Largo Motorcycle Accident Attorney
During collisions, vehicle occupants are protected by multiple safety layers, not to mention hard-shell cocoons. Motorcycle riders have none of these protections. As a result, the motorcycle rider fatality rate is about thirty times higher than the vehicle occupant fatality rate. Even if these riders survive, they often sustain catastrophic and permanent injuries.
Many motorcycle wrecks in Largo are left-turn collisions. A driver is waiting to make an unprotected left turn against traffic. Mostly because drivers aren’t keeping a watchful eye out for motorcyclists in the first place, the tortfeasor (negligent driver) turns directly into the path of an oncoming motorcycle. It’s almost impossible for the rider to avoid a crash. Worse still, this crash usually happens when both vehicles are traveling at or near top speed. As outlined below, these wrecks are legally complex.
The diligent Largo motorcycle accident attorneys at The Reep Law Firm quickly and thoroughly evaluate your case and uncover your legal options. Then, after we connect victims with doctors if needed, we collect evidence that supports your claims and refutes insurance company defenses. So, when the case goes to court, we are well-positioned to obtain maximum compensation for your serious injuries.
Motorcycle Wreck Injuries
The number of serious motorcycle crashes has increased significantly since 2011, mostly because there are many more motorcyclists on the road. Some of the serious injuries these victims sustain include:
- Head Injuries: Motorcycle helmets prevent many trauma-related head injuries. But they do nothing to prevent motion-related head injuries. When riders fall off their bikes, their brains slam against the insides of their skulls. A combination of brain surgery, drugs, and physical therapy reduces the symptoms, but the injury itself is permanent.
- Biker’s Arm: As riders fall, they naturally extend their arms to break their falls. This reaction usually causes nerve injuries in the brachial plexus bundle under the arms. These nerve injuries usually cause permanent facial paralysis.
- Broken Bones: Although they usually aren’t life-threatening, broken bones are perhaps the most serious collision-related injury, mostly because they permanently restrict mobility. That’s because broken bones often never completely heal. For example, if Terry breaks his knee, he may permanently lose some range of motion in that joint.
A Largo motorcycle accident attorney can obtain compensation for these and other injuries. However, the insurance company doesn’t simply give this money away. In fact, so much is at stake that insurance company lawyers often pull out all the stops in an effort to reduce or deny compensation to victims.
Possible Defenses
These efforts usually revolve around some formal defenses, such as comparative fault. For example, in the aforementioned left turn wrecks, the insurance company might try to blame the crash on the rider’s excessive speed or failure to avoid the wreck.
In these situations, jurors must divide responsibility on a percentage basis, such as 50-50, between the rider and driver.
Florida is a pure comparative fault state. Even if the victim was 99 percent responsible for the wreck, the tortfeasor is responsible for a proportionate share of damages. These damages usually include compensation for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering.
Informal defenses, such as the motorcycle prejudice, often apply as well. Many jurors believe that motorcycle riders are reckless thugs who disregard the safety of other people. Attorneys usually cannot change how people think and feel, but an attorney can show that the victim doesn’t fit the prejudice profile. This approach eliminates the effects of the motorcycle prejudice without rubbing jurors the wrong way.
Contact an Experienced Pinellas County Attorney
Injury victims are entitled to substantial compensation. For a free consultation with an experienced motorcycle accident attorney in Largo, contact Reep, Coleman & Stubbendorff. You have a limited amount of time to act.
