Largo Motorcycle Accident Lawyer
Motorcycle accidents can cause severe injuries and even death. While a passenger vehicle is protected by the shell of their vehicle, motorcyclists often only have their helmets on for protection—if they choose to wear one. In 2019, 71% of motorcyclists wore helmets, a huge increase from 48% in 2005. In 2018, 4,985 motorcyclists were killed.
Getting into a motorcycle accident can be stressful, adding medical debt, lost wages, and injury recovery to your already busy life. These things are not easy to deal with, but an experienced attorney can help you get the compensation that you need to relieve that stress.
Common Causes of Motorcycle Accidents in Largo
There are many different causes of motorcycle accidents, caused by both motorcyclists and passenger vehicle drivers. However, we’re going to focus mainly on the types of accidents that are caused by vehicle drivers and affect motorcyclists. As a motorcyclist, your main duty should be keeping yourself and others on the road safe. This means wearing a helmet and avoiding dangerous driving, such as lane splitting.
- Unsafe Lane Changes: vehicles that merge or change lanes without checking their blindspots may not see a motorcyclist in the opposing lane. Even vehicles with blind spot detectors may not pick up on a motorcyclist, so drivers need to be vigilant when it comes to checking their blind spots before changing lanes.
- Speeding: Speeding is a very common cause of many different types of accidents. The more a vehicle is speeding, the worse the accident and the injuries from the accident are likely to be. When speeding it becomes much harder to stop a vehicle, meaning a motorcyclist could be hit if the vehicle doesn’t stop in time.
- Car Door Opening: When a car door opens out of nowhere, a motorcycle can crash into it. When opening a car door, drivers must check to make sure a motorcycle or another car isn’t coming to prevent an accident from occurring.
- DUI/DWI: Drinking and driving is never a good idea, and can cause harm to the person committing the act as well as any other vehicles on the road.
- Sudden Stops: Rear-end accidents can occur if a motorcycle stops quickly and the vehicle behind them isn’t following far enough to stop in time.
- Inexperienced Drivers: Drivers who don’t have a lot of experience may not be the best drivers, and they may forget to check their blindspots, speed, or otherwise endanger motorcyclists because of their inexperience.
- Left Turns: Left turn accidents are incredibly common, especially in places with two left turn lanes, and people will occasionally drift out of the correct lane, not knowing there are two lanes, or not noticing the motorcyclists in the other lane.
- Motorcycle Defects: In some rare occasions, motorcycle accidents may be caused by motorcycle defects, such as malfunctions in the vehicle because of defective parts.
Common Injuries from Motorcycle Accidents
The most common injury is road rash, as motorcyclists are often thrown off their bikes, causing them to skid along the pavement. This can cause abrasion to the skin, even through clothing. Road rash can be so bad that the victim may require a skin graft to replace the missing skin. Road rash can resemble burns as well as scrapes and can range from mild to severe.
Traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury are also both common from motorcycle accidents. While a helmet can help to decrease the potential of a head injury, a head injury is still possible. Head injury is caused by a strike or penetration to the head, and can affect brain function causing temporary loss of consciousness, coma, brain death, vegetative state, and sometimes death. Spinal cord injuries may cause paralysis, with either complete or incomplete loss of function below the site of the injury.
Unfair Motorcycle Bias
Unfair motorcycle bias is one of the main reasons that you should hire an attorney for your case. Motorcycle accident victims are often looked down on and not given as much money in settlements and in court because of unfair motorcycle bias. Motorcyclists are often viewed as dangerous or adrenaline-seeking for riding motorcycles, making it easier to shift the blame onto the rider. The jury may also not know the ins and outs of how a motorcycle works, making it harder to argue the case. However, a talented attorney will ensure that this unfair motorcycle bias does not play a part in the settlement that you receive.
Should I Settle my Motorcycle Accident Case?
It can be a hard decision on whether or not to settle your case. On one hand, you may be tempted to take the quick cash to avoid going to court. On the other hand, you could lose out on a higher sum if you were to take your case to trial. Your case has two values, its settlement value and its trial value. The trial value is the combination of all your total damages, both economic and non-economic.
Your settlement value is affected by your chances of winning your case if you were to take it to trial. For example, if you had an estimated 50% chance of winning your case and your trial value was $300,000, your settlement value would be $150,000. Therefore, the higher your chance of winning, the higher your settlement will be, and the lower your chances of winning, the lower it will be.
Finding an Experienced Motorcycle Accident Attorney in Largo
If you or someone you love has been injured in a motorcycle accident, please contact one of our talented attorneys at Jones Law Group. Our years of experience working on motorcycle accident cases will be crucial to helping you win your case. For more information please contact us online using our chat box option or by calling us at 727-571-1333.
