Riding Through the Storm: Navigating the Aftermath of a Motorcycle Accident with the Help of a Lawyer

Introduction

Motorcycle riders face much greater risks of injury than other motorists when accidents happen. Their lack of vehicle structure exposes bodies directly to crashes’ physical forces. Often leading to extensive orthopedic harm like painful bone breaks requiring complex surgery or extended rehabilitation to restore mobility. Tragically, traumatic brain or spinal cord injuries also occur, paralyzing coordination or physical capacities permanently.

Understanding the Vulnerability of Motorcyclists

Unlike vehicles with metal frames and airbags, motorcycle riders directly absorb all crash energy currents through their bodies escalating harm potential including:

• Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs): Riders frequently strike the pavement head first given high centers of gravity leading to concussions or internal head bleeds leaving lasting headaches, concentration issues, memory problems, confusion, or balance coordination.
• Spinal cord injuries: Similar violent falls often fracture, crush, or sever the intricate spinal cord network relaying mobility signals from the brain to limbs manifesting as paralysis or loss of feeling in the torso and finger/toe extremities.
• Broken bones and fractures: Flung or dragged extremities commonly break upon sudden traumatic impacts with unforgiving roads and obstacles. Pieces sometimes penetrate muscle and skin tissues too.
• Road rash: Resultant abrasions scrape off layers of skin upon skidding stretches of pavement requiring wound care preventing infections that might otherwise progress requiring skin grafts or amputations if uncontrolled.
• Internal injuries: Blunt force traumas negatively impact internal organs like livers, kidneys, and lungs via internal bleeding or physical bruising complicating bodywide functions from circulatory processes to breathing.

By understanding vulnerabilities specific to motorcycles, riders better prepare for crash aftermaths through protective equipment, insurance adjustments, and lawyer consultations.

The Role of a Motorcycle Accident Lawyer

Retaining legal counsel immediately following collisions remains critical in protecting your inalienable rights. A skillful motorcycle accident lawyer in Des Moines offers the following services:

• Investigating the accident: Inspecting motorcycle and road evidence first hand right after collisions produces photos, measurements, and eyewitness accounts accurately capturing contributory factors while scenes stay unchanged. This builds liability arguments.
• Negotiating with insurance companies: Relying upon findings, attorneys forcibly press at-fault drivers’ insurance providers to supply full compensations reflecting endured pain, disrupted livelihoods, and the necessity of lifelong care supports rather than meager nuisance settlements.
• Filing a lawsuit: When warranted by refusals of fair remedies from insurers, lawyers boldly bring negligence lawsuits before courts detailing medical conclusions, expert testimonies, and all substantiating documentation that achieved settlements still cannot justly remedy. This pushes accountability.
• Providing legal advice and support: Above all, lawyers supply compassionate counsel on navigating treatment options, maintaining family finances afloat during recoveries, and exercising rights/entitlements given employment disruption or permanent impairment statuses needing accommodation.

Choosing the Right Motorcycle Accident Lawyer

As potential teammates protecting interests, vet motorcycle accident lawyer candidates that:

• Specializes in motorcycle accident cases: Target firms concentrating specifically on bike accidents rather than general personal injury practices given unique medical nuances and court precedent familiarity shaping case strategies.
• Has a proven track record of success: Probe case histories uncovering rates securing policy payouts from insurers and litigation courtroom victories when satisfactory settlements cannot get brokered. High marks indicate persuasiveness.
• Offers a free consultation: Most offer first exploratory discussions at no obligations charged allowing opportunities to ask specific experience questions, vetting credentials, assess compatibility senses, and mutually determine case merits before formal retentions.
• Is communicative and compassionate: Throughout lengthy legal processes, ideal attorneys make themselves perpetually accessible by answering questions, explaining progress and truly supporting clients through emotional challenges. You want a counselor – not just a contractor.

As you recover physically, ensure the lawyer securing justice and resources remains the right fit every step ahead.

Common Causes of Motorcycle Accidents

While no two collisions replicate exactly, patterned causes contribute, often including:

• Distracted driving: Ever-proliferating smartphones prompt drivers to divert attention onto screens and devices rather than vigilantly scanning roads and mirrors and noticing approaching bikes. This delayed reaction precipitates crashes.
• Drunk driving: Intoxicated motorists experience delayed reaction times, blurred vision, and impaired hand-eye coordination dangerously unable to properly control vehicles to avoid colliding with more vulnerable road partners.
• Speeding: Excessive velocities shrink margins averting collisions when automobiles hastily change lanes or turn left assuming sufficient gaps are no longer present due to pace exceeding reasonable expectations.
• Lane splitting: Distracted drivers sometimes sideswipe motorcyclists attempting to pass via the open middle lane partitions as regional laws allow. Inattention breeds accidents.
• Left-turn accidents: per above, vehicles misjudging oncoming traffic speeds including faster moving motorcycles while turning left carelessly violate right-of-way zones occupied by bikes legally progressing unimpeded.
• Dangerous road conditions: Hazards like substantial gravel, excess highway oil films, or roadway designs funnel traffic without appropriate motorcycle considerations and dangerously lose traction and control once struck.

But knowing common factors allows riders and drivers alike to work proactively preventing the majority of accidents before injuries ever materialize through smart preparation and practices.

Preventing Motorcycle Accidents

While neither party ever expects collisions, reflective moderation keeps everyone safe:

• Wear protective gear: Helmets, leathers, knee pads, and padded jackets greatly reduce injury severity when falls inevitably occur. Dress for crash durability despite temperatures.
• Ride defensively: Assume cars cannot see you by selecting lanes with optimal visibility and signage, utilizing horns liberally, and decelerating cautiously at intersections allowing greater reaction times.
• Obey traffic laws: Excess speed and dangerous weaving forfeit right-of-way protections legally enjoyed when operating reasonably. Keep pace with flow and patterns.
• Avoid riding in bad weather: Slippery rain or icy asphalt loses traction rapidly risking control capabilities compared to dry conditions. If riding, reduce speeds appreciably near advisable limits given reduced grip from surface water.
• Take a motorcycle safety course: Even experienced riders benefit from honing emergency braking proficiencies and accident avoidance techniques through advanced training programs developing reflexive responsiveness aptitude. Master life-saving maneuvers.

Seeking Compensation for Your Losses

When collisions impose harms and losses through others’ provable negligence, motorcycle accident lawyers seek financial reimbursements covering:

• Medical expenses: All sustained treatment costs from ambulance transportation, to surgical procedures, and hospital stays through post-op rehabilitation regaining strength and capabilities.
• Lost wages: Calculation of all salary income unable to be earned throughout accident recovery periods and projected continuing impacted capacities affecting occupational potential and financial earnings.
• Pain and suffering: Allocations attempting to financially equate levels of physical agony and emotional grief stemming from severe injuries and permanent lifestyle alterations that no quantities can effectively offset.
• Property damage: Repair/replacement costs to motorcycle equipment damaged or totaled within crashes not covered by associated auto policies.
• Loss of consortium: Funds attempting to acknowledge impacts to family structures when injuries sustained alter engagement in routine household responsibilities, child-rearing duties, and marital obligations.

The Challenges of Motorcycle Accident Cases

As smaller vehicles lack passenger protections, unique obstacles hinder accident responsibility resolutions and payout attainments:

• Police report bias: Some reports presume automotive priorities assigning right-of-way blame toward “invisible” bikes rather than fully investigating conditions and statements rigorously supporting true sequence causality.
• Insurer pushback: Claims examiners know severe injuries befalling motorcyclists amass higher reimbursement values often aggressively disputing liability apportionments between cars despite third-party property damages and independent eyewitness corroboration benefitting bike operators.
• Jury misconceptions: Attorneys subtly characterize motorcycles as thrill crafts willfully accepting exceptionally high risks rather than equal commuting vehicles worthy of equivalent safeguards under the law. This sways the assignment of percentages favoring defendants.
• Restrictive laws: Some states enact prohibitions limiting financial damages collectible at trial differentially targeting motorcyclists as some kind inherently worth less protection than average citizens. Lawyers leverage to diminish values.

Conclusion

Motorcycle accidents harm riders severely given lacking safety structures when crashes turn worlds upside down physically, emotionally, and financially overnight. Police report biases questioning deserved protections, insurer tactics minimizing deserved reimbursements, and lawsuits massaging facts against victims make aftermaths still harder. Align yourself with a reputable motorcycle accident lawyer specialist like a skillful motorcycle accident lawyer who can turn tables and pursue justice, care, and closure of your case.