Causes of Motorcycle Accidents in Virginia

Very common causes of motorcycle accidents and the subsequent severe injuries can be attributed to distracted driving, a lack of awareness of motorcycles on the roadway, as well as the great speed and interaction with traffic that motorcyclists travel at. A motorcycle accident can cause severe, even catastrophic injuries. If you or a loved one has recently been injured in a motorcycle accident, contact a Virginia motorcycle accident lawyer today, to receive compensation for somebody else’s negligence.

Danger of Riding a Motorcycle

People are often ejected from motorcycles in the case of an accident and suffer very serious injuries. That is part of the reason it is extremely important to always wear proper riding gear and more than just a helmet. Proper riding gear can be eye protection, leather jacket, gloves, footwear, as well as a helmet. All of these provide additional protection and can help to prevent serious or life threatening injuries.

Behaviors Leading to Accidents

Very common motorcycle accidents involve cars switching lanes without seeing a motorcycle. This is unique to motorcycles due to their smaller size. While this also occurs with bicycles on city streets at slower speeds, it does not happen on the rapidly moving highway. All bicyclists ride on the shoulder of the highway and will not ride in a lane of travel. Motorcycles, however, stay in the lanes of travel and are exposed to more danger due to the vehicles rates of speed.

Distracted driving, especially with the advent of smartphones and text messaging, is much more common. Distracted driving leads to many preventable accidents and deaths every year.  One good way drivers can avoid distracted driving is to designate all of the driver’s texting to one of the passengers in the car. This way, if the driver’s phone goes off, they can have somebody in the passenger seat look at it and respond instead of looking themselves. Another option is for the driver to put their phone out of reach while driving and then the temptation is quashed.

Additionally, motorcycle riders sometimes don’t have the level of skill necessary to ride in certain weather conditions and may misjudge the weather conditions. Rain, snow, sleet, and hail are very dangerous for motorcycle riders. A skilled rider can safely ride a motorcycle in rain, but people need to know their limits and their skills to ensure they make safe decisions as far as weather is concerned.

While there may be more people on foot than on a motorcycle on any given day, motorcycle accidents may happen more frequently than pedestrian accidents. Motorcycles share the lanes of travel with other vehicles on the road. They also travel on the highway and travel at higher rates of speed. For these reasons, motorcycles are in more dangerous situations than pedestrians; it makes sense there are more accidents involving motorcycles.

Assessing Liability and Damages

As far as liability and damages are concerned, the damages a person injured in a motorcycle accident receive are related directly to the types of injuries incurred. The liability is often failure to either see a motorcycle on the road or judge its speed correctly. Often, the biggest factor in motorcycle accidents is that people are not on the lookout for motorcycles. They don’t pay as much attention as they should and are driving distracted.