recovered will be less. Under this theory, a jury could find that a motorcyclist’s injuries would have been less severe had he or she been wearing a helmet or other safety gear and as a result, could award a lower amount of damages (reduced in proportion to the rider’s degree of negligence).

Protecting Your Right to Compensation 

One of the best ways to protect a rider from injury and to defeat an eventual claim of negligence following a motorcycle accident is to wear a helmet and other safety equipment. To learn more about how your own helmet use (or lack thereof) could affect your injury claim, please call the experienced Tulsa motorcycle accident lawyers at Levinson Law today.

Sources:

 ok.gov/saferiders/FAQs/index.html

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7025438/#=