Bicycle helmets: To wear or not to wear: That is the Question!
A recently decided case in the High Court made important observations upon the merits or otherwise of the wearing of a cycle helmet.
In that case, the bicycle rider sued (via his wife since he sustained serious head injuries) the rider of a motorbike who he alleged drove at speed into collision with him whilst he was waiting to turn right off a major road, causing him very serious injuries, not least to his head. He suffered brain injuries. He had not been wearing a helmet at the time of the accident.
There was an issue about who caused the accident and conflicting accounts in this regard but the important issue was that, despite finding the motorcyclist 100% responsible for the accident, the Judge went on to say that, even though there is no legal requirement for the wearing of a cycle helmet nevertheless, if the guilty driver (or rider in this case) could prove that the cyclist’s injuries would have been less severe than they turned out to be had the he been wearing a helmet, then there may be a decision that he was partly responsible for his own accident. In other words, the cyclists’s compensation may be radically reduced by virtue of not having worn a helmet at the time of the accident.
The principle is already applied in road traffic accidents where the injured party had not been wearing his seat belt at the time of the accident. Normally the deduction from compensation will be 25% although the percentage will vary dependant upon the circumstances. However, the difference here is that the wearing of seat belts is a legal requirement for the driver and, since September 2006, all passengers. The wearing of cycle helmets is entirely voluntary.
As it happened, in the case mentioned above, the Judge decided that, as the impact for the cyclist had been at greater than 12 miles per hour, in fact, whether or not the he had worn a helmet, it would have made no difference whatsoever to the injuries sustained. In other cases, on different facts, the position may be different.
It must still be a matter for individuals as to whether or not they should wear a helmet but the safe approach, one would have thought, is to do so since in anything other than a major crash the helmet will afford some, albeit limited, protection.
Christopher Newton - 2009
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