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Getting into motorcycle accidents is one of the most dangerous things that can happen to a person, and it's sometimes worse than a car crash.
These accidents involve severe injuries for both the victim and the liable party for the accident, so one of the first things victims should do after a motorcycle accident is going to a hospital. If someone gets into a motorcycle accident in Chesterfield, it's also essential to look for Chesterfield motorcycle accident lawyers.
Hiring a lawyer in Chesterfield helps motorcycle accident victims get the compensation they deserve for the crash. However, they still need to know how the process goes and what to do when engaging in motorcycle accident cases.
This article has all the information victims need to get the most compensation they can after a motorcycle accident. Victims can also find more information to understand motorcycle accidents in this article.
Anyone injured after a motorcycle accident can trust the Powell Law Firm to put excellent Chesterfield motorcycle accident lawyers on the case.
Are There Different Types of Motorcycle Accidents?
There are many different types of motorcycle accidents, and each of them has various factors motorcycle riders and lawyers need to consider when building motorcycle accident cases against the liable party for the problem.
The different types of motorcycle accidents are identified by the cause of the accident and the damage it caused. Victims can also receive more or less compensation depending on the type of motorcycle accident they got into. Seeking the best motorcycle accident law firm in St Louis can assure the former.
These are the different types of motorcycle accidents:
Hit and Run Motorcycle Accidents
A regular motorcycle accident consists of another vehicle directly hitting a driver driving a motorcycle. The dangerous part of getting into a motorcycle accident is that motorcycle drivers don't have an external body that takes the hit as it happens when someone hits a car, so the other vehicle hits them directly.
Anyone who causes a motorcycle accident has to check if the victim is okay or if they need anything. However, some people try to escape after causing a motorcycle crash, and that's called a hit and run. Naturally, this is a crime, and hit-and-run cases are taken seriously in the United States.
Motorcycle riders can file a lawsuit against the negligent driver who caused the motorcycle crash, but since that rider escaped from the car scene, they also have to face a criminal investigation for a hit and run. Unfortunately, hit-and-run cases are not uncommon among motorcycle crashes since many people are driven by fear and have a fight-or-flight reaction.
Victims are more likely to win the case if it was a hit-and-run, so the only thing they need to do is hire a Chesterfield motorcycle accident lawyer to address the situation accordingly.
Drunk Driving Motorcycle Accidents
Drunk driving can be a felony or misdemeanor depending on the state where the motorcycle accident happened and how much damage it caused. Since drunk driving is a crime, negligent drivers face criminal charges even if they check out on the victim after hitting them.
Although people mostly think of alcohol when they hear of a motorcycle accident due to drunk driving, this includes any substance that could make driving difficult for drivers, and that includes drugs. Therefore, many people also call it intoxicated driving. The level of intoxication of the liable party is an essential factor to take into account when filing charges against them.
As it happens with hit-and-run cases, intoxicated driving ones are not something to take lightly, and drivers who commit this crime can lose their license and even go to jail depending on how severe the motorcycle accident is.
When dealing with criminal and civil cases, aggravating and mitigating factors or circumstances are determinant for the final settlement. The former makes the final verdict worse for the defendant, and the latter eases it. Intoxicated driving is an aggravating factor for motorcycle accident cases.
Lane-Switching Motorcycle Accidents
Lane switching or changing motorcycle crashes are some of the accidents that cause the most serious injuries to the victims, and it's also one of the trickiest ones to address by a motorcycle accident lawyer Chesterfield-based. The reason for that is that, sometimes, the motorcycle rider can be at fault for the crash.
Therefore, Chesterfield motorcycle accident attorneys have to collect enough evidence to prove their clients are not liable for the issue. These accidents consist of another vehicle hitting a motorcycle after that motorcycle was changing or switching lanes. The same happens when the car is the one changing lanes, but that's less common than the former.
This type of motorcycle crash often happens after the driver switching lanes doesn't use their turn signals before moving. However, distracted drivers are also one of the main causes of lane-changing car accidents. It's common, too, to see this problem happening after the driver gets to the other one's blind spot.
Lane-changing accidents don't only happen to motorcycles since they can also happen to average vehicles such as cars and trucks. Regardless of what happens, the first thing to do after an accident in the middle of the street is to get to a safe place to prevent any further problems from happening.
Speeding Motorcycle Crashes
Although many people recklessly drive as fast as they can if there's not a police officer close to them, speeding endangers the driver doing it and everyone around them. Speeding motorcycle crashes prove that, and they are devastating for the victim.
While motorcycle accidents are always dangerous for the victim, things are way worse when the liable party is driving faster than the average driver. Unfortunately, many people die yearly due to speeding drivers.
Most Common Injuries After a Motorcycle Crash?
Motorcycle crash victims are most likely going to have mild or severe injuries after the crash, so they need to get medical attention as soon as they can. Regardless of that, the severity of the injury they get helps the judge determine the compensation they get.
The reason for that is more serious injuries require more expensive medical attention, so victims need more funds to cover everything. Apart from that, they also need to cover economic damage such as motorcycle fixes.
Here are the most common injuries victims can get after a motorcycle accident:
Spinal Cord Injuries
Spinal cord injuries are some of the most dangerous injuries victims can get after a car accident since they can lead to non-permanent or permanent paralysis. These injuries are the most common ones after a motorcycle accident, and as their name suggests, they consist of damaging the victim's spinal cord or back in any way.
Apart from paralysis, spinal cord injuries can cause chronic pain, loss of strength in the victim's extremities, and decreased body motions. Getting spinal cord injuries after a motorcycle accident is so common that some lawyers even specialize in dealing with spinal cord injury cases, and they call themselves spinal cord injury lawyers.
Naturally, any motorcycle accident lawyer Chesterfield-based from the Powell Law Firm is more than ready to take a spinal cord injury case. Recovering from a spinal cord injury is not inexpensive at all, so compensation for this type of accident is high.
Medical bills and all the tests run on victims of a motorcycle accident are used as evidence for the case since the victim has to prove they are suffering from all the injuries they claim to have and that they were caused by the accident.
Brain Injuries
Brain injuries are as severe as spinal cord injuries, and that means medical bills are also expensive when suffering from one. Victims of a motorcycle accident often get a brain injury if they were hit on their heads or if they weren't wearing a helmet when the accident happened.
Concussions and contusions are also brain injuries, but motorcycle crashes often cause more severe problems than those. People could, for example, die after a motorcycle accident if they don't notice they got an epidural hematoma. There are many symptoms of a traumatic brain injury, and knowing them may help victims identify those issues before it's too late.
Victims of a motorcycle accident suffering from a brain injury are almost always going to suffer from headaches or migraine. Brain injuries can also cause memory loss, blindness, hearing loss, and loss of consciousness. Nonetheless, everything depends on how strong and where the victim gets hit.
Broken Bones and Facial Fractures
While they don't always have effects as dangerous as the ones victims get after a spinal cord or brain injury, it's also important to treat any broken bones or facial fractures victims get after a motorcycle accident. This issue is also common after getting hit by a car.
The problem with getting broken bones and facial fractures is they may develop into more severe health issues. Suffering from skull fractures can cause brain injuries, and mid and lower extremity injuries can make the victim get spinal cord injuries.
One of the reasons victims need to get to a hospital as soon as they get into an accident is they need to immobilize their broken bones and fractures as soon as they can.
Although victims are never to blame for the injuries they got if they aren't liable for the accident, they should wear safety equipment to prevent any permanent damage from happening.
Pain and Suffering
Pain and suffering cases are some of the trickiest to handle for motorcycle accident lawyers since they are not as straightforward as others. The reason for that is pain and suffering represent any non-economic damage victims receive after a car or motorcycle accident.
Thus, things such as stress, anxiety, and physical pain are also considered when calculating the compensation for these cases. Any motorcycle accident lawyer Chesterfield-based needs to find evidence that proves their client has been suffering from all those problems after the accident, so psychological tests are also valid evidence.
Since pain and suffering and non-economic damages are not something people can touch or see as clearly as they would see a physical injury, calculating their worth is not something simple, either. There are several ways to do it, and neither of them is a budget-friendly one, so pain and suffering compensation tends to be expensive.
The first method to calculate pain and suffering compensation is by adding up all the economic losses caused by the accident and multiplying them between a number between one point five and five. This is one of the reasons pain and suffering settlements are that high.
People can also go for the daily rate or "per diem" method, which consists of assigning an amount of money to the days victims suffered due to the accident. Each day is worth the same, so this method's compensation depends on the worth people give it.
There is a third method, and although it's not as common as the other two, people can use it if they feel like it. This method consists of using the two previous ones and getting a ballpark figure between the two.
Death
Death is, naturally, the worst consequence people can suffer from after a motorcycle accident. When the victims of an accident die, the families of those victims are the ones who hire motorcycle accident lawyers to address the situation. Since they don't have to worry about injuries, compensation goes for memorial expenses and other economic losses.
However, wrongful death cases are not treated as injury ones, and most of them involve criminal investigations. It's essential to tell the motorcycle accident lawyer the victims hire all the details of the accident for them to address the situation accordingly. The Powell Law Firm offers a free consultation for the ones who contact it.
What to Do After a Motorcycle Crash?
Many people don't know what to do after a motorcycle accident occurred, and that moment is one of the most important of the process. Here is what victims looking forward to making motorcycle accident claims should do after an accident:
Get to a Safe Spot
Since accidents happen in the middle of the street, staying there could cause further issues or even other accidents, so everyone involved in the accident needs to get to a safe zone to prevent anything from happening.
Making Sure Passengers and Other Drivers Are Okay
As soon as the victim of a motorcycle crash gets to a safe spot, they need to check on all the passengers or drivers that may have been harmed after the accident, and that includes themselves.
If they need immediate medical attention, the next step is to call 911 and ask for an ambulance. However, there's no need to do that if the accident wasn't that severe, and another person should do that for the victim if they are unable to use the phone or get to a safe zone by themselves.
Getting the Liable Party's Personal Information
After making sure everyone is okay, it's time to move towards the goal of making a successful accident claim. The best way to do that is by starting to get the other driver's personal information, so the victim should ask them for their phone number, home direction, license plate, and full name.
People can only do this if the other person does not need immediate medical attention or if they didn't run away from the accident scene. If the case is a hit-and-run, victims can directly start getting evidence of the accident.
Collecting Evidence
Pictures of the accident are essential to prove the other party is liable for the crash in a future trial, so the victim should take as many pics as they can after they make sure everyone is okay. They can also talk to bystanders who witnessed the accident and ask them what they saw.
Contacting Motorcycle Accident Lawyers
The next step is to call an accident lawyer the victim can trust to take the case. They may ask the victim for the details of the case and tell them what to do afterward, so there's no need to worry about the matter.
People can trust the Powell Law Firm to take care of their motorcycle accident claim in Chesterfield, and no one should hesitate to call it if they need a legal assistant for these kinds of situations. It's fundamental to contact the accident lawyer the victim wants to hire before going to the police.
Report the Accident to the Police
After the victim has talked to their lawyer, they can go to the closest police station in the zone to report the accident. The police are going to ask the victim for their personal information and the details of the accident, and everything the victim says is going to be used as evidence if there's a trial in the future.
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Motorcycle Accident Lawyer, Chesterfield, MO - Final Thoughts
Motorcycle accident lawyers are experts when it comes to dealing with insurance claims and personal injury cases, so victims can trust them to take care of the situation for them. Regardless of that, anyone looking for a lawyer in Chesterfield should always have the Powell Law Firm as their first option.