Head injuries are among the most common types of motorcycle accident injuries. Head injuries are also the most common fatal injury among motorcyclists. Other injuries from motorcycle accidents can include broken bones, severe scrapes and cuts, internal bleeding, brain injuries, and spinal cord injuries.
Consider what an attorney can do for you if you or a loved one suffers injuries in a motorcycle accident. A motorcycle accident lawyer in New Jersey will handle your insurance claim or lawsuit. While your lawyer fights for your financial recovery, you can prioritize your recovery.
Motorcyclists Face a High Risk of Serious Injury—Here Is Why
Last year, motorcyclists represented 14 percent of all traffic deaths.
This is a disproportionately high rate of fatal accidents for motorcyclists, which makes sense because:
- Motorcycles lack physical protection for riders: Cars, SUVs, and trucks have seatbelts, glass, airbags, and a physical metal barrier around the motorist. Motorcycles generally have none of these protections. This lack of protection increases the risk that motorcyclists will suffer severe injuries.
- Motorcycles have only two wheels: While this seems obvious, it is important in the context of motorcycle accidents. Unlike cars, motorcycles are likely to tip over when an accident happens. This means that motorcyclists often fall off their bikes and onto the road, resulting in serious injuries.
- Motorcycles are difficult to see: A motorist may strike a motorcyclist without seeing the collision coming because motorcyclists are much smaller than cars and other vehicles. Therefore, a motorist may hit a motorcyclist without braking or swerving, causing a violent collision.
Even when motorcyclists wear helmets, they face a higher-than-average risk of severe injuries.
Life-Threatening Injuries a Motorcyclist May Suffer
While any injury requires medical attention, some injuries require emergency medical care.
These injuries can kill motorcyclists and may include:
- Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), which can result from the motorcyclist hitting their head on the road, other vehicles, or other objects at the accident scene
- Internal bleeding, which may not be immediately obvious but can lead to death if untreated
- Severe burns and cuts, which may be prone to infection
- Amputation injuries, which require immediate medical attention
Eye injuries, broken bones, internal organ injuries, and other common motorcycle accident injuries also warrant medical attention.
What to Do After Suffering Injuries in a Motorcycle Accident
Motorcycle accidents are unfamiliar territory for most victims. Even if you have been in a motorcycle accident before, no two collisions are exactly alike. You should consider both your health and your possible financial recovery, which means:
Seeing a Doctor as Soon as Possible
If you have not visited a doctor after your motorcycle accident, seek medical attention as soon as possible.
- Find a doctor with a reputation for being thorough (a lawyer can help you with this)
- Explain every accident-related symptom to your doctor
- Request an explanation (and diagnosis) for each of your symptoms
- Ask if imaging is necessary, as an X-ray, MRI, CT scan, or other image may show your injuries in clear detail
- Ask for a treatment plan
- Follow the treatment plan
Do not worry about the cost of your medical care. Get the evaluation and treatment you need. Your lawyer will pursue compensation to cover your accident-related medical bills.
Hiring a Motorcycle Accident Attorney
The typical motorcycle accident victim has a full plate. Between rest, recovery, personal obligations, work obligations, and the chaos of an accident, you may have little time for an insurance claim or lawsuit.
By hiring a motorcycle accident lawyer, you can give equal attention to your health and your case. You focus on your health, and your lawyer will focus on your lawsuit or claim.
Hire a Lawyer if Your Loved One Passed Away in a Motorcycle Accident
Motorcycle accident lawyers represent clients who have lost loved ones in traffic accidents. Lawyers understand the grief and hardship that surviving loved ones face, so they lead wrongful death cases with professionalism, urgency, and privacy.
You may hire a motorcycle accident lawyer after a fatal collision because:
- You want justice for your loved one’s loss, regardless of whether the liable motorist faces criminal charges.
- You face financial pressures because of your loved one’s passing and want fair compensation from liable parties.
- You have grief and other types of pain and suffering that diminish your quality of life—you can seek compensation to reflect these damages.
- You do not have the time, legal background, or mental state to handle your own wrongful death lawsuit.
Wrongful death lawsuits are often complex, as valuing someone’s life is never easy. An experienced lawyer will make the legal process as tolerable as possible. You can be with loved ones while your lawyer leads your lawsuit from start to finish.
What a Motorcycle Accident Lawyer Will Do for You
Your attorney will create a strategy specific to you.
A motorcycle accident lawyer’s top priorities include:
- Advising you on how to seek compensation: Insurance claims and lawsuits are the most common ways to seek compensation for a motorcycle accident. Your attorney will evaluate your case and explain which option makes sense.
- Obtaining evidence: Your lawyer can visit the accident scene, interview witnesses, secure video footage, and gather any other evidence related to the collision. Evidence can make or break a case, so your lawyer will waste no time in building your case.
- Documenting and calculating your damages: Attorneys pull medical records, obtain past income statements, and secure other documentation of their client’s damages. Your lawyer may hire experts—such as doctors and mental health professionals—to explain and calculate your accident-related damages.
- Fighting for a financial settlement: Your motorcycle accident lawyer will negotiate a settlement on your behalf. While most lawsuits and insurance claims end with a settlement, you need a fair offer. Your lawyer will review every settlement offer with you and advise you whether to accept or continue fighting for more money.
- Going to trial if necessary: Your lawyer will not predetermine the outcome of your case. Instead, they should negotiate for a settlement but prepare for trial. If liable parties do not offer a fair settlement, a prepared lawyer will waste no time in going to court.
- Handling all paperwork, communications, and other details of your case: Your lawyer must manage every detail of your case. This ensures that you can focus on recovery without worrying about any aspect of your claim or lawsuit. Your lawyer will protect you from administrative errors and rights violations by handling all paperwork and communications.
Odds are, those liable for your motorcycle accident do not want to pay you. They may fight to provide as little compensation as possible if they have to pay.
Your lawyer will demand that you receive compensation for all of your accident-related damages and will not stand for:
- Unfair denial of your claim
- Delays in the claims process
- Undervaluation of your losses
- Lowball settlement offers
- Attempts to have you admit fault for the accident
- Any other bad-faith tactics by defendants in your case
An experienced lawyer will have encountered these tactics many times. They will know how to overcome such challenges and continue fighting for every dollar you are entitled to.
How Do I Choose a Motorcycle Accident Attorney?
When you are looking for the right attorney to lead your motorcycle accident claim or lawsuit, consider:
- The law firm’s location: This may be a plus if a law firm is near the site of your motorcycle accident. An out-of-town (but not too far out of town) lawyer may still provide effective representation. However, if all other factors are equal, you may prefer an in-town lawyer to lead your case.
- The law firm’s reviews: Consider what clients say about a law firm. Pay attention if a firm has overwhelmingly positive (or negative) reviews. Nobody sees a law firm more intimately than clients, so put stock in their perspectives.
- Your experience during a free consultation: Personal injury firms typically offer free consultations. During these calls, you can explain your circumstances, ask the firm’s representative questions, and listen to the firm’s evaluation of your case. If you feel that the firm takes its time to answer your questions honestly, this may improve your perception of the firm.
- The law firm’s case results: Consider how a law firm has performed in cases like yours. If a firm has obtained many financial recoveries for motorcycle accident victims, you may have confidence that the firm can deliver similar results.
A lawyer can help and may deliver the entire financial recovery you deserve. However, choose your attorney carefully. Conduct your research with a sense of urgency, but do your homework before trusting a law firm with your case.
What Happens if I Don’t Hire a Lawyer After a Motorcycle Accident
If you choose to proceed without a lawyer, you may:
Miss Your Case’s Filing Deadline
Motorcycle accident cases generally have filing deadlines. If you do not prepare and file your case properly and by the deadline, you cannot seek the money you deserve.
Amidst the chaos of your post-accident life, you may lose track of case-related deadlines. On the other hand, a lawyer will begin preparing your case as soon as you hire them. They will waste no time filing your case before the statute of limitations expires.
Compromise Your Health
Insurance claims and lawsuits are tough work. Insurance companies, in particular, can make dealing with a motorcycle accident stressful.
If you lead your own motorcycle accident case, you may:
- Spend less time resting than your doctor recommends
- Have to split time between treatment and your lawsuit or claim
- Experience stress-related health problems
- Recover less quickly than you otherwise can
If you do not prioritize your recovery, you may risk suffering long-term health symptoms. The longer you suffer from physical symptoms, the longer you may also suffer lost income, medical costs, and other damages.
Struggle to Present a Winning Claim or Lawsuit
Without a lawyer, a motorcycle accident victim may not present a winning case because:
- Their time is limited
- They are physically and mentally limited (due to injuries and the stress of being in an accident)
- They have little or no experience with insurance claims and lawsuits
- They have limited financial resources for their case
Lawyers have one job: to get fair compensation for their clients. Let an attorney do their job for you.
Recoverable Damages Related to Your Motorcycle Accident
Your lawyer will focus on recovering damages for you.
After speaking with you, investigating the accident, and consulting experts, your lawyer can seek money for:
- Medical bills
- Pain and suffering, as well as treatment you need for pain and suffering
- Lost income
- Diminished earning capacity
- Lost opportunities for bonuses and promotions
- Motorcycle repairs (or replacement of a totaled motorcycle)
- Temporary transportation
- Any other economic or non-economic damages related to the accident
If your loved one passed away because of a motorcycle collision, your attorney will compassionately evaluate your damages, which may include:
- Funeral costs
- Burial or cremation expenses
- Loss of the decedent’s income
- Loss of the decedent’s household contributions, which may include chores, handiwork, accounting, financial decisions, home and personal security, and more
- Loss of the decedent’s non-economic value, which may include a spouse’s companionship and a parent’s guidance and support
Attorneys know what to do after motorcycle accidents. If your lawyer secures the financial recovery you deserve, the financial relief may prove priceless.
Hire Your Lawyer as Soon as Possible
Don’t forget that your motorcycle accident case likely has a filing deadline. The sooner you locate and hire the right lawyer for your case, the sooner they will file it and fight for your financial recovery.
