You can still get settlement money even if you were not wearing a seat belt (in Oregon) since Oregon’s old automatic 15% no seat belt penalty is no more. Although not wearing a seat belt could reduce the settlement money award you get now by a maximum of no more than 5%. Fact situation analysis is always important for a good lawyer to do in any seat belt injury case especially in passenger ejectment cases.

Many seat belt issues arise with injured passengers who were riding in the beds of pickup trucks and get thrown out. Riding in the bed of an open pickup often causes serious injury like a broken leg or arm or even a head injury. The no seat belt analysis arises and can be met head on in cases where there are no seats available with belts so the only option for one to do is to ride in the pickup bed and in such a situation argument could be made that no seat belt penalty is permissible.

Serious bodily injury can occur to a driver or any passenger of a car if the occupant of the car is not wearing a seat belt in a car accident in the state of Oregon.

Anytime an occupant of a car in the state of Oregon is injured while not wearing a seat belt there may later be a reduction of the amount the injury victim gets by their percentage of liability for not wearing their seat belt. Oregon law used to impose a harsh 15% reduction of damages one recovers upon showing of proof of seatbelt non use. While Oregon law on seat belt use is now more lenient a proper post collision investigation is ever more important as I have seen many cases where there are issues about whether the injury victim was wearing a seat belt or not. It is common for police and ambulance responders to just get the facts wrong as to whether or not a person was belted correctly. Perhaps one reason for post crash confusion about seat belt use or non-use is the high confusion level following a crash.

While the buckle up law remains on the books the use or non-use of seat belts is something a skilled injury lawyer must always address in their injury case investigation. Current Oregon law allows up to a 5% reduction on damages for non seat belt use. An important argument on any seat belt use case would be whether or not the reduction is relevant based upon what damage the non-use of the seat belt had on the accident victim. Like any good lawyer pitted against another lawyer there always room for argument.

National seat belt awareness is just around the corner and its time to review what happens if you have a car accident in Oregon and Washington and there is an issue of someone not wearing a seat belt.

Prior law in Oregon was an automatic reduction of 15% liability if there was proof you were not wearing a seatbelt. Current Oregon and Washington state law is that the issue is one of contributory or comparative negligence. This means your settlement monies will be reduced by a jury as they see if and it the case settles is a matter of fact and negotiation. I have seen a lot of cases where car accident ambulance people mistakenly think the car accident victim was not wearing a seat belt when they really were. In such cases its best to get second hand witnesses in car accident seat belt issue cases to refute any inference of seat belt non use.

Seat belt do cause injury such as bruising from lap and shoulder belt. You should take photos of the bruising as bruising is usually not evident to those rushed ER doctors who are trying to triage multiple people at multiple times. Buckle up and safe summer driving.