If you’ve suffered motorcycle burn injuries in a bike accident in Texas, you’ll want to take action to recover compensation for those medical expenses as soon as possible. When you’re in bed recuperating because the exhaust burned you or even if you have severe road rash, you won’t be able to negotiate with insurance companies as well as you may have before you were traumatically hurt. Consider these factors that may affect how you receive compensation and then see how a motorcycle crash attorney can maximize your recovery.
When a motorcyclist is in a crash, he or she is at risk for a number of different injury types – road rash injuries, broken bone injuries, concussion, and more. One of the most devastating injury types, however, is a spinal cord injury. Not only are spinal cord injuries incredibly debilitating and even paralyzing, but they’re also permanent.
Riding a motorcycle with a friend, family member, or date can be even more fun than riding solo. But, when riding a motorcycle with a passenger, you have a greater responsibility to drive responsibly. If your passenger suffers road rash or other injuries while you’re driving, you will likely be footing his or her hospital bills. Here are a few tips for safely riding your motorcycle with a passenger in Dallas.
The term “road rash” refers to the kind of burn injuries and abrasions that result from a common motorcycle accident when a Dallas motorcyclist is thrown or falls off of a motorcycle and slides across the road. Motorcycle road rash results in open wounds, cuts, abrasions, and lacerations. While road rash may seem negligible to many bikers, it can cause lasting scarring, pockmarking, or darkened patches of skin.
Motorcycle accident prevention is critical because these accidents are much more likely to result in fatalities, compared to car accidents. However, you can only prevent a motorcycle accident when you understand the kind of risks that actually increase your likelihood of an accident.
Most motorcycle accidents will involve another vehicle, and in fact, a study by the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration in 2005 found that of all the motorcycle accidents in the United States that year, 56 percent of all fatalities in motorcycle accidents. This list of the four most common motorcycle accidents will be one more part of your toolkit when preparing to take a motorcycle ride.
In 1995, a study performed by researchers at the National Public Services Research Institute assessed motorcycle helmet interference, specifically the effects that motorcycle helmets had on seeing and hearing. It involved 50 motorcyclists who operated the motorcycles on a test route. They had to change lanes in response to an audible signal wearing no helmet, a partial coverage helmet, or a full coverage helmet. The researchers assessed half of the riders for head rotation and the other half for hearing.
The results showed that a helmet did create a minor vision impairment based on the helmet size/coverage. Participants had to turn their heads a little further when wearing a helmet, but not to the full extent of the helmet’s restriction. They note, “the minimal amount of lateral vision…that is sacrificed by wearing a helmet can be made up by turning the head a little further.” In regard to hearing, the study found no differences in hearing abilities.
They concluded that any impairment of seeing or hearing is very minor. Thus, they say that any impairment is too small to compromise the safety that comes from wearing a helmet.
Long-term motorcycle injuries can affect injured Dallas riders for years. Among these serious injuries is a traumatic brain injury (TBI), especially if the rider wasn’t wearing a helmet. It’s challenging to predict the exact type of complications that a person can expect after suffering a TBI in a motorcycle accident.
Consequences may depend on the severity of the TBI, the rate of recovery, the types of resources available to the person during the recovery, and other factors.
In most motorcycle accident cases in Dallas that involve a left turn accident, who’s at fault is the motorist who made the turn. The driver would also be liable for injuries and damages suffered by the motorcyclist. A motorist must yield to traffic before he makes a left turn. That means that he or she must also look out for motorists or motorcyclists traveling in the same direction.
But a motorist may claim s/he didn’t see the motorcyclist, or that the motorcyclist was traveling at high speed, making a collision unavoidable. To determine if the motorist was at fault in your accident, speak with a motorcycle accident attorney in Dallas.
Motorcyclists are vulnerable to accidents and are lacking in the same protection offered by cars or trucks. It is important for drivers to be aware of safe driving tactics for traveling around motorcycles and also to be able to identify potentially reckless driving habits that put motorcyclists at risk.