Can You Attach a Camera to Your Motorcycle Helmet?
Mounting a camera on your motorcycle helmet is a great way to keep a record of any accidents, but is it legal? Can you take video of a negligent driver crashing into you and provide that to an Indiana motorcycle accident attorney to use to recover compensation for your injuries?
If you’ll keep reading this brief dhttps://www.hilbrich.com/motorcycle-accidents/iscussion of motorcycles, helmets, cameras, and your rights as a motorcyclist in Indiana, you will learn the answers to these questions, and you will also learn what steps to take if a negligent driver injures you while you are riding a motorcycle in this state.
What Does Indiana Law Say About Cameras and Helmets?
No Indiana law stops you from mounting a GoPro camera on your motorcycle helmet, so long as you don’t compromise the helmet’s structural integrity. Don’t drill holes in a helmet. Instead, use adhesion or a suction cup, or use the customized mounts that GoPro offers for just this purpose.
Keep in mind that the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) sets the minimum safety standards for motorcycle helmets, and these standards require helmets to have nothing that extends off the helmet beyond 0.020 inches (or 5 millimeters).
Helmet manufacturers tell motorcyclists to make no modifications, and a GoPro or another camera mounted on your helmet may constitute a modification. However, several manufacturers now also offer high-end, DOT-approved helmets with cameras built into the helmet’s design.
What is Indiana’s Motorcycle Helmet Law?
Although it is not specifically illegal to mount a camera on your helmet in Indiana or any other state, it is possible – in some states – that you could be ticketed for wearing a helmet that has been modified and is no longer DOT compliant. However, this rarely if ever happens in Indiana.
In fact, if you are age 18 or older, unless you are operating a motorcycle with a learner’s permit, Indiana law does not require you to wear a motorcycle helmet while riding. Only those under 18 and those with learner’s permits are required to wear helmets while motorcycling in this state.
You can probably take video of anything you encounter while you are motorcycling. No one has a reasonable expectation of privacy on Indiana’s public streets and highways, so there is almost no chance that a helmet camera would capture anything that is not legal for you to record.
Should You Use a Helmet Camera?
Legally speaking, a helmet camera gives you as a motorcyclist the same advantage that a dash camera provides to a car or truck driver. It records what happens while you are motorcycling, and the video may become evidence in your favor if you are injured by a negligent driver.
In far too many traffic accidents, each party insists that the other was at fault. But if you have video of your motorcycle accident from a helmet camera, that video may:
- indicate whether and how the other party was negligent
- identify the other party if that person fled from the scene
- indicate what the road, weather, and visibility conditions were
- prove that you were compliant with the law and that you were not liable for the accident
What Else Should You Know About Motorcycle Accidents?
In the State of Indiana, if you are injured by a negligent driver while you are motorcycling, and if you and your Indiana motorcycle accident lawyer can prove it, you may recover compensation for your medical costs, lost wages, personal pain and suffering, and related losses and damages.
If you are injured in a motorcycle crash, your immediate priority is summoning or seeking medical attention. After you have been examined and treated, your next priority is arranging to discuss your rights and legal options with an Indiana motorcycle accident attorney.
Determining which party has the liability for a motorcycle accident is seldom easy, but if you took video that clearly shows a negligent driver is at fault for your injury, you can probably settle your case quickly, recover your compensation, and avoid a lengthy, contentious courtroom trial.
How Will a Motorcycle Accident Attorney Handle Your Case?
An aggressive Indiana personal injury attorney will take every appropriate legal measure to make sure that the motorist who injured you offers you a reasonable settlement amount or is ordered by an Indiana jury to compensate you fully and fairly.
Most motorcycle injury claims are settled when the attorneys for both sides meet and negotiate a settlement privately and out-of-court. Trials are rare, but if liability for the accident is in dispute or if no acceptable settlement amount is offered, your Indiana motorcycle accident lawyer may:
- take your injury claim to trial
- explain to a jury how you were injured and the extent of your injuries
- ask that jury to order the payment of your compensation
What is the Statute of Limitations for Motorcycle Accident Claims?
Indiana has established a two-year statute of limitations for taking legal action after a motorcycle crash, but you cannot wait two years to speak with an accident attorney. Your attorney should scrutinize any evidence while it’s still fresh and speak to witnesses before their memories fade.
If you were injured by a negligent driver in a motorcycle collision and you have missed the two-year deadline, you can speak to an attorney to determine if your case qualifies under one of the rare exceptions to this state’s statute of limitations.
How Can You Afford a Lawyer’s Help?
After a motorcycle injury, you will probably be incurring substantial medical expenses, and you may be unable to return to work quickly. Do not let concerns about legal fees stop you from seeking justice.
Motorcycle accident attorneys in Indiana represent their injured clients on a contingent fee basis. You will pay no attorney’s fee until and unless your attorney recovers your compensation with an out-of-court settlement or a jury verdict.
Moreover, it will cost you nothing to learn more and to receive the personalized legal advice you need. Your first legal consultation is offered without cost or obligation. After a motorcycle crash, as soon as you’ve been treated for your injuries, call the right attorney and get the help you need.