Safety Laws and Injury Claims Involving Motorcycle Accidents

What Are a Motorcyclist’s Rights?

If a reckless or careless driver injures you while you are motorcycling in Louisiana, discuss your rights and options with a Lafayette motorcycle accident attorney as soon as possible.

Motorcycles provide excellent recreation and thrifty transportation. They are also quite dangerous. How is the liability determined for motorcycle accidents? What are your rights if a careless driver injures you in a motorcycle accident?

Louisiana is an “at-fault” state for traffic accidents, so at-fault drivers are liable for the damages they cause. However, under the state’s comparative fault system, more than one party may share liability for an accident.

Take These Steps After a Motorcycle Crash

If a negligent driver injures you while you’re motorcycling, immediately summon medical help and the local police. Trade insurance and personal contact details with the other driver or drivers. Take photos of the damage to the vehicles, the license plates, and the accident scene.

After a medical provider examines and treats you, the next priority is scheduling a consultation with a Lafayette motorcycle accident lawyer who will explain your options and rights as a victim of negligence. Your options may include bringing a personal injury claim.

In almost all personal injury cases in Louisiana, you have two years to take legal action. Do not wait two years or even two weeks to speak with an injury lawyer. Your lawyer should examine any evidence while it’s fresh and interview any eyewitnesses before their recollections fade.

What Precautions Can Motorcyclists Take?

Spinal cord and brain injuries, limb injuries that require amputation, burn injuries, and paralysis are common injuries in motorcycle accidents. Motorcyclists who sustain catastrophic injuries will need the maximum available compensation amount.

Listed here are some safety recommendations offered by experienced motorcyclists and safety experts. Adhering to these suggestions will enhance your safety on the road and substantially reduce your chances of being injured in a motorcycle collision:

1. Always wear a helmet certified by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
2. Wear the right gear: leather gloves, boots, and a thick leather jacket.
3. Obey all traffic laws and drive defensively.
4. Never ride a motorcycle when you are intoxicated or fatigued.
5. Maintain your motorcycle regularly.
6. Take a motorcycling safety class.

While you can reduce the possibility of a motorcycle collision, careless drivers will always pose a risk. If one of those drivers injures you, you cannot rely on an untested or inexperienced motorcycle accident attorney. Your attorney should have experience and a record of success.

How is Fault Determined in Motorcycle Accidents?

Motorcycle accidents, in particular, often raise complicated legal issues. If someone injures you while you’re motorcycling in or near Lafayette Parish, do not speak to an insurance company until you have consulted a Lafayette motorcycle accident attorney. Your attorney will:

1. review every facet of a motorcycle accident to determine liability
2. scrutinize the police and medical reports and any witness statements
3. develop a legal strategy to recover your compensation

In Louisiana, the injured victims of someone else’s negligence may recover compensation for their pending and projected future medical costs, lost wages and projected future lost earnings, pain, personal suffering, and related damages and losses.

What is Considered When Liability is Determined?

When liability for motorcycle accidents is determined, what factors must be considered? After you sustain an injury in a motorcycle crash, if you take legal action, these questions must be answered:

1. Is there proof that the other driver was at fault?
2. Did you share any percentage of the fault?
3. Did you wear a motorcycle helmet?
4. Did you have any pre-existing injuries or medical conditions?
5. Will your injury keep you from working, and if so, for how long?

Why is an Immediate Medical Examination Imperative?

If a spinal cord injury or a traumatic brain injury is not detected immediately, it may develop quickly – or slowly – into a serious medical condition. If you are not taken to an ER or examined at the accident scene, obtain a medical exam at once – within 24 hours, if possible.

That examination will protect you both legally and medically, and it will place you in the best position to prevail with a personal injury claim.

If you’ve suffered a latent or hard-to-detect injury, a comprehensive medical examination will find it, and that examination will also produce the medical documents you must have if you bring a personal injury claim.

How Will Your Lawyer Fight for Your Rights and Compensation?

Your lawyer will gather and scrutinize the evidence, speak with any witnesses, and may ask a medical authority, insurance specialist, or accident reconstruction expert to offer a statement or testify in support of your claim.

Motorcycle accident claims in Louisiana are usually settled when the lawyers for each side meet in private and outside the courtroom to negotiate an agreement.

However, if an acceptable compensation offer is not forthcoming in the out-of-court negotiations or if liability for the collision is disputed, your Lafayette motorcycle accident lawyer will take your personal injury claim to trial.

At a motorcycle accident trial, your lawyer will explain to the jurors how (and how seriously) you were injured and why the other party should be found liable. Your lawyer will then ask the jurors to order the at-fault driver to compensate you.

Why Should You Choose Landgrave Garcia Injury Attorneys?

The team at Landgrave Garcia Injury Attorneys knows how to recover compensation for the injured victims of negligence, and our record speaks for itself. If a negligent driver injures you while you’re motorcycling, you should be represented and advised by an attorney who:

1. knows how to prove a driver was negligent
2. knows the insurance companies and their negotiating tactics
3. fights aggressively and effectively for injured victims of negligence

We handle injury claims on a contingent fee basis. If you bring a motorcycle accident claim, you will owe no lawyer’s fee to Landgrave Garcia Injury Attorneys until and unless we recover your compensation with a jury verdict or out-of-court settlement.

Learn more – or begin the personal injury process now – by calling Landgrave Garcia Injury Attorneys at 337-242-7604 to schedule a no-cost, no-obligation legal consultation. If a negligent driver has injured you, let Landgrave Garcia Injury Attorneys put the law to work on your behalf.