Exploring Your Legal Options After a Serious Motorcycle Accident Injury

 Posted on May 22, 2023 in Motorcycle Accident

Most people understand that riding motorcycles involve inherent risks, but they also believe that they are capable of safely operating their motorcycles. The problem for many motorcyclists is the negligence or gross negligence of other automobile drivers on the road. Unsafe driving from others can cause motorcycle accidents resulting in serious injuries and death to the motorcycle rider. Unfortunately, despite riding defensively, motorcyclists are often powerless to avoid certain collisions.

It is important for motorcyclists to understand their legal rights after a motorcycle crash. If you or a loved one were injured in a motorcycle crash, you may be entitled to recover financial compensation to address your medical bills, lost wages, pain, physical impairment, disfigurement, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, and other damages. 

Common Kinds of Motorcycle Accident Injuries

Motorcycle riders tend to suffer more serious injuries than their vehicle operator counterparts because unlike a vehicle operator, there is no safety cage around the motorcycle rider.  Additionally, the mass of a motorcycle is far less than an automobile. Thus, in a vehicle/motorcycle collision, the vehicle always performs better from a crash absorption perspective. Among the many series injuries motorcyclists commonly suffer include:

• Fractures or broken bones — Some fractures heal quickly, but other kinds of fractures can require surgeries or lead to long-term disabilities. Serious fractures such as compound or spiral fractures can require reconstructive surgery and the possible insertion of pins, plates, and screws. 

• Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs) — TBIs can occur regardless of whether a person strikes their head on an object such as the pavement or a vehicle in a collision.  A simple acceleration/deceleration event can cause the brain to slam into the skull, resulting in shearing or coup/contracoup brain injuries. Even mild TBIs can result in some of the most stubborn, life altering symptoms such as constant ringing in the ears, chronic headaches, dizziness, mood changes, visual problems, sensitivity to noise and light, vestibular (balance) issues and cognitive/processing difficulties.   

• Back injuries — Common kinds of back injuries include fractured vertebrae, sprains and strains, herniated or ruptured discs, disc protrusions, disc bulges, radiculopathy, sciatica, spinal stenosis, spondylolisthesis and muscle imbalances. 

• Leg injuries — Common kinds of leg injuries include fractures or broken bones, with tibias being the most frequently broken, as well as dislocations in which bones pull out of joints, sprains involving stretches and tears of ligaments, strains that are stretches and tears of muscles, and muscle bruises caused by direct blows and lead to possible bleeding into the quad or thigh muscles. 

• Neck injuries — Common neck injuries include fractured cervical disks, ruptured discs, herniated discs, nerve compression injuries or pinched nerves, and radiculopathy. 

• Shoulder injuries — rotator cuff tears are extremely common in motorcycle crashes. 

• Internal organ injuries — An internal organ injury can include brain bleeds, internal bleeding, broken ribs, pneumothorax in which a rib punctures a lung, abdominal aorta aneurysms involving the stomach being compressed during an accident and causing a rupture of the abdominal aorta, internal organ injuries, and ruptured spleens.

• Road rash Injuries — this injury occurs when layers of the motorcycle rider’s skin peels away as it slides across the pavement or other surface.  It is extremely painful and can result in permanent disfigurement. 

• Spinal cord injuries — The spinal cord sends and receives signals from the brain to and from the rest of the body. Spinal cord injuries can lead to significant impairment and reduced quality of life. 

• Amputations — An amputation is the removal of a limb by trauma, medical illness, or surgery. 

• Paralysis — Paralysis is the loss of the ability to move a portion or all of the body. 

• Wrongful death — Families who lose loved ones in motorcycle accidents may have legal rights to wrongful death damages. 

Consult an Experienced Collin County Motorcycle Accident Attorney 

If you suffered serious injuries or your loved one was seriously hurt or killed in a motorcycle accident in Texas, do not wait another moment to get legal representation. Please call the most experienced, knowledgeable McKinney motorcycle accident lawyers at Burress Injury Law.  

Our firm has a wealth of experience handling these types of cases (in fact one of our attorneys served as lead nationwide trial counsel for Harley Davidson for many years) and will know how to do what is necessary to help you recover all of the financial compensation to which you are entitled. Call 214-726-0016 or contact us online to arrange a free  consultation.

Source: 

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/head-injury