Motorcycle Accidents

As more and more motorcycles join cars and trucks on California roadways, there is the inevitable danger of accidents. Due to the lower amount of protection and difference in weight, motorcycle riders are more likely to suffer serious or catastrophic injuries. Worse still, insurance companies will often try to deny you much-needed personal injury compensation after such accidents. In this article, we’ll cover topics like:

• The real causes of motorcycle accidents and injuries on California roadways.
• The tactics and strategies insurance companies use to deny, dismiss, or delay personal injury claims. 
• How accusations of fault and blame may impact your personal injury compensation.

What Are The Most Common Causes Of Motorcycle Accidents That Occur In Southern California?

People often have the perception that motorcycles are more accident-prone than cars, but the reality is that motorcycle accidents are most often caused by cars.

More specifically, they are caused by drivers not looking out for motorcycles because they are smaller or they are not used to thinking about them. As a result, they will change lanes into one, and where a car can take a gentle hit without serious incident, a motorcycle cannot. You can easily drive motorcycles off the road, and when they fall, riders tend to take more serious injuries.

Other incidents frequently seen on California roadways are mostly due to driver inattention or negligence, such as making a U-turn or left turn in front of a motorcycle, cutting them off. However, this perception that motorcycle riders are risk takers or that bikes are inherently unsafe is also used by insurance companies against injured riders just trying to obtain personal injury compensation for their medical costs, time lost from work, and harm suffered.

What Common Defense Strategies Do Insurance Companies Use To Deny Or Limit Personal Injury Claims Brought By Victims Of Motorcycle Accidents?

Unfortunately, a lot of people are biased against motorcycle drivers and falsely believe that they are more reckless or driving more dangerously. This is ironic, given the main cause of motorcycle accidents is car behavior on the road!

Because of the preconception and bias against motorcyclists, it is very important to hire a skilled attorney to overcome the perception, especially if you get to a jury trial. Even the insurance adjuster, because they know how juries might be biased, might try to use it as an excuse to offer a lower-value settlement.

This is tragic because, as a result of the lack of protection, the injuries and damages tend to be higher in motorcycle cases.

I Was Partially At Fault For The Motorcycle Accident That Caused My Injuries. Will That Reduce The Compensation I Can Recover In A Personal Injury Case?

Unfortunately, if you did legitimately contribute to the accident, that will have a negative impact on your total compensation. This is because California is a comparative fault state. In other words, the share of the total value of your claim you actually receive will be reduced by your percentage of fault.

Even if you are actually partially at fault for your collision, you should still seek out a skilled attorney because an attorney can help minimize how much fault is attributed to you and you will still be entitled to partial compensation for your injuries.

However, this only applies if you are actually partially to blame. Just being on a motorcycle does not make you at fault for the accident that caused your injuries, no matter what an insurance company adjuster or lawyer argues. In short: it’s only if you broke some laws or rules on the road or drove particularly recklessly or negligently that can you be attributed some of the blame.

How Can A Southern California Motorcycle Accident Attorney Help Me With My Case?

Due to the complexities of any personal injury case, it is always wise to hire an attorney. But this is doubly true for motorcycle accident personal injury claims, for all the reasons mentioned above.

It is imperative to have a lawyer on your side to help manage the claim, build a strong case for your compensation, calculate the value of it, and negotiate with the insurance company or argue your case in front of a jury.

Due to the specifics of motorcycle accident personal injury cases, you want a lawyer who has a track record of overcoming those biases and delivering successful motorcycle accident claims.

For more information on Motorcycle Accident Injury Claims In California, a FREE initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (415) 966-4471 (San Francisco Office) | (831) 387-7871 (Monterey Office) today.