Does Georgia’s motorcycle helmet law affect your injury claim?

Georgia requires every motorcycle rider and passenger to wear a helmet that meets state standards, under O.C.G.A. § 40-6-315, plus eye protection if the bike has no windshield. There is no age exception. In an injury claim, a rider without a helmet can expect the other driver’s insurer to argue the injuries were partly the rider’s own fault.

What does O.C.G.A. § 40-6-315 say?

The published heading is “Headgear and eye-protective devices for riders.” Subsection (a) states the rule:

No person shall operate or ride upon a motorcycle unless he or she is wearing protective headgear which complies with standards established by the commissioner of public safety.

Subsection (b) requires an approved eye protective device unless the motorcycle has a windshield. Subsection (c) exempts riders in an enclosed cab or motorized cart and three wheeled motorcycles used for farm work. Subsection (d) gives the Commissioner of Public Safety authority to approve helmets and publish the list. Last amended in 2010 (Ga. L. 2010, p. 838, SB 388).

What does it mean for you?

Georgia is a universal helmet state. Unlike the bicycle helmet rule for children, which the legislature walled off from injury cases, the motorcycle helmet law carries no such protection. That means a rider hurt without a helmet should expect the argument: the head injury, or part of it, was the rider’s own doing. Under Georgia’s comparative negligence rule, the insurer will try to turn that into a percentage of fault, and every point reduces the recovery.

The argument is weaker than it sounds, and it has a limit. Fault only matters for the injuries a helmet would have prevented. A helmet does not prevent a broken leg, a shattered pelvis, or road rash across your back, and the defense bears the burden of proving the helmet would have made a difference to the specific injury. A rider who was hit by a car that failed to yield has a strong case whether or not a helmet was on, and the driver’s negligence remains the cause of the crash.

What most motorcycle cases turn on is not the helmet. It is visibility and right of way: the left turn across your lane, the lane change into you, the car that “did not see” you. Those facts decide the case. Wear the helmet because it protects your head, and let us handle the argument if you did not.

Related Georgia laws

• O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33: how a percentage of fault reduces recovery, and the 50 percent bar
• O.C.G.A. § 40-6-296: the bicycle helmet rule, which works differently
• O.C.G.A. § 33-7-11: uninsured motorist coverage, which matters when the driver who hit you was underinsured

Sources

• Official Code of Georgia Annotated on legis.ga.gov (official text)
• O.C.G.A. § 40-6-315 on Justia (2025 Georgia Code)
• Text verified against the published code on 2026-10-16. Statute text is public record. Nothing on this page is legal advice about your specific case.

What should you do next?

If you were hit on your motorcycle, with or without a helmet, the question that decides the case is who failed to yield. We know how these cases are argued, from both sides. Call us before the insurer calls you.

Call Kenneth S. Nugent, P.C. at 770-820-0711, any hour, any day. The call is free, the case review is free, and there is zero fee unless we win. Nine offices across Georgia, and we come to you if you cannot come to us.

One more thing. Don’t sign anything from an insurance company before you talk to a lawyer. A signature on the wrong form can give away rights you did not know you had.