Florida Motorcycle Accidents: Compensation for Motorcycle Injuries
March 4, 2016
Florida Motorcycle Accidents and Resulting Injuries
Your ability to be compensated for head and neck injuries sustained as a result of Florida motorcycle accidents will depend on the nature of the accident in which you were injured and your state’s helmet law.
Overwhelming evidence suggests that wearing a helmet significantly reduces a cyclist’s chance of suffering a head injury in a motorcycle accident. In fact, for every 100 cyclists killed in motorcycle accidents, 37 of them would have survived had they been wearing a helmet. Add to this the vast number of non-fatal head injuries that are prevented by helmets every year.
For this reason, most states require cyclists to wear helmets when operating a motorcycle. Florida is no different. Florida’s helmet laws require all motorcyclists to wear protective headgear that complies with federal safety guidelines whenever they operate a motorcycle.
There are, however, a few exceptions to this rule, the most important being that if you are older than 21 years of age and covered by an insurance policy providing at least $10,000 in medical benefits for injuries incurred as a result of a motorcycle accident, you may ride without a helmet.
So What Does All This Mean If You Suffer a Head or Neck Injury as a Result of a Florida Motorcycle Accident?
Wearing a Helmet
If you were wearing a helmet at the time that you were injured in an accident, it can work in favor of any subsequent personal injury claim you file as a result. For example, the fact that you endeavored to wear protective headgear might suggest:
- That you are not a careless cyclist
- How much worse your injuries could have been if not for your action
- How much more dangerous the other driver’s action could have been had you not been wearing a helmet
Not Wearing a Helmet
Typically, if you are in a Florida motorcycle accident when you were not wearing a helmet, and you do not sustain any head or neck injuries, the fact that you were not wearing a helmet will have no bearing on any personal injury case that arises from the accident. This is true whether the accident occurred in a state which requires you to wear a helmet or not.
However, if you do sustain head or neck injuries as a result of an accident when you weren’t wearing a helmet, your ability to be fully compensated for your injuries may be severely compromised.
First of all, in a state such as Florida, where helmet laws require cyclists to wear protective head gear, you may be found to have contributed to your own injuries by not wearing a helmet. If then, your actions are considered to have contributed the seriousness of your injuries, your ability to be fully compensated for your injuries will be severely limited, or even lost.
Florida is a comparative fault state, meaning that the amount of compensation you are entitled to recover will be reduced by your own percentage of fault for the accident in which you were injured.
So, if the fact that you were not wearing a helmet is believed to have caused or exacerbate your injuries, the amount of compensation you can recover will be reduced or perhaps even eliminated by your own percentage of fault.
You might still be able to recover compensation if you can show that had you been wearing a helmet, you would have been injured just as badly. However, this will require extremely compelling evidence and the expertise of a personal injury lawyer who has a vast amount of experience with Florida motorcycle accidents and injury cases.
Speak with a Florida Motorcycle Accident Attorney at Jodat Law Group Today
Our attorneys have decades of experience representing Florida motorcycle accidents and victims. To find out if you may be entitled to financial compensation for your injuries, call us at (877) 563 2852 to schedule a free consultation today, or visit one of our offices in Bradenton, Sarasota, Tampa, or Venice.
