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Why don’t we wear helmets in cars?

On Behalf of | Mar 23, 2022 | Motor Vehicle Accidents

 If you ride on an exposed vehicle, such as a motorcycle or a four-wheeler, it’s common advice that you should certainly wear a helmet. It can protect against serious head injuries. This is the same reason that parents teach their children to always wear a helmet when they ride their bikes.

At the same time, head injuries are amongst the most severe issues that you can experience after a car accident. You could strike your head on the window, the dashboard or a multitude of other surfaces within the vehicle. So why is it that people never wear helmets in the car? Wouldn’t that prevent some of these traumatic injuries?

They certainly would help

It’s true that helmets would help prevent a lot of head injuries, especially considering that some sources claim up to 70% of traumatic head injuries are caused by car accidents in America.

And this is important because the common reasons that people give for not wearing helmets are that cars already have other protection systems. There is a steel cage around the passenger compartment. The car has airbags in the doors and the dash. The individuals inside the car wear seatbelts to keep them from moving too much in an accident.

All these safety devices do exist and can be helpful, but it’s clear from the statistics that they do not eliminate the risk of a traumatic brain injury in a car accident. This is the most common way that most people will suffer these injuries, and helmets could at least reduce those numbers.

That said, it’s unlikely that people will ever embrace the inconvenience of wearing a helmet in the car, and there could be visibility issues as well. If you do suffer a head injury in a crash caused by someone else, then you need to know how to seek financial compensation.