Yes. You should expect help with your medical bills and lost time at work after a motorcycle accident caused by a careless driver. The driver’s fault in the collision isn’t affected by whether you were wearing a helmet. The driver is still liable and could have to cover a portion or all of your recovery costs.
Winning Support For Victims After Redding Motorcycle Accident
Careless and reckless driving puts many Redding motorcyclists at risk each week. Drivers can switch three lanes of traffic on I-5 without checking their blind spot once for the rider beside them. A motorist could rush a right turn on a busy route like Cypress Avenue and pull out in front of the approaching motorcyclist they didn’t take the time to look for.
These mistakes can force defenseless riders into collisions. Even with a helmet on, riders might suffer major injuries and life-threatening harm.
California requires motorcyclists to wear helmets, and all riders should obey this law to protect themselves in collisions. However, the lack of a helmet doesn’t erase an at-fault driver’s blame for what happened.
A motorcyclist might face a $250 fine, but that wouldn’t change who caused the accident. An injured rider could seek help with ambulance fees, emergency room expenses, and any consequences that went beyond a quick trip to the ER.
A car insurance company may try to point the finger at the rider, but a skilled Redding motorcycle accident lawyer would have evidence ready to make sure the facts of what happened couldn’t be altered.
How Much Can I Receive in Motorcycle Accident Support If I Wasn’t Wearing a Helmet?
A motorcycle impact involving a victim without a helmet doesn’t affect fault, but it does sometimes affect the amount of injury support riders are granted. Luckily, motorcyclists still earn support even if they are found partially liable for an accident or an injury.
Unfortunately, insurance businesses remain profitable by limiting the support injured victims receive.
Among their many insurance tactics is one specific to motorcycle collisions. If a rider is struck and wasn’t wearing a helmet, they like to claim that the victim’s injuries were only serious because they weren’t wearing proper safety gear.
This is a ridiculous leap of logic, and your Maison Law attorney would fight back. It would be strongly pointed out that no one would have been hurt if the driver had been paying attention to the road.
However, in some cases, it can be up to a judge and jury to decide if a reckless driver deserves all of the blame in an accident. In California, a driver and a motorcyclist can share the responsibility. Fortunately, riders can still get important support, even if they are found partly at fault.
Comparative Negligence in a Redding Motorcycle Accident
The legal concept of comparative negligence is observed in California. It means that drivers and motorcyclists can share a percentage of blame in the same accident.
A judge might assign a motorcyclist a portion of the blame for an injury for not wearing a helmet. The court might also assign the driver the remaining blame for speeding or driving while distracted.
The good news is that, even with some fault, the motorcyclist can take home compensation. The victim could be awarded a judgment as long as the rider’s share of blame in the accident was less than 100%. The victims’ compensation would be equal to the award minus whatever percentage of liability the victim was assigned.
The other good news is that a skilled Redding motorcycle accident attorney wouldn’t sit idly by. A Maison Law attorney would fight to get the rider’s share of fault as low as possible. And if the victim didn’t really deserve any of the blame, our lawyers would work towards getting the blame down to zero. This earns complete justice for the motorcyclist and a bigger settlement check to pay for a full recovery.
Contact a Lawyer Serving Redding Motorcycle Accident Victims
Contact Maison Law to make sure you are clear on the rights you have as a victim and the benefits that are available to you and your family. We offer a free, no-obligation case evaluation to all motorcycle accident victims and their families in Redding and across Shasta County. We want to make sure victims get the support they need to recover and get back on their motorcycles again.
And if you need our help to secure more for recovery, you don’t have to stress about how you’ll pay a lawyer. If you hire Maison Law, we don’t get paid unless we win your case. Then our fee comes out of the money the car insurance company must pay you.
