California Helmet Laws and Motorcycle Accident Claims
California requires motorcycle operators and passengers to wear qualifying safety helmets while riding on public roads. After a serious motorcycle accident, however, helmet use can become more than a traffic-safety issue. Insurance companies may examine whether a helmet was worn, whether it met applicable standards, and whether helmet use had any connection to the injuries being claimed.
One of the most important distinctions is the difference between causing the motorcycle collision and contributing to a particular injury. A driver could cause a crash by making an unsafe left turn, changing lanes into a motorcycle, running a traffic signal, or failing to yield regardless of whether the rider was wearing a helmet.
Helmet questions can become more important when the rider suffers a head, facial, skull, or brain injury. Even then, whether a different helmet or proper helmet use would have prevented or reduced the injury can depend on the mechanics of the crash, medical information, the point of impact, and other available records.
DAG Law Firm, APC represents riders injured in qualifying motorcycle accidents throughout California. You do not pay attorney fees unless we win your case. There are no upfront attorney fees for qualifying motorcycle accident matters handled on a contingency-fee basis. Call (323) 930-2020 or contact DAG Law Firm today for a free consultation.
California Motorcycle Riders And Passengers Must Wear Helmets
California generally requires motorcycle operators and passengers to wear motorcycle safety helmets while riding on public roads. The rule applies to the person operating the motorcycle as well as someone riding as a passenger.
California does not generally limit the motorcycle helmet requirement to younger riders. Adult motorcycle riders are also subject to the helmet requirement.
Helmet use is only one part of California motorcycle safety law. Depending on a collision, other issues involving licensing, passengers, equipment, lane splitting, traffic signals, or roadway conduct can also become relevant.
The existence of a helmet requirement does not mean a rider who violated that requirement automatically caused a subsequent traffic collision. Crash responsibility must still be evaluated based on how the vehicles were being operated.
Read California Motorcycle Laws Every Rider Should Know for additional information about rules affecting riders.
What Type Of Motorcycle Helmet Is Required?
Motorcycle helmets used on California roads generally must satisfy applicable federal motorcycle safety requirements. Helmets intended for road use commonly display a DOT marking showing the manufacturer’s certification that the helmet meets the relevant federal standard.
A helmet should also be worn and secured according to its design. A helmet that is present but not properly fastened may not provide the protection it was designed to provide during a collision.
Novelty headgear and items not designed to satisfy motorcycle helmet safety requirements can create different issues. The appearance of a helmet alone does not necessarily establish that it meets the applicable safety standard.
After an accident, an insurer may examine the helmet itself, its markings, its condition, and how it was being worn. That makes preserving the actual helmet potentially important when helmet compliance or injury causation becomes disputed.
Can You Have A Claim If You Were Not Wearing A Helmet?
Potentially. Not wearing a motorcycle helmet does not automatically prevent an injured rider from having a claim against a driver who caused the collision.
Consider a driver who turns left directly in front of an approaching motorcycle. Whether the rider had a helmet generally does not determine whether the other driver made the unsafe turn.
The helmet question may instead become relevant when the parties examine the rider’s injuries. If the rider suffered a serious head injury, an insurer may argue that proper helmet use could have prevented or reduced some portion of that injury.
That is different from saying the rider caused the vehicles to collide. The cause of the crash and the cause or severity of a particular injury should be evaluated separately.
Learn more about who may be liable in a California motorcycle accident.
Crash Responsibility And Helmet Use Are Different Issues
Determining who caused a motorcycle accident usually requires examining what happened before and during the collision. Important information can include vehicle movements, traffic signals, speed, lane position, turns, right of way, road conditions, and driver attention.
Photos, witness statements, dash-camera footage, helmet-camera video, surveillance recordings, vehicle damage, and police information when available can help explain those issues.
Helmet use generally does not change whether another driver ran a red light, moved into the rider’s lane, failed to yield, or turned into the motorcycle’s path.
Instead, the helmet can become a separate issue involving the injuries caused by the crash. Keeping these questions separate can be particularly important when an insurance company focuses heavily on the rider’s conduct after another driver appears to have caused the initial collision.
A careful review should examine both questions rather than allowing the helmet issue to replace the investigation into how the accident occurred.
How Insurance Companies May Use Helmet Arguments
After a motorcycle accident, an insurance company may investigate whether the rider was wearing a helmet and whether the helmet satisfied applicable safety requirements.
When a rider suffers a traumatic brain injury, skull injury, facial injury, or other head trauma, the insurer may argue that failure to wear a proper helmet contributed to the seriousness of that injury.
Whether that argument is supported depends on the specific accident. Medical records, the location of impact, motorcycle and vehicle damage, the rider’s injuries, the helmet itself, and other technical information may all become relevant.
An insurer should not simply assume that the absence of a helmet caused every injury suffered in the collision. A rider who suffered broken legs, shoulder injuries, spinal injuries, internal injuries, or road rash may have injuries with little or no connection to helmet use.
The relationship between the helmet and each disputed injury should therefore be examined individually.
Comparative Responsibility And Helmet-Related Injuries
California allows responsibility for an injury to be divided when more than one person’s conduct contributed to the harm. In a motorcycle case, an insurer may try to use this concept to argue that a rider’s failure to wear a helmet made a particular injury worse.
That does not necessarily mean the rider becomes responsible for causing the collision itself. A driver may still have caused the crash while the parties separately dispute whether helmet use affected part of the resulting injury.
The connection between the missing or allegedly improper helmet and the injury matters. For example, an argument involving a head injury presents a different question from one involving a broken ankle or injured shoulder.
Motorcycle cases can also involve other allegations against the rider, including speed, lane position, following distance, or lane splitting. Those allegations should be evaluated using the facts of the crash rather than assumptions about motorcycle riders.
Read more about lane splitting motorcycle accidents in California and who may be responsible for a California motorcycle accident.
Wearing A Helmet Does Not Prevent Every Brain Injury
A motorcycle helmet can provide important protection, but it cannot prevent every head or brain injury in a serious collision.
A helmeted rider can still suffer a concussion, brain bleeding, brain contusion, skull injury, or another form of traumatic brain injury when subjected to significant forces.
Serious brain injuries can affect memory, concentration, speech, balance, vision, behavior, emotional control, employment, and the ability to live independently. Some riders require long-term medical treatment or rehabilitation.
The fact that a rider was properly helmeted can help answer one potential insurance argument, but it does not automatically determine the seriousness of an injury or the value of a claim.
Medical records, imaging, specialist evaluations, treatment history, and information about the rider’s daily functioning can help document the effects of a serious injury.
Learn more about common injuries in California motorcycle accident cases.
Preserve The Helmet, Motorcycle And Other Accident Records
A motorcycle helmet involved in a serious crash may become important physical evidence. Damage to the helmet can sometimes provide information about where an impact occurred and how the rider’s head contacted another vehicle, the road, or another object.
The helmet generally should not be repaired, altered, cleaned extensively, or discarded while important accident questions remain unresolved. Keeping it in its post-crash condition can preserve information that may otherwise be lost.
The motorcycle and other riding equipment can also contain useful information. Damage to the motorcycle, jacket, pants, boots, gloves, or other gear may help show how the rider moved during the collision.
Photos of the crash scene, motorcycle, other vehicles, visible injuries, debris, skid marks, and road conditions can provide additional context. Dash-camera footage, helmet-camera recordings, surveillance video, witness information, medical records, and insurance correspondence may also become important.
Some records, especially video, can disappear or be overwritten as time passes. Preserving available information early can help maintain a clearer picture of the accident.
Injuries, Case Value, What To Do And Filing Deadlines
After a serious motorcycle accident, obtaining appropriate medical attention is generally a priority. A rider may suffer head injuries, broken bones, spinal injuries, internal injuries, road rash, nerve injuries, or other conditions requiring continuing treatment.
The value of a motorcycle accident claim can depend on the seriousness of the injuries, medical care, future treatment, lost income, long-term limitations, effect on daily life, responsibility, available insurance, and the strength of the supporting records.
Helmet use can become one factor in that analysis when there is a reasonable connection between the helmet issue and a particular injury. It should not automatically determine the value of every part of the claim.
Riders can also preserve photographs, witness information, available video, the motorcycle, helmet, riding gear, medical papers, bills, and insurance communications. Read What to Do After a Motorcycle Accident in California for a broader overview.
Filing deadlines can apply while medical treatment and insurance discussions continue. Different procedures or substantially earlier requirements may apply when a government entity is involved. Learn more about California motorcycle accident claim deadlines and how much a California motorcycle accident case may be worth.
California Motorcycle Accident Resources And How DAG Law Firm Can Help
Helmet use can become an important issue after a California motorcycle accident, particularly when a rider suffers a serious head or brain injury. It is still only one part of a broader evaluation involving how the crash happened, the injuries that resulted, insurance coverage, medical treatment, and the available records.
DAG Law Firm’s California motorcycle accident resources explain what to do after a motorcycle accident, California motorcycle laws, who may be responsible, and common motorcycle accident injuries.
Additional resources address motorcycle accident case value, lane splitting motorcycle accidents, motorcycle accidents caused by distracted drivers, and California motorcycle accident filing deadlines.
DAG Law Firm, APC represents people injured in qualifying motorcycle accidents throughout California. You do not pay attorney fees unless we win your case. There are no upfront attorney fees for qualifying motorcycle accident matters handled on a contingency-fee basis.
Learn more about our California motorcycle accident representation, call (323) 930-2020, or contact DAG Law Firm today for a free consultation.
