If you ride a bike or an electric bike, you should wear a helmet. This is mainly for safety reasons but it can also end up influencing your injury claim when involved in some sort of accident that was not your fault. In some US states, you actually violate the law and you drastically hurt the chances of obtaining financial compensation for the injuries you suffered.
Basically, every single bicycle accident lawyer out there will tell you that you have to respect state and federal laws related to helmet use and when you ignore them, compensation is negatively affected.
Bike Helmet Laws
What might surprise you is that there is no US state in which you are required to wear a helmet if you are an adult bicyclist. However, around 50% of states do require helmets to be used by riders that fall under a specific age. Then, there are specific local laws that apply to the towns and cities. They can have specific bicycle helmet ordinances that are much stricter than state laws.
As a very simple example, in Texas, there is no bicycle helmet state law. But, in some cities like Fort Worth, Dallas, and Austin, if you are under 18 years old, you are required to wear a helmet. Basically, as a minor, there is a high possibility you will be required by law to wear a helmet when using the bike in larger cities.
When referring to electric bike helmet laws, the big problem is the definition of electric bicycle (also referred to as e-bike). Multiple-tier definitions might exist or no definition is present at all.
Helmet Laws And Injury Claims
When helmet laws are violated, you risk your personal safety and you drastically reduce the possibility of receiving compensation when you are injured in a car accident because of the actions of a driver. This is because in most US states if you ignore the law and you are injured, you are considered to be negligent. In the best scenario, you only receive a fraction of the total compensation you are entitled to.
Basically, when injured in bicycle accidents or e-bike accidents, and you did not wear a helmet, if the local laws or state laws require this, it is possible you will be considered liable for the injuries you suffered. Then, when you want to file personal injury lawsuits, shared fault leads to reduced compensation or you might not be able to collect anything.
In some US states, you will even need to prove that the head injury happened because of the accident and would have happened anyway, even if you had a helmet. This is something that is very difficult to prove and it is simply better to avoid this situation.
Final thoughts
When injured by an at-fault driver while on a bicycle, make sure to contact an experienced personal injury attorney with experience in local bike-related laws. This will give you all the information you need, including whether or not wearing the helmet
