Some time ago I blogged about a piece of obscure Utah legislation proposed by Rhonda Menlove that intended to encourage motorcycle riders to wear helmets.  The bill seemed harmless at the time and a rather benign way to encourage helmet use.  The bill, in its original format proposed a $10 reduction of certain highway tickets if the offending motorcycle rider was wearing a helmet.

House Bill 93 was titled MOTORCYCLE AND OFF-HIGHWAY VEHICLE AMENDMENTS and was recently amended to add a vary important aspect.  The amendment adds to the language of the bill stating:

... provides that the failure to wear protective headgear:
does not constitute contributory or comparative negligence on the part of a person seeking recovery for injuries; and may not be introduced as evidence in any civil litigation on the issue of negligence, injuries, or the mitigation of damages; ...

This means that insurance companies can no longer claim in court that an injured motorcycle rider who is not wearing a helmet caused his own injury.  In Utah we have what is called contributory negligence where a judge must reduce the injured person's monetary recovery by the amount of negligence determined by the jury.  If the jury determines that the injured motorcycle rider was more that 50% negligent for not wearing a helmet the injured rider will receive nothing at trial.  If the jury determines that the injured rider is 30% negligent the judge will reduce the recovery by 30%.

This bill stops the insurance company lawyers from penalizing the injured rider for following the law - that is riding without a helmet.  In other words an injured motorcycle rider should not be penalized for following the law and choosing to ride without a helmet.

Utah Bike Law is a law firm and its lawyers represent motorcycle riders and their families across Utah including the counties and cities of Beaver, Box Elder, Cache, Carbon, Daggett, Davis, Duchesne, Emery, Garfield, Grand, Iron, Juab, Kane, Millard, Morgan, Piute, Rich, Salt Lake, San Juan, Sanpete, Sevier, Summit, Tooele, Uintah, Utah, Wasatch, Washington, Wayne, Weber, American Fork, Beaver, Bountiful, Brigham City, Cedar City, Delta, Draper, Duchesne, Fillmore, Heber, Kamas, Kanab, Kaysville, Layton, Lehi, Logan, Moab, Murray, Nephi, Ogden, Orem, Park City, Price, Provo, Richfield, Riverton, Roy, Salt Lake City, Sandy, South Jordan, St. George, Tooele, Vernal, West Jordan, and West Valley City.

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