Motorcycle accident and injury cases are widespread, and it’s important to understand your legal rights before disaster strikes. If you ride a motorcycle, it’s a good idea to understand how to conduct yourself after a crash—and after you’ve sustained injuries. If you’ve been hurt on your motorcycle, make sure you take the following steps.
Get Yourself to Safety
Before handling the legal and insurance-related issues, you’ll need to get yourself to safety. As soon as you’re injured, remove yourself from harm’s way. Get off the roadway, away from traffic and into a safe location. It’s also a good idea to distance yourself from anything which may cause additional harm, like:
- A vehicle leaking gasoline
- Roadside drop-offs, ledges or cliffs
- An on-fire vehicle or structure
- Any damaged, collapsible, structures
Aside from your safety, taking these actions will secure you, legally, if additional damage occurs. Motorcycles are particularly vulnerable on roadways, and drivers have significantly less protection from their vehicle-bound counterparts. Because of this lack of protection, motorcycle crash victims are more likely to sustain serious injuries, like broken bones.
Take Pictures
Next, you’ll need to document the accident with visual evidence. Insurance adjusters treat motorcycle injury cases on a person-to-person basis. Unfortunately, these adjusters regularly attribute a crash to the motorcyclist’s speeding. That said, speed isn’t necessarily the primary cause of most motorcycle-related crashes. Instead, it’s other vehicles pulling out in front of a motorist.
In failing to observe a motorcyclist properly, other drivers can contribute to—or even directly cause—a motorcyclist wreck. Regardless, pictures are needed to determine the cause of the collision, injury, and property damage. This will also assist your case when working with a personal injury lawyer. Personal injury law providers help victims of negligence recover, financially, from accidents which weren’t their fault.
At the heart of every personal injury case, there’s a victim who’s suffered an accident due to someone else’s negligence. Fortunately, your providers at Branch & Dhillon, P.C. can identify this negligence—protecting your rights if you’ve suffered from injuries.
Contact Your Attorney
At this point, you’ll need to contact your legal provider for assistance. Fortunately, your lawyers at Branch & Dhillon, P.C. can assist you with your post-accident recovery and handle communication with your insurance company.
If, for example, you were wrongly accused of being at fault from other parties, you’ll need legal representation to secure the claim coverage you’re entitled to. Also, it’s always a good idea to contact your attorney if you’ve incurred any severe physical injuries or high costs from your accident. While it’s important to follow your doctor’s orders, don’t neglect to ask your legal professionals for assistance. Motorcycle accidents are very serious. In fact, the federal government suggests that motorcycle accidents result in death 35 times more often than car accidents.
File a Claim
If you believe your injuries and vehicle damages should be covered by another party, file a claim. A police report with any witness statements should be obtained, and a claim should be filed with your insurance company via your legal provider. It is essential to leave communication with the insurance company up to your attorney. If you minimize the severity of your injuries over the phone, an insurance adjuster may use the information to deny your settlement claim.
Branch & Dhillon, P.C. has years of experience representing victims who’ve been injured due to both negligence and deliberate acts. Call us today, and ask about your post-crash options. We understand the financial difficulties which appear after an accident, and we want to make sure you—and your family—are fiscally protected. If we’re unable to recover an injury and expense financial settlement, you’ll pay nothing. At Branch & Dhillon, your case always comes first.