Motorcycle Accidents
Motorcycle study reveals the importance of wearing a helmet
If you ever come close to thinking it’s not a big deal to drive your motorcycle to the corner store without wearing a helmet – or worse – going for an actual ride through the country or the city without a helmet, think again. The results of a 2016 study show just how important wearing a motorcycle helmet is for safety purposes.
The study reviewed the records from 73,769 motorcycle crashes. Thirty-eight percent of these records were from states with partial motorcycle helmet laws (where only part of the riding population must wear a helmet) and 62 percent of the records were from states with universal motorcycle helmet laws (where all of the riding population needs to wear a helmet).
To summarize the results of this study without going deeply into the details of the data set, the researchers discovered that motorcyclists in so-called “universal helmet law states” were far more likely to don helmets, and this translated into fewer deaths and catastrophic injuries after the motorcyclists in these areas were involved in accidents. In fact, the universal law states saw lower instances of head, facial and brain injuries for motorcyclists as a whole. Therefore, regardless of what the law says, motorcyclists in Indiana should seriously consider using a helmet whenever they get on their bikes.
Were you injured in a serious motorcycle accident while you weren’t wearing a helmet? Failure to wear a motorcycle helmet as required by law will not preclude you from being able to pursue personal injury damages if another party was at fault for your injuries. It could, however, result in some reduction in the amount of damages you’re entitled to pursue.
Author Matt Boulton
