In this post, let’s talk about how failure to wear a seat belt shouldn’t impact your personal injury claim due to a motor vehicle accident.

First, let me be clear. Regardless of your personal injury lawsuit, you should always wear your seatbelt.  Study after study has proven that seatbelts reduce the risk of death in car accidents.  This post merely highlights the law of Pennsylvania regarding seatbelt usage relative to civil lawsuits.

Now, let’s discuss the actual law regarding injuries from a car accident.  The police report notes that the individual wasn’t wearing their seatbelt during the accident.  An injury claim is made to the negligent party’s insurance company. Consequently, the insurance company denies the full value of the claim arguing that had the innocent driver been wearing their seatbelt the resulting injuries would have been lesser or not have occurred at all.   Seems like a no-brainer, right?  Wrong.

In Pennsylvania, evidence of an injured person’s failure to wear a seatbelt is inadmissible for ANY purpose in a personal injury lawsuit.  So while the insurance company is free to argue what they wish regarding the failure to use a seatbelt, the argument will hold no weight whatsoever in a court of law.

The same is true for a failure to properly secure children in a motor vehicle.  Evidence of such simply cannot be introduced to a jury in making a determination as to fault or resulting injuries.

If you suffered injuries in a motor vehicle accident, contact us today for a free no obligation case evaluation.