Research has shown that even cautious riders are likely to crash their bikes about once every 4,500 miles. In an urban area, crashes are bound to be even more frequent. Therefore, it’s absolutely imperative that all cyclists wear helmets to keep themselves safe and avoid a life-altering catastrophe.
Head injuries account for about 75 percent of the approximately 700 bicycle deaths that occur across the United States every year. Helmets can either drastically reduce the severity of these injuries or prevent them entirely. This protection even holds true in crashes involving collisions with motor vehicles.
There are 21 states, along with Washington D.C., that have laws requiring young cyclists to wear helmets, but there are very few laws that require adult riders to be helmeted while on their bikes. Teenagers are especially likely to go without helmets. But regardless of whether a law exists in your area, it’s clear that helmets save lives and prevent devastating injuries.
Does wearing or not wearing a helmet affect a personal injury claim?
If you have been involved in a bike accident but were not wearing a helmet at the time, there is a chance that it could affect your personal injury claim. Florida operates under a “pure comparative negligence” standard, which means that the amount of money you recover in an accident could be decreased by the percentage of blame you share.
To that end, if you were not wearing a helmet and it is determined it would have limited the severity of your injuries, you might not be able to recover the full amount of compensation to which you would be entitled had you worn a helmet.
If you have been injured in a bike accident and would like sound legal advice, contact a skilled Bradenton personal injury attorney at Goldman, Babboni, Fernandez, Murphy & Walsh.