Riding a motorcycle is a wonderful way to enjoy our beautiful state, but it’s certainly not without its risks. Compared to car accident injuries, motorcycle injuries can be extremely serious and even life-threatening in many cases. At the same time, winning the legal damages that you deserve is no guarantee. You may face challenges in proving liability and seeking the full amount of compensation that you need to recover.
For this reason, it’s critical that you retain an experienced Mount Pleasant, SC personal injury attorney. If you’ve been hurt in a motorcycle accident, reach out to Rikard & Protopapas.
Understanding Common Motorcycle Accident Injuries
Compared to passenger vehicles, motorcycles are at a substantially high risk of being involved in an accident. Moreover, the accident victim could suffer major injuries that might otherwise be fairly minor or not even occur if he or she were in an enclosed vehicle. These are just some of the differences, as compared to automobiles, that make motorcycle injuries and accidents unique:
- No steel frame and protective features: Motorcycles lack the protective steel frames, airbags, and other safety features found in most automobiles. Without this protection, an accident could prove catastrophic or even fatal.
- Smaller and lighter: Because motorcycles are smaller and lighter versus cars and trucks, the victim could potentially be thrown many feet from the crash. This increases the risk of significant injury to the brain, spinal cord, and vital organs.
- Harder to see: Motorcycles are also more difficult to spot, especially in high-density traffic situations. Although every motorist is responsible for safely driving, it’s easy for a car or truck driver to overlook a motorcyclist when changing lanes or making other traffic maneuvers.
Examples of Common Motorcycle Accident Injuries
Due to the above-mentioned risks, riders often experience these motorcycle accident injuries:
- Road rash: Among the most frequent injuries, road rash is a skin abrasion that happens when a rider is thrown from his or her bike. The skin is forcefully rubbed off as the rider comes in contact with the asphalt, possibly leading to infection and nerve damage.
- Head and neck injuries: Because they can be easily thrown from their bikes, motorcyclists often suffer injuries to their heads and necks. These injuries are many times worse if the rider is not wearing a helmet that meets official safety standards.
- Spinal cord injuries: Similarly, a crash can cause major damage to the spinal cord that may leave the rider with permanent, life-altering injuries. Examples are paralysis, chronic pain, and nerve damage.
- Bone breaks and fractures: Broken bones are also common since there is little protection between the rider and the hard surface of the road. Femurs, forearms, shins, and pelvis bones are often broken or fractured in accidents.
- Burns: It’s much easier for the gas tank in a motorcycle to rupture or spill, leading in many cases to fires and severe burns. The rider may need skin grafts and will almost always experience pain and suffering during the accident and recovery.
The Importance of Protective Gear and Safe Riding Practices
If you’ve ever even thought about riding a motorcycle, you’re probably already aware of the importance of helmets and other gear like gloves, riding pants, boots, and protective jackets.
These can mitigate the effects of some of the injuries above, such as road rash and burns, and can prevent irreversible or fatal injuries like brain damage. Most states have laws that require drivers and riders to at least wear helmets that meet safety specifics. But it’s wise to wear the other types of protective gear whenever you ride.
Safe riding practices are also essential to protecting one’s health and safety. In South Carolina, before a rider can be allowed to legally operate a motorcycle, he or she must take a safety class approved by the Department of Motor Vehicles. This class includes a road test (sometimes called a skills test) that determines whether the driver can safely maneuver the motorcycle. The driver should also be aware of the various traffic rules that apply uniquely to motorcyclists. For example, the practice of lane splitting, which is riding between lanes or rows of slow-moving or stopped traffic, is illegal in South Carolina.
Safety gear and careful riding practices don’t just preserve the motorcyclist’s health; they can also protect his or her right to full compensation in the event of an accident. That’s because, under a doctrine known as comparative negligence, at-fault parties can introduce evidence that motorcycle victims were partially responsible for their own injuries. For instance, if the rider failed to wear a helmet and got into a wreck, a jury could determine that the victim was partially responsible for the resulting brain damage.
When a jury decides that the victim played some role in the accident, a percentage of fault is assigned to the victim. The amount of recoverable damages will then be reduced by this percentage. Using the above example, the jury may decide that failure to wear a helmet means that the victim was 25% at fault. Whereas the victim might have recovered $100,000, this amount will be reduced by 25% ($25,000), allowing the victim to only recover $75,000.
Moreover, if the victim is determined to be more than 50% at fault for either failing to wear protective safety gear or failing to practice safe riding behaviors, he or she cannot recover any damages.
Steps to Take If You’re Injured in a Motorcycle Accident
To protect your health and rights after being in a motorcycle accident, we suggest doing the following:
- Call 911 and report the accident: The police will come to the scene and generate an accident report which will serve as valuable evidence later.
- Seek immediate medical attention: Whether by ambulance or later on your own, get medical attention right away, no matter how minor you think the accident was.
- Exchange information with the driver: Without admitting fault or apologizing, ask for the name, contact information, and insurance information of the driver who hit you.
- Begin collecting evidence: Take pictures and record video of the accident scene, including the damage done to your motorcycle.
- Get witness information: If there were any witnesses to the accident, get their names and contact information.
Contact Our Mount Pleasant, SC Motorcycle Accident Injury Attorney
The last step you should take is to reach out to an experienced motorcycle accident law firm.
We can investigate the circumstances of your accident, gather the evidence needed to prove the at-fault driver’s liability, and fight any attempt to shift blame to you. If a fair settlement with the driver’s insurance company can be reached, we will pursue that route. Otherwise, we will take your case to court and demand the compensation you need to recover. Get started today by calling Rikard & Protopapas.