Moncks Corner Motorcycle Accident Lawyer
As gasoline prices continue climbing, motorcycles are becoming increasingly popular. However, many drivers still fail to keep a proper lookout for these riders. Usually, after a crash, a tortfeasor (negligent driver) says something like “You came out of nowhere” or “I never saw you.” Such statements are basically admissions of liability. If the tortfeasor was liable (legally responsible for a wreck, a Moncks Corner motorcycle accident lawyer can obtain significant compensation in court.
Victims need this compensation so they can pay medical bills and other accident-related expenses. After a catastrophic (life-threatening) injury, the medical bills alone usually exceed $100,000. Victims deserve this compensation because, since the accident was someone else’s fault, they should not have to pay these costs out of their own pockets. They should also not have to rely on government or insurance company handouts.
Moncks Corner Motorcycle Accident Lawyers and Motorcycle Wreck Injuries
In a crash, a motorcycle rider fatality rate is thirty times higher than the four-wheel vehicle occupant fatality rate. Even if riders survive, they normally sustain serious injuries, such as:
- Internal Injuries: Usually, the force of a wreck throws riders off their bikes. Motorcycles don’t have seatbelts or steel cages to prevent such ejection injuries. The motion of a fall causes internal organs to smash against each other. The resulting abrasions, which are hard to detect and seal, usually bleed very badly.
- Broken Bones: Broken legs are especially common in motorcycle accidents. The rider’s leg is usually smashed between the motorcycle and the tortfeasor’s vehicle. This motion usually shatters leg bones, as opposed to breaking them. The additional injury means more extensive surgery, longer physical therapy, and therefore higher costs.
- Head Injuries: Motorcycle helmets prevent some impact-related head injuries. But they do not prevent motion-related head injuries. These injuries occur when the victim falls and the brain slams against the skull. Helmets also do not prevent Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, a specific kind of head injury that’s related to the brain’ pre-accident and post-accident chemical composition.
A Moncks Corner motorcycle accident lawyer connects victims with doctors who focus on injury-related conditions and, in most cases, charge nothing upfront for their professional services.
Liability Issues
Compensation is available for these injuries if the tortfeasor was negligent. Basically, negligence is a lack of care.
Drivers breach their duty of care if they drive while impaired (e.g. drunk or fatigued), or aggressively (e.g. speeding and turning unsafely). Drivers also breach their duty of care if they violate a safety law, and that violation substantially causes injury.
“Substantial” cause does not mean “only” cause. Many causes contributed to 9/11, but al Qaeda terrorists substantially caused it.
Formal and informal defenses are available in most motorcycle wreck claims. These defenses could reduce or even eliminate the victim’s compensation.
Comparative fault, one of the most common defenses, shifts blame for an accident from the tortfeasor to the victim. For example, an insurance company might blame the rider’s excessive speed, as opposed to the tortfeasor’s intoxication for a wreck.
The motorcycle prejudice is available as well. Basically, insurance company lawyers argue that motorcycle riders are reckless thugs who are responsible for their own injuries. The motorcycle prejudice defense is not as strong as it was in years past, but an attorney must still account for it.
Connect With a Dedicated Berkeley County Lawyer
Injury victims are entitled to significant compensation. For a free consultation with an experienced Moncks Corner motorcycle accident lawyer, contact The Stanley Law Group. The sooner you reach out to us, the sooner we start working for you.
