A driver turned left directly into your path while you were riding your motorcycle. You suffered severe injuries including multiple fractures and road rash. Now the driver's insurance company is suggesting you were speeding and took unnecessary risks by riding a motorcycle in the first place.
Our friends at Kantrowitz, Goldhamer & Graifman, P.C. discuss how riders face unique challenges that car accident victims never encounter. As a motorcycle accident lawyer will tell you, motorcycle cases require specialized approaches to overcome bias, prove liability, and secure fair compensation for injuries that are typically far more severe than those in car accidents.
The Injury Severity Difference
Motorcyclists lack the protective shell that surrounds car occupants. No airbags, seatbelts, or crumple zones exist to absorb impact forces. When a motorcycle collides with a vehicle, the rider's body takes the full brunt of the collision.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, motorcyclists are significantly more likely to be killed or seriously injured per vehicle mile traveled compared to passenger car occupants. This statistical reality translates directly to higher medical costs, longer recovery periods, and greater case values.
Road rash, traumatic brain injuries despite helmet use, multiple fractures, spinal cord damage, and amputations occur with disturbing frequency in motorcycle accidents. These catastrophic injuries require extensive medical treatment and often result in permanent disabilities that dramatically affect quality of life.
Bias Against Motorcyclists Is Real
Insurance adjusters, juries, and sometimes even police officers carry anti-motorcycle bias. They view riders as reckless thrill-seekers who assume risk by choosing to ride. This prejudice affects how they evaluate liability and damages.
Defense attorneys exploit this bias by portraying motorcyclists as dangerous risk-takers who contributed to their own injuries. They emphasize the inherent dangers of motorcycling and suggest that anyone choosing to ride accepts responsibility for whatever happens.
Overcoming this bias requires presenting you as a careful, responsible rider who followed all traffic laws and took reasonable safety precautions. Helmet use, proper licensing, safety course completion, and motorcycle maintenance records all help counter negative stereotypes.
Visibility And Left-Turn Accident Liability
The most common motorcycle accident scenario involves a vehicle turning left in front of an oncoming motorcycle. The driver claims they never saw the motorcycle, and insurance companies try to place fault on the rider for being "hard to see."
This defense ignores the fundamental principle that drivers must look carefully for all traffic before turning. Motorcycles have the same right-of-way as cars. A driver's failure to see a motorcycle results from inadequate observation, not the motorcycle's inherent visibility.
We counter visibility arguments with evidence showing proper headlight use, reflective gear, lane positioning, and speed appropriate for conditions. Proving the motorcycle was visible to an attentive driver defeats the "I didn't see him" defense.
Helmet Laws And Comparative Negligence
Some states don't require motorcycle helmets for all riders. When an unhelmeted rider suffers head injuries, insurance companies argue comparative negligence even when helmet laws didn't require one.
The defense claims that failing to wear a helmet contributed to injury severity, so the rider should bear partial fault for their damages. This argument can reduce recovery significantly in states allowing comparative negligence.
However, causation matters. Expert testimony about whether a helmet would have prevented or reduced specific injuries becomes necessary. Sometimes head injuries would have occurred regardless of helmet use, defeating the comparative negligence argument.
Different Insurance Coverage Issues
Many motorcyclists carry only minimum liability coverage or no insurance at all. This creates problems when another vehicle shares fault or when you need to access your own uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage.
Some auto insurance policies exclude motorcycles from uninsured motorist coverage or require separate motorcycle insurance for those protections. Understanding what coverage applies to your motorcycle accident requires careful policy review.
Additionally, some insurance companies try to deny uninsured motorist coverage to motorcyclists under their auto policies, claiming motorcycles aren't covered vehicles. Fighting these denials often requires litigation.
Accident Reconstruction Challenges
Motorcycle accident reconstruction requires specialized knowledge beyond standard car crash analysis. Factors unique to motorcycles include:
- Motorcycle dynamics during braking, turning, and collision
- How riders separate from motorcycles during impacts
- Slide distances for both the motorcycle and rider
- Road surface interaction with motorcycle tires
- The physics of high-side and low-side crashes
Standard accident reconstructionists who primarily work car accidents may lack the specific motorcycle expertise needed to accurately analyze your collision. We often retain specialists with extensive motorcycle crash reconstruction experience.
Road Hazards That Don't Affect Cars
Potholes, gravel, oil slicks, uneven pavement, and debris in roadways pose minimal threat to four-wheeled vehicles but can cause serious motorcycle accidents. When these hazards cause your crash, liability might fall on government entities responsible for road maintenance.
Proving the hazard existed long enough for authorities to have discovered and repaired it requires investigation and documentation. These claims against governmental entities face special procedural requirements and immunity defenses that complicate litigation.
Lane Splitting And Filtering Laws
Some states allow lane splitting or filtering where motorcyclists ride between lanes of stopped or slow-moving traffic. Other states prohibit this practice. When accidents occur during lane splitting, liability becomes heavily contested.
Even in states where lane splitting is legal, insurance companies argue the practice is inherently dangerous and the rider assumed risk. Building strong lane splitting cases requires proving the rider operated safely within legal parameters and the other driver created the hazard.
The Role Of Protective Gear
What you were wearing when the accident occurred significantly impacts your case. Full protective gear including helmet, jacket, gloves, boots, and pants demonstrates responsible riding behavior that counters reckless rider stereotypes.
Protective gear also reduces injury severity, which paradoxically can hurt your case value. If your armored jacket prevented serious road rash, you have smaller medical bills and less dramatic injuries to present. However, the gear's presence proves you took safety seriously.
Motorcycle Modifications And Maintenance
Defense attorneys scrutinize motorcycle modifications looking for safety violations or reckless alterations. Excessively loud exhaust, removed mirrors, or performance modifications can be portrayed as evidence of irresponsible riding.
Maintenance records showing regular service help prove your motorcycle was mechanically sound and any equipment failure didn't contribute to the accident. Poor maintenance can create comparative negligence arguments or even shift liability entirely.
Speed Assumptions
Insurance companies and police frequently assume motorcyclists were speeding even without evidence. The severity of injuries and vehicle damage gets attributed to excessive speed rather than the inherent vulnerability of riders.
Proving actual speed requires accident reconstruction, witness testimony, and sometimes analysis of motorcycle computer systems that record operational data. Countering speed assumptions is necessary to prevent unfair liability allocation.
Group Riding Complications
Accidents involving motorcycle group rides create complex liability questions. If multiple riders were present, defense attorneys suggest reckless group behavior contributed to the crash. They portray group rides as dangerous exhibitions rather than responsible recreation.
Establishing that your group operated safely, obeyed traffic laws, and maintained proper spacing between riders defeats these characterizations. Witness testimony from other group members can support your version of events.
Higher Settlement Values When Properly Presented
Despite the challenges, properly presented motorcycle cases often settle for more than comparable car accident cases because of injury severity and the compelling nature of catastrophic harm to sympathetic plaintiffs.
Juries who overcome their initial bias often award substantial verdicts to seriously injured motorcyclists, particularly when the defendant's fault is clear and the rider demonstrated responsibility.
Unique Medical Evidence Requirements
Motorcycle accident injuries require specialized medical testimony. Road rash treatment differs substantially from other injury types. Orthopedic injuries from motorcycle impacts involve different force dynamics than car crash injuries.
Medical professionals familiar with motorcycle-specific injury patterns provide more compelling testimony than doctors who primarily treat car accident victims.
If you've been injured in a motorcycle accident and are facing insurance company bias, liability disputes, or questions about how your case differs from standard car accident claims, reach out to discuss the unique legal strategies needed to overcome prejudice against riders, prove fault despite visibility arguments, and recover full compensation for the typically severe injuries motorcyclists suffer in collisions.
