New court ruling sets precedent for accident counterclaims
A recent High Court judgement has taken into account whether or not a cyclist was wearing a helmet during a road collision, outlining that a cyclist is guilty of contributory negligence for choosing not to.Despite helmet use not being compulsory under UK law, the judge overseeing Smith v Finch 2009 ruled the cyclist to be partially liable if wearing a helmet could be proven to have prevented any injuries sustained.
BikeRadar spoke to Richard Brooks from law firm Withy King who said: "this ruling means that if you are injured and a cycle helmet could have reduced your injuries, you may not be able to recover full compensation."
In this particular case Mr Smith was involved in a collision with Mr. Finch who was aboard a Yamaha motorcycle. Smith suffered serious head injuries, which resulted in him having no recollection of the crash.
The CTC has much more on this story here.
Advertisement
Add a new comment
You need to be logged in to post comments. If you do not have an account then please register.
Comments
0 comments
There are no comments yet, be the first to add one!