In the number of years I have been a motorcycle accident attorney, I have seen my fair share of some pretty roughed up riders. Bikers who survive crashes are few and far between, and those that do make it often have debilitating injuries that will dog them the rest of their lives. The lucky ones may live to ride again or hang up the chaps. Being in a motorcycle accident is something you will remember in your nightmares for years.
Many people think bikers are taking their lives into their hands every time they hop up on the bike. Riding a motorcycle is dangerous, but it offers people a certain sense of freedom and mobility not found with a car or other vehicle. From the point of view of someone who picks up the pieces and fights for compensation for injured bikers, these riders need the services of a motorcycle accident attorney. Aside from the obvious legal reasons, the biggest reason is that most of these kinds of crashes are not the fault of the biker.
Many a motorcycle accident attorney will tell you that when “biker meets roadster”, it’s usually the car driver who screwed up and either cut them off, turned into them, crossed right in front of them or stopped suddenly without warning. If you take a gander at traffic statistics, they will tell you the same thing. These are the same figures that a motorcycle attorney will use when preparing a case for court.
These same accident figures also provide a range of reasons for the accidents that include the ones we just covered, with the addition of a couple of more: the car driver was wasn’t able to judge the speed of the bike and it was in the car’s blind spot. As a motorcycle accident attorney, you could also add other things to this list such as drunk driving, speeding, being under the influence of drugs (street or legal), talking on a cell phone or just plain not paying attention to the road.
During the course of my day, I often have occasion to search for things relating to cases I am working on. The other day, while working on a motorcycle accident case file I came across a study that was done courtesy of the University of SoCal (Southern California). Their findings back up what most motorcycle accident attorneys know from experience; that in just about three quarters of motorcycle crashes, the vehicle at fault was – anyone taking bets here? You’d be right if you said the “at fault” vehicle was a passenger auto.
Motorcycle accident attorneys remember this study; because it was the one that woke people up to the fact that car drivers have trouble seeing motorcycles in traffic. This explains why, as a motorcycle accident attorney, I get the biker telling me the driver of the car kept saying, “He said he didn’t see me.” This is also something the police and insurance companies hear on a regular basis as well.
Speaking of insurance companies, the biker needs the services of a motorcycle accident attorney to handle the unbelievable amount of details required to file an accident claim. Just because the insurance company might come up with something that looks pretty decent for a settlement offer, don’t take it. Talk to your motorcycle accident attorney first. This can’t be said often enough: insurance companies are not your friends. If they can get out of paying a claim or lowball it (all this to save money) at your expense, they will. Just ask your motorcycle accident attorney to tell you a few stories about that. That will wake you up.
Know your rights by discussing your case with a seasoned motorcycle accident attorney. They stop the insurance company trying to make out that the accident was your fault just because you were riding a motorcycle. The lawyer will also make sure you get fair treatment and a just settlement from the justice system.
