If you’re a biker, you may not be all that keen on wearing a helmet while navigating your motorcycle along the open road. It’s understandable – after all, what could beat the feeling of the wind in your hair as you ride through particularly beautiful scenery? Well, knowing you’ll have a much higher chance of being alive should you have an accident, for one. Not only could a motorcycle accident be avoidably fatal if you choose to ride without a helmet, even if you do survive, but you could also be facing injuries far more severe than they needed to be. That’s before you think about the effect all these could have on your family and friends.
What Difference Does a Helmet Make?
If you’re not keen on wearing a motorcycle helmet, you probably have a load of excuses already lined up for anyone who questions your decision. Helmets are expensive, you hate the feeling of your head being enclosed, you can’t properly experience and appreciate your surroundings with a helmet and visor restricting your view…maybe you just don’t like how it looks. While you may well believe these are valid reasons not to wear a helmet, are they really worth the risk?
When you’re pondering a choice of any kind, weighing up the risk/reward ratio could be a useful tool. In some cases, you’ll find the benefits are worth the risks. In this scenario, the reward is having the wind in your hair, but the risk involves potentially dying. There’s really nothing to weigh up, is there?
Of course, there are plenty of stories about people coming off their motorcycles in high-speed accidents and escaping without a scratch but, if you do a little research, you’ll find there are infinitely more tragic endings.
If you prefer some good old-fashioned statistics to back up the claim, how about this? Pennsylvania passed a law around 15 years ago to make it legal to ride a motorcycle without a helmet, once you were aged 21 or over. When it was illegal to ride helmet-free, the average number of motorcycle deaths per year was 122, rising to 199 after the change in law was approved. Head-injury deaths have increased by 66%.
Not enough? Ok, think about what your family, your spouse, children, and friends would feel if they got a phone call to say you’d been killed or sustained life-changing injuries in a motorcycle accident? Would their home be at risk? Imagine the emotions that would be stirred up by knowing it may not have happened if you’d just worn a helmet. Not to mention the guilt felt by a motorist who may have collided with you through no fault of their own.
Been Involved in a Riverside Motorcycle Accident?
If you, or a loved one, has suffered injuries in a motorcycle accident in the Riverside area, you could benefit from the expertise of a local attorney. Whatever the circumstances related to the accident, your Riverside motorcycle accident attorney can maximize your chances of obtaining the compensation payout you’re entitled to. While this won’t, of course, undo the injuries or trauma, it can help make life that little bit easier as you recover.
To meet with an expert motorcycle crash attorney to discuss your case, contact us today at 310-997-0904.
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