According to the Texas Department of Transportation, there were nearly 600 motorcycle accidents in Dallas County in the year 2010. In a report on NBCDFW.com, an Allstate agent was quoted as bringing up one of the most significant problems that motorcyclists face when they’re on the road. Drivers looking for other vehicles are looking for other cars, not for motorcycles.
The statistics also show that 35 percent of the crashes occurred at intersections. Intersections are notorious for motorcycle accidents because, as smaller vehicles, it’s easy to underestimate the speed of a motorcycle that’s coming toward you and because drivers tend to turn left in front of motorcyclists, causing a crash when the motorcycle crosses the car’s path of travel.
Motorcycle Wrecks
After a car accident involving a motorcyclist, it’s almost always the motorcyclist who ends up suffering the most serious of the injuries. Without the protection of a vehicle around them, motorcyclists are susceptible to being seriously injured in what would be everyday fender benders between two passenger cars or trucks. In some cases, motorcyclists and up being killed at rather low speeds, simply because of the tremendous amount of energy a vehicle as heavy as a car generates when it is traveling at even residential street speeds.
Motorcyclists do have as much right to the road as anyone else. The article mentions that insurance companies are putting up signs asking motorists to watch out for motorcyclists at intersections. While there has been an almost constant effort to increase awareness of motorcyclists among passenger vehicle drivers over the past decades, motorcyclists still end up in far too many wrecks that could have been prevented if the motorist had only taken another second to check for vehicles or if they had looked more carefully and not only checked for the cars that they expected to see.
If you are involved in a motorcycle accident that involved a driver who didn’t see you coming, that driver may have been negligent. Speaking with a personal injury attorney may end up with you finding out that you have a viable lawsuit that you could file against that driver. If the lawsuit is successful, you could end up winning enough compensation to cover the costs of your lost property, medical expenses, pain and suffering and any other damages you endured because of the negligent driver. When you’re on the road, drivers and passenger vehicles have to respect your rights as a motorcyclist.
