How Could Refusal To Ride With Helmet Affect Damage Claim, Following Motorcycle Accident?

If a motorcycle rider that had chosen to do without a helmet were to get involved in an accident, the absence of suitable headgear would eliminate any chance for success, if the same rider were to pursue an injury claim, or a personal injury lawsuit, with the help of a personal injury lawyer in Waterloo.

Factors that would affect outcome for such a claim, or lawsuit

The law in the state where the accident took place: Some states have a mandatory helmet law; others do not.

Did the state in which the accident took place adhere to the principle of contributory negligence? If it did, then the motorcycle rider’s negligent act (riding without helmet) would deprive the same rider of the right to demand any reimbursement for injuries or other losses.

If the state did not adhere to the principle of contributory negligence, did it follow the principle of comparative negligence? If so, then the size of the motorcycle rider’s compensation would be reduced, in proportion to the degree of neglect that was shown by the refusal to wear proper headgear.

Another possible consequence:

Regardless of the rules in the state where the incident occurred, any insurance company would feel justified in increasing the size of the premium for the motorcycle rider’s insurance policy. If the same rider had told the insurance company that he/she did wear a helmet, then the company might refuse to renew the rider’s insurance policy at the start of a new year.

If the rider without insurance coverage were to continue riding his/her motorcycle, and then were to get involved in another accident, the state could elect to take away, or suspend the same rider’s motorcycle license. In other words, a desire for freedom from the need to wear a helmet could lead to freedom from a required document. That would be the document that proved the rider’s legal right to go speeding down the road on a motorcycle.

A rider’s friends might find it hard to understand their friend’s reason for valuing the freedom from an imposed wearing of headgear over an ensurance of financial security. Those same friends would struggle to come up with a way for guaranteeing their rider-friend’s retention of some type of insurance policy.

Most insurance companies maintain some type of database, which contains the names of any customers that did not live up to the contract that they had made with that particular company. Such a database would certainly contain the name of any past or present policyholder that had claimed, falsely, to utilization of a helmet, while riding a motorcycle.

Freedom to travel down the road with air streaming through the hair does not translate into a freedom to lie, in order to get a good rate.