Contrary to a persistent and unfair stereotype that motorcycle riders are risk-taking daredevils, many are well aware of the risks and safety protocols of riding motorcycles. Often, motorcycle accidents are caused by negligent drivers, not riders.
Negligent drivers pose a significant risk to motorcycle riders, and our motorcycle accident attorneys can help you sue for your injuries. We can investigate the cause of your crash, collect evidence, and build your claim from Day 1 so that you can get your case filed on time, get into court, and get the damages you need. We will aggressively represent you and protect your rights, all with the goal of getting you and your family the compensation you deserve.
Call The Reiff Law Firm’s motorcycle accident lawyers at (215) 709-6940 for a free case review.
What to Do After a Motorcycle Accident in Philadelphia
After a motorcycle collision, get emergency help right away. If you are badly injured, wait where you are, and emergency medical personnel or the police will come to your aid. If you can safely exit your car, you should exchange information with other drivers involved in the accident and speak to the police when they arrive.
When speaking to the other driver, the police, or anyone else at the accident scene, you must be very careful about what you say and how you say it. Even if the accident is not your fault, you might feel compelled to apologize to the other driver out of politeness. However, your apology could be twisted into an admission of wrongdoing. Similarly, be careful talking to the police. While they are there to help you, they are also compiling a crash report, and accidentally incriminating yourself could end up in the report.
Collecting Evidence After a Motorcycle Accident
After a crash, you should collect all of the evidence available to you before it is lost or destroyed. At the scene of the accident, there may be some work to do to get all of the evidence available before the police clean up the accident scene, but if you need to go to the hospital, focus on that first. You may also be able to send a friend or family member to go take photos of the scene, but you can also contact our lawyers to help you collect evidence you might have missed.
Photos and videos should be recorded almost immediately, if possible. These recordings help preserve the conditions of the accident, damage to vehicles, details about the surrounding location, tire marks on the road, and other crucial details.
If you can, get the names of witnesses at the scene, as their testimony might be extremely important later. If you cannot get these details, our accident lawyers can check the police report for any information regarding witnesses. Police reports are often inadmissible as direct evidence, but they can give us a strong clue as to what the police officer will be able to testify to, what witnesses and officers saw at the scene of the crash, and any other information you might have missed if you had to rush off to the hospital.
Your medical records can be used to establish the severity and extent of your injuries and medical treatment. This is very important because many injured riders have recovered from their injuries by the time their trial date arrives, and the jury cannot see the injuries for themselves.
Our motorcycle accident attorneys can also help you look for evidence you might not have thought of. For example, we can send letters to local businesses and homeowners asking them to contact us if they have any security cameras that might have caught the accident on film. We can do the same if there are any local traffic cameras that record video – though most just show live video and do not record.
Causes of Motorcycle Accidents in Philadelphia
Motorcycle accidents are often caused by multiple factors coming together to create a dangerous situation. Even so, there are several common causes of motorcycle accidents that our Philadelphia motorcycle accident lawyers can help you look into when filing your lawsuit.
Distracted Driving
Distractions behind the wheel are among the most significant causes of accidents today. With things like cell phones, tablets, and GPS becoming more and more commonplace, it is all too easy for a driver to become distracted on the road. Unfortunately, this means that drivers are not focused on their surroundings and are more likely to cause a collision. An accident involving a motorcycle is especially dangerous because motorcycles are smaller and easier to miss. A distracted driver might never see the motorcycle rider until it is too late.
Reckless Driving
Even if the driver is not distracted, they might still drive recklessly. Speeding, failing to signal, or general aggressive driving is extremely dangerous and can easily cause an accident. Reckless driving accidents can be especially severe since drivers are not exactly trying to be careful. It can be difficult to prove that the other driver was driving recklessly because reckless driving is a broad allegation. However, reckless drivers often receive multiple tickets from the police for various traffic violations, and these tickets might be helpful evidence in your case.
Safety Factor of Motorcycles
Safety factors might play a role in how your accident occurred. For example, braking is an important aspect of driving. If road conditions are wet or slick, visibility is low, or the driver is speeding, brake times might be shorter or unpredictable. If the driver does not maintain a safe distance from a motorcycle, they could hit the motorcycle rider if they cannot safely brake.
Many motorcycle accidents come from the fact that drivers lose control. Losing control of the vehicle might happen if the driver is speeding, the tires are worn down, the road is slick, or they make a turn too sharply. These are all safety factors that, if minded by drivers, can help avoid accidents. Unfortunately, negligent drivers are often not mindful of safety factors.
What Damages Can Be Compensated After a Motorcycle Accident in Philadelphia?
Insurance companies and courts do not provide compensation unless you can articulate your damages. It is not enough to say that you are injured. You must explain exactly what your injuries are, the kind of relief or compensation you need, and provide evidence to support your claims.
Economic Damages
Economic damages from a motorcycle crash should include the injuries or losses that cost you money. Medical bills, records of lost income from missing work, and the cost of repairing your bike might be astronomical expenses. Our Chester County, PA motorcycle accident lawyers can help you tally up these expenses by looking through receipts, bills, and invoices. In some cases, plaintiffs have numerous costs, and it is easy to lose track. An attorney can help you thoroughly review all your expenses so nothing is overlooked and mistakenly left out.
Non-Economic Damages
Non-economic damages are sometimes tricky to wrap your head around because they are serious injuries that do not cost you any money. According to 231 Pa. Code Rule 223.3, non-economic damages in Pennsylvania include pain and suffering, humiliation, the loss of the ability to enjoy life, and disfigurement. These are not exactly injuries as much as they are painful experiences. Although these experiences do not usually cost money, courts can compensate them with money.
How Insurance Affects Motorcycle Accident Cases in Philadelphia
If you also drive a car, you might be familiar with Pennsylvania’s insurance system, where we have a choice between “limited tort” and “full tort” policies. The major distinction between these policies is that drivers with limited tort policies cannot sue after an accident unless they meet certain requirements, and drivers with a full tort policy can. In either case, you usually rely on your own insurance first before you can go after the other driver’s insurance, but that is only for car accidents.
Motorcycle accidents work like a full tort policy, where the driver can always sue the at-fault driver for their injuries. Their own insurance will only cover the damage they cause, and motorcycle riders need to add other coverages to their policy to get any coverage for themselves. This could include medical benefits that might help you cover some of your own injuries in the meantime.
What this means is that you will ultimately be seeking to get paid by the at-fault driver, often through a lawsuit. Motorcycle riders can face very serious injuries that often leave them with high medical expenses, lost wages from work, and severe pain and suffering. Because the driver that hit them might only have state minimum coverage of $15,000 per person for an accident and $5,000 for property damage, there may be a lot more that you need covered.
When we sue, we can go after the individual directly. If they have insurance, that policy will pay out damages first, but we can claim damages above and beyond their policy limit directly from them. We may also be able to use your uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage (UM/UIM) if you have any. This can help supplement any amounts above what an uninsured or underinsured driver can pay you.
Dealing with Victim Blaming in a Philadelphia Motorcycle Accident
Drivers who cause crashes often try to blame anyone but themselves for the accident. In many cases, the motorcycle riders they hit were doing everything they were supposed to be doing, but public perceptions about motorcyclists might still leave them at a disadvantage when the case goes before a judge or jury. One job that our motorcycle accident lawyers will take on in your case is defending you from defense attorneys who want to try to reverse the blame onto you.
Motorcycles are certainly “dangerous” to some extent, but they are street-legal, and riding a motorcycle with proper safety gear and licensing is perfectly legal. Instead, it is the other driver’s fault when they violate the law or hit you through negligence or reckless action. Our lawyers can point to your compliance with motorcycle equipment laws, compliance with traffic laws, and compliance with general safety practices to show that you were doing nothing wrong when the other driver hit you.
If you were doing something wrong, that is not necessarily the end of your case. Most crashes involve negligence on both sides, but 42 Pa.C.S. § 7102 still allows injury victims to recover compensation for the accident that injured them as long as their fault is less than the other person’s fault. That means that if you were doing something like following a bit too closely or driving a bit beyond the speed limit, that should not be enough to end your case entirely in the face of the other driver’s more serious violations. However, it will reduce your damages by whatever percentage of fault the jury finds you were responsible for.
Our Philadelphia Motorcycle Accident Attorneys Can Help
Call our Pennsylvania motorcycle accident lawyers for a free review of your case. We can help you get started with an insurance claim and prepare for a lawsuit. Call The Reiff Law Firm at (215) 709-6940.
