Injured Motorcycle Passenger Options

Motorcycle accidents have a higher injury rate than motor vehicle accidents, for obvious reasons, such as:

• Lack of a protective outer shell as compared to a motor vehicle
  
  
• Lack of passive protective systems such as seatbelts and airbags
  
  

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) almost two hundred thousand people are treated in hospital emergency rooms every year for motorcycle related injuries.

A motorcycle passenger who is injured needs to know his/her legal options in order to claim personal injury. The reason this is necessary is because nine times out of ten the person operating the motorcycle is either a family member or friend. This thus makes the injured passenger reluctant to make a personal injury claim against the operator of the motorcycle.

Claims against the motorcycle operator

Like a motor vehicle the motorcycle operator at times can cause the collision as a result of poor judgement or poor decision making on their part. In the case of motorcycle operators, some of the poor decisions they may make that lead to accidents are:

• Speeding


• Changing lanes in an improper fashion or in an unlawful manner (e.g. lane splitting)


• Failure to use headlights and driving lights during daylight hours


• Making improper turns which result in collisions with oncoming traffic


• Failure to properly maintain and repair the motorcycle thus causing an accident

If you were involved in and sustained injuries in a motorcycle accident, and the operator of the motorcycle committed any of the above actions thus causing to the accident, you may have a legal claim against the operator for injuries sustained. Such a claim would be in the form of a third party insurance claim to be filed with the motorcycle operator’s insurance company.

Claims against the driver of the motor vehicle

If you are injured as a result of a collision between a motorcycle and a motor vehicle, depending on the circumstances and facts of the collision, you may be able to bring a claim against the motor vehicle driver. The facts and circumstances determine whether the injured party can indeed claim against the motor vehicle driver involved in the accident. According to the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), one of the most common causes of motorcycle-motor vehicle accidents is failure by the motor vehicle driver to notice or observe the motorcycle. One such example is where a motor vehicle driver makes a left turn in front of a motorcycle merely because the driver did not take the time to make sure that it was safe to proceed and thus causes an accident as a result of negligence. In such cases where the motor vehicle driver is at fault and the cause of the accident, the injured passenger on the motorcycle can bring a personal injury claim against the at fault driver.

If you sustained injuries as a result of a motorcycle accident and are looking for accident and injury lawyers, why not seek out a law firm of renowned professionals to give you advice on your claim or lawsuit.

For personal injury accident advice, the author recommends the Crowson Law Group.