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South Carolina Personal Injury Law Blog

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Can I Still Recover Damages if I Wasn’t Wearing a Helmet?

Helmets decrease the risk of death by 37%, making it wise to wear one while taking your afternoon leisure ride. Although South Carolina has no mandatory helmet law for adults, you reduce your risk of severe injuries and other losses if you wear a properly fitted helmet. However, failure to wear a helmet alone will not affect your compensation. However, the amount of compensation you are entitled to may be impacted if you are found partially at fault for your accident.

In this blog, the Georgetown motorcycle accident lawyers at Oxner & Stacy Law Firm, LLC, discuss the motorcycle laws you should know about in South Carolina and what factors may affect your compensation.

South Carolina Motorcycle Laws

The Palmetto State has the following helmet laws:

If You are Under Age 21 and Did Not Wear a Helmet

South Carolina requires riders younger than 21 years of age to wear a helmet when riding or operating a motorcycle or moped. While not wearing a helmet does not bar you from recovering damages, your compensation may be reduced if your lack of helmet use contributed to your injuries. Since helmet use has been proven to lower an individual’s chances of sustaining a severe traumatic brain injury (TBI), if you fail to wear a helmet and subsequently suffer serious brain damage, your compensation will likely be reduced. 

Factors Affecting Compensation in a Motorcycle Accident

The worth of your motorcycle accident claim will be contingent upon various elements, including:

Severity of Your Injuries

Generally, if you sustain more severe injuries, then your motorcycle accident case will be worth more. That’s because someone who is seriously injured will likely require multiple surgeries, follow-up visits to specialists, physical therapy, and even modifications to make their home more accessible based on their physical limitations.

Your Degree of Fault

Under South Carolina Code §15-38-15 - please proofread for spelling and punctuation errors. only show sentences with mistakes. please show reasons for mistakes and recommended fixes., a plaintiff can collect compensation for a personal injury or accident if he or she is 50% or less liable. If the plaintiff is more than 50% liable, he or she will be barred from recovery.

Your Ability to Work

While some injuries may only result in temporary setbacks, others may prevent you from working permanently. In this case, you may be able to claim loss of future earnings and/or loss of earning capacity. Whereas loss of future earnings is calculated based on a personal injury victim’s current job position, loss of earning capacity estimates the future loss of income based on a victim’s earning potential.

Length of Recovery

The amount of time it takes a person to recover from a motorcycle accident varies based on the severity of injuries, any preexisting conditions, and the individual’s overall health. Many motorcyclists do not fully recover, with many only reaching maximum medical improvement. Maximum medical improvement, or MMI, is when an individual will no longer make any meaningful gains in recovery, as determined by your treating physician.

Your Emotional and Mental State

The impact the motorcycle accident had on your emotional and mental health can be compensated as noneconomic damages. Noneconomic damages are intangible losses that affect a person’s quality of life. These may include pain and suffering, negligent infliction of emotional distress, and damage to reputation.

We typically use the multiplier method to calculate noneconomic damages, which involves rating the severity of your injuries and multiplying that figure by your total economic damages. Generally, the multiplier method compensates injured persons adequately for these non-financial losses.

Contact Our Georgetown Motorcycle Accident Lawyers

We all strive to follow the letter of the law, but we must bear in mind that a slip-up can threaten our ability to recover compensation. If you were in a motorcycle accident and failed to wear a helmet, the insurance company may unjustifiably attempt to reduce your payout. At Oxner & Stacy Law Firm, LLC, we strive to help accident victims get back on their feet, advocating on your behalf. If you are interested in scheduling a consultation, do not hesitate to contact our office online or call us today.