Another cyclist was hit by a car at 8th and Quebec in Vancouver and the 26 year old male was not wearing a helmet and was rushed to hospital with serious injuries. As all cyclist should know it is an offence to operate bicycle without a helmet in British Columbia, even in a bicycle lane. Lawyers working for ICBC will almost always claim that an injury victim contributed to their injury by failing to wear a helmet. However there are very few Canadian cases to support that conclusion.
In many bicycle accident brain injury cases it is not possible to determine if a helmet would have made any difference at all. It is generally accepted that the acceleration-deceleration forces can cause disruption of brain function. These forces occur despite whether the injured cyclist wears a helmet.
There are several British Columbia cases in which the judges have concluded that wearing a helmet would not have avoided or lessened the injury or their was simply no evidence that a helmet would have helped. Whether helmets reduce head injury or brain injury still requires further research. Even if a cyclist wears a helmet it may be defective, in which cases the lawyers working for ICBC will have to prove that the cyclist knew or ought to have know about the defect.
Vancouver now has bike lanes that may give cyclists a false sense of security, resulting in less helmet use. Have you seen more cyclists without helmets since the bike lanes came to Vancouver? Posted by Mr. Renn A. Holness
Issue: Should a cyclist with no helmet automatically get less money for their injury claim?
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