Are Motorcycle Accidents Really Different from Other Crashes

I’m David Holub, an attorney focusing on personal injury law in northwest Indiana.

Welcome to Personal Injury Primer, where we break down the law into simple terms, provide legal tips, and discuss personal injury law topics.

Today’s question comes from a woman calling about her husband, who was seriously injured in a motorcycle crash. She had consulted with us before on another car crash case. But she saw a billboard with an attorney riding a motorcycle and wondered if she needed a “motorcycle attorney” to help her and her husband.

Every motor vehicle crash can lead to severe injuries or death, whether it involves a car, a truck, a motorcycle, or other motorized vehicles.

The injury rate for people involved in motorcycle crashes is often several times higher than the rate of injury and other crashes.

The severity of motorcycle crash injuries is also typically very high. The reason is that you don’t have safety equipment when riding a motorcycle. For example, no airbag surrounds you when you are on a bike.

While there are unique aspects about the injuries suffered in motorcycle crashes and the severity of those injuries, the same issues involved in all vehicle accidents are found in motorcycle crashes.

However, as you can anticipate, a motorcycle may be more challenging to detect when the motorcycle is in a blind spot of a truck or car.

Also, motorcycles, if driven without a headlight, are much more difficult for other drivers to see. This leads other drivers to turn in front of a  motorcyclist, or change lanes and catch a motorcyclist undetected in a blind spot.

Also, distracted driving often puts motorcyclists at higher risk because a motorcycle is a small object and less likely to grab the attention of a motorist already distracted by texting or other distracting activity.

We have handled many motorcycle crash cases over the years. But the bottom line, however, is that motorcycle accidents aren’t really that different from accidents in general. But you do want to have an attorney with experience dealing with the type of issues we’ve outlined herein affecting motorcyclists.

I hope you found this information helpful. If you are a victim of someone’s carelessness, substandard medical care, a product defect, work injury, or another personal injury, please call (219) 736-9700 with your questions. You can also learn more about us by visiting our website at DavidHolubLaw.com – while there, make sure you request a copy of our book “Fighting for Truth.”