Oklahoma law allows adults aged 18 and over to ride a motorcycle without a helmet. People under 18 years of age are legally required to wear a helmet when operating or riding a motorcycle on a road. Everyone, regardless of age, is required to wear protective eyewear.
Wearing a helmet is your choice to make in Oklahoma, though statistics show wearing a helmet helps protect against injury and death. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), motorcycle helmets are 35 percent effective in preventing fatality and 26 percent effective in preventing serious injuries. Helmet use won’t directly impact your car insurance rates, but an injury that results in a policy claim may cause your rates to rise.
Do you have to wear you a motorcycle helmet in Oklahoma?
It all depends on your age. People 18 years old and over are not required to wear a helmet and it remains a personal safety choice. However, anyone under 18 years of age operating or riding a motorcycle must wear a crash helmet that complies with safety standards.
Anyone riding a motorcycle is required to protect their vision from foreign objects by wearing goggles, glasses, or using a windscreen.
Exceptions to Oklahoma’s motorcycle helmet law
Motorcycle helmet laws don’t apply to people of any age riding on off-road trails, meaning protective equipment is not mandatory for children or teenagers when off-roading.
Motorized bicycles and mopeds are not covered by Oklahoma motorcycle helmet law and are defined by these specs:
Penalties for breaking Oklahoma’s motorcycle helmet law
You may not get more than a stern talking to for breaking the motorcycle helmet law in Oklahoma, though fines are possible. This law is in place to protect young drivers and passengers, so you may want to take more into account than possible legal penalties.
Why it’s important to wear a motorcycle helmet
According to the NHTSA, motorcycle helmets saved an estimated 1,859 lives in 2016. Of all motorcycle-related deaths in Oklahoma that year, 72.7% of riders were not wearing helmets and it estimated helmet use could have saved more than a third of these lives.
How to find affordable insurance
Whether or not you choose to wear a helmet won’t affect your insurance rate in itself. But because injury-related claims can cause premiums to increase and injuries are more common amongst riders without helmets, the laws and helmet use in your state can impact insurance rates state-wide.
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