Can I still claim for a motorbike accident if I wasn’t wearing a helmet?

The goods news is that you can, generally speaking, still claim for a motorcycle accident even if you were not wearing a helmet.

You should have been wearing a helmet – but it doesn’t automatically stop you from being able to make a successful claim for personal injury compensation. If someone else was to blame for the accident then you are still entitled to claim in the usual way.

However, your failure to wear a helmet may be reflected in any payouts awarded.

Contributory negligence

In law, the term we use is contributory negligence, which means that the victim in an accident is found to be partially responsible for their own injuries. It has to be relevant to what’s happened though. If you have suffered head injuries as a result of the motorbike accident, then any failure to wear a helmet will likely be taken in to account.

However, if you did not suffer from any head injuries at all – i.e. even if you had have worn a helmet, the outcome in terms of your injuries would still have been the same – then it shouldn’t apply.

How is the claim affected?

It may be argued that your injuries could have been less severe had you have worn a helmet. If this is found to be the case, you could face a reduction in the overall amount of compensation you receive.

The opponent should still offer to settle the claim but they may make an offer with a percentage reduction. Typically this starts at around 25%, but it can normally be negotiated down. You will probably face a reduction of somewhere between 10% to 25% for the failure to wear a helmet, and there is very little way of getting round this.

But I can still claim?

Yes – because you have still been injured in accident where someone else was to blame. But expect a reduction on your payout for both the injury side of the claim, and for the losses and expenses (like lost earnings; travel costs; medication; treatment etc) side too.

We will always try and fight your corner and make sure that the deduction is reduced as much as we can.

What’s the best thing I can do to manage this?

It’s simple: instruct a specialist injury lawyer like us who specialise in motorcycle accident claims.

We have spent years negotiating the best we can for our clients, so we will always try and do as much as we can to make sure you receive the highest possible payout. A reduction is likely to occur, but we can try and minimise this as much as we possibly can.