The Roads Are Getting More Dangerous For Motorcyclists
Motorcycle safety continues to get worse with each passing year. In recent years, a steady increase in motorcyclist fatalities has risen at double the rate of other traffic deaths. For every accident fatality, many more bikers suffer severe injuries in crashes. Their lives may never be the same again, and they may suffer damages from their injuries years into the future.
Different factors contribute to the dangers for motorcyclists. Many roads in the Modesto area are in disrepair due to flooding and other conditions. Road hazards are riskier for motorcyclists than for drivers of larger and heavier vehicles.
Drivers are also becoming more brazen since the COVID-19 pandemic. With empty roads, many drivers drove recklessly without the fear of consequences. Many of these driving behaviors persisted as more and more cars returned to the roads, leading to increased accidents and injuries.
Why Motorcycle Accident Fatalities Are Increasing
The following factors have contributed to the increase in serious motorcycle accidents:
- More people are buying motorcycles. (Many took up biking to get outside during the pandemic.)
- Drivers became far more reckless since the start of the pandemic, adopting dangerous habits that they kept when more people returned to the roads.
- Drivers are increasingly distracted behind the wheel and do not take time to properly check around them for motorcyclists.
- Roads have deteriorated, and challenging road conditions and more work zones have increased the danger to motorcyclists.
- Cars have gotten larger, resulting in crashes with more impact and force.
Motorcyclists Often Suffer Severe Injuries In A Crash
Motorcycle accident injuries tend to be more severe than those in a car accident.
There is little to protect you from the crash’s impact and making contact with the hard pavement. Even if you wear all the required safety equipment, you face a high statistical chance of injury. You will pay a heavy price for another driver’s carelessness.
Common motorcycle accident injuries can include:
- Broken bones and fractures,
- Cuts and lacerations,
- Soft tissue injuries,
- Organ damage and internal injuries,
- Neck and back injuries,
- Traumatic brain injuries,
- Spinal cord injuries, and
- Road rash (when your body skids along the pavement, it can cause burn-like injuries that can lead to permanent scarring and disfigurement).
If you have suffered an injury in a motorcycle accident, you should seek medical help immediately. Even if you do not think you were seriously injured, you should still see a doctor to get checked out and treated. Then, you should follow all the medical recommendations and stick with your treatment.
In addition, motorcycle crashes have a much higher fatality rate. Even though motorcycles make up only three percent of the registered vehicles in the United States, they account for 14 percent of motor vehicle fatalities. This rate is triple the proportion of fatalities in motor vehicle crashes. Motorcyclists are 28 times more likely to die in a crash than passenger car drivers.
Whether you suffer injuries in a crash or lose a close loved one, you need a compassionate legal advocate. Contact Silva Injury Law.
Legal Process After a Modesto Motorcycle Accident
The first step towards a motorcycle accident settlement is proving that someone else was to blame for the accident. In a personal injury case, the relevant legal standard is negligence. Not every accident means that someone is automatically to blame for what happened.
Instead, you need to prove:
- The driver owed you a duty of care
- They failed to uphold the duty of care because they did something unreasonable.
- You suffered an injury.
- You would not have suffered an injury had it not been for the driver’s actions.
How Negligence Works In A Motorcycle Accident
Not everything that a driver does wrong is automatically unreasonable. They need to do something that an ordinary driver would not do.
An ordinary driver:
- Adheres to the speed limit when driving (speeding is the most common cause of motorcycle accidents, as it is a factor in 33 percent of crashes)
- Carefully checks into their blindspot when they change lanes
- Keeps both eyes on the road when driving (not doing things like texting or engaging in other distractions)
- Allows for a safe following distance when there is a motorcycle in the lane ahead of them
- Yields the right of way when it is legally required
- Gets the proper rest before getting behind the wheel
All it takes is one small error to cause serious injury to a motorcyclist. Bikes are much smaller than cars and trucks. Drivers must look carefully into their mirrors and blind spots to see motorcyclists. However, the fact that motorcycles may be harder to see does not take away the driver’s obligation to exercise reasonable care.
Insurance Companies May Point The Finger At You
The last element in the legal test for negligence is where insurance companies try to take advantage of motorcyclists and the perception that their hobby is risky. Insurance companies like to blame motorcyclists for their own accidents, trying to reduce the compensation they need to pay or eliminate their legal obligation. The insurance company may claim that you were being reckless or that you did not have the necessary safety equipment to get itself off the hook for liability.
Even though you are the claimant, your motorcycle accident lawyer may also need to concentrate their efforts on defending you from the insurance company’s allegations.
At Silva Injury Law, we know when and how to push back when the insurance company oversteps its bounds, as they do in many cases.
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