Motorcycle Accident Lawyer in Georgia

Common Misconceptions about Motorcycle Accidents in Georgia

Many people assume that motorcyclists cause accidents by splitting lanes or driving in an aggressive manner. The truth is that most motorcycle accidents occur because car and truck drivers fail to see motorcycles, whether it’s because the motorcycle is in a blind spot or because the at-fault driver was looking for a car, not a bike. It’s up to drivers to check their blind spots frequently and make sure there are no motorcycles coming before they pull into a roadway. It’s like so many bumper stickers say: look twice, save a life. Of course motorcyclists should follow Georgia’s rules of the road too. There are a few motorcycle riders who split lanes of traffic, pass on double yellow lines, or rev their engines late at night in quiet neighborhoods. Motorcycle riders like that are the exception, not the rule. But in the eyes of some car and truck drivers, those few give other motorcycle riders a bad name.

Hit-and-run accidents are particularly common with motorcycles, bicycles, and scooters. Nobody knows why, but it may be a combination of two factors. First, drivers who collide with motorcycles, bicycles, or scooters know that the injuries to the other person are likely to be serious, so the driver has a reason to run. Second, drivers who collide with motorcycles, bicycles, or scooters know that the other person is not going to be able to chase them. These are ugly reasons, but they may explain why there are so many hit-and-run accidents involving motorcycles, bicycles, and scooters.

We went door-to-door until we found a business with a security camera that showed the motorcycle accident in which our client was seriously injured. This is the kind of hard work it takes to win personal injury cases.

Single-bike accidents do not involve other vehicles. They often occur because of road maintenance problems. If you are involved in a single-bike accident, our motorcycle lawyers can investigate the road condition to determine whether the city, county, or state maintained it properly.

“Mechanisms of Injury” in Motorcycle Accidents

Motorcycle accident injuries tend to be severe. To understand why, we have to look at what doctors call the “mechanism of injury,” a medical phrase that means what it sounds like – how the injury happens. In most motorcycle accidents, the injury occurs in one of two ways. First, if a vehicle or object strikes a motorcycle, the motorcyclist can be hit directly because the motorcycle doesn’t offer much crash protection. A striking vehicle can hit the motorcycle driver directly, or even in the best-case scenario, hit the front or rear while that is right next to the driver. Motorcycles don’t have crumple zones to absorb that impact, so the motorcyclist can get hit directly – and hard. Second, motorcycle “ejections” are common. Obviously, motorcycles don’t have seat belts, so after accidents, drivers can get sent flying. If a car pulls out in front of a motorcycle, the motorcycle may strike the at-fault driver and vault the motorcyclist into the air. Or if another vehicle rear-ends a motorcycle, the force of the collision may force the motorcycle forward while the motorcycle driver flips backward over the striking vehicle. In either event, the landing can be hard. Either of these mechanisms of injury can be very serious. In our experience most (but not all) motorcycle accident injuries occur when the motorcyclist is thrown from the bike and then hits the ground. For more about injuries in motorcycle accidents, see below.

Investigating Motorcycle Accidents

When you call our motorcycle accident attorneys, we’ll start investigating your motorcycle accident. We review accident reports, talk to witnesses, and gather evidence to help support your claim. After a motorcycle accident, it’s important to take action quickly. The longer you wait, the easier it is for witnesses to forget exactly what they saw at the time of your accident. There’s also a risk that important evidence will be lost. So we move fast. We’ll investigate the presence of surveillance or traffic cameras, request evidence from police and other officials, send spoliation warnings to ensure that evidence is preserved, prepare the complaint and other court documents, litigate your case and, if necessary, present it to a jury.