When an accident occurs in Las Vegas, motorcyclists are vulnerable to severe trauma. Motorcycle accident attorneys work to protect bikers’ legal rights and recover damages for their injuries.
Before they shut you out of the decision-making process, you need a Las Vegas motorcycle accident lawyer working on your behalf. Pacific West Injury Law will handle the liability issues while you concentrate on healing. Call us today at (702) 602-4878 to learn more about your options.
Common Causes of Motorcycle Accidents
When you’re injured in a motorcycle accident, police officers, insurance companies and everyone else focuses on fault. The causation decision determines whether you receive compensation for your injuries.
Accident causation determinations are often complicated, but the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has determined that the most frequent causes of fatal motorcycle/vehicle accidents. These tend to involve 1) vehicles making right turns in front of motorcycles, 2) motorcyclists laying down their bikes to avoid a crash, 3) vehicle/motorcycle sideswipes.
Other common causes of motorcycle accidents include:
- Perception Failures: Vehicle/motorcycle accidents occur 56% of the time because vehicle drivers literally don’t see motorcycles. When they do see you, they often misjudge your speed, distance, and your ability to stop in time to avoid them.
- Decision Failures: NTSB researchers found that 33% of the vehicle operators made bad driving decisions because they simply didn’t see the danger.
- Failed Reactions: Motorcyclists often didn’t react quickly enough 23% of the time. Bikers didn’t anticipate a driver’s negligent actions.
- Comprehension Failures: Motorcyclists didn’t recognize or appreciate the danger a vehicle presented 17% of the time.
As with many serious accidents, excessive speed, alcohol consumption, and distracted driving also contributed to serious motorcycle accidents.
For a free legal consultation with a motorcycle accidents lawyer serving Las Vegas, call 702-602-HURT
Serious Injuries
If you’ve ever been involved in a serious motorcycle accident, you understand how vulnerable you are to trauma. As a biker, you have no airbags, no seatbelts, and no reinforced compartments to protect you.
Compared to vehicle occupants, you endure more personal risks, and you sustain fatal injuries disproportionately. When you survive a serious crash, you often deal with severe and catastrophic injuries with lifetime consequences.
The NHTSA notes that the injuries motorcyclists sustain most frequently include:
- Multiple fractures and crush injuries to legs, ankles, feet, hips, and toes
- Head and brain trauma
- Chest injuries
- Spine and spinal cord damage
- Abdominal injuries
- Fatal injuries
As a biker, you don’t sustain upper-extremity trauma and head injuries as frequently. When you do, the injuries are usually severe and sometimes fatal. Upper-extremity damages often injure internal organs within the chest or abdomen.
Head injuries cause brain damage that diminishes cognitive, physical, motor, and other critical functions. Spine injuries, sometimes cause paralysis that varies depending on the injury location.
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What to Do After a Motorcycle Accident
Whether you’re injured or not, dialing 911 should be your first post-accident priority. If you did sustain an injury, request emergency medical assistance when you call. Nevada Revised Statutes, §484E.030 requires that you report any accident that involves injuries. Also, a police report provides formal documentation for your insurance company.
Nevada law also requires you to move your vehicle when possible. Before you do, take a few moments to preserve the evidence. This can be as simple as scanning the scene, talking to people, and documenting everything with your smartphone camera. If you can’t move, ask a bystander to assist you. Capture photos of these important details:
- The other driver, his license, his insurance card
- The vehicle and motorcycle stopping points, physical damage, and points of impact
- The overall accident scene, traffic lights, stop signs, street markings, skid marks
- Witnesses, names, phone numbers, or email addresses
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Motorcycle Rider Rights
Nevada Revised Statutes, §486.35 explains that you have the same rights as any other vehicle on the road. NRS §486.341 cautions motorists to avoid driving in a manner that would deprive a motorcyclist of the right to use a full lane. This is important, as accidents often occur when drivers encroach upon your lane or cut off your right of way.
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Should I Hire a Motorcycle Accident Lawyer?
You have the right to handle your own claim without legal assistance. Before you decide to do that, consider discussing your case with Pacific West Injury Law When you’re seriously injured, you deserve fair compensation.
If you aren’t familiar with injury values, you may settle for far less than your claim is worth. Insurers understand this, and they have no problem taking advantage of motorcycle accident injury victims.
Las Vegas motorcycle attorneys lawyers understand liability issues and claim values. We negotiate to get you the best possible settlement. If insurance companies won’t negotiate fairly, we can always file a suit and let the court decide.
What a Motorcycle Accident Lawyer Does
When Pacific West Injury Law handles your motorcycle injury case, we use our resources to produce results. We provide the legal services necessary for evaluating, presenting, negotiating, and resolving your serious injury claim.
- Meet with you for a complimentary legal consultation
- Investigate your accident to assess the liability issues
- Notify responsible parties of your intent to file an injury claim
- Interact with insurance carriers
- Obtain medical documentation
- Evaluate your injuries
- Initiate settlement negotiations
- File a lawsuit
- Participate in mediation
- Conduct pretrial discovery
- Try your case in court
Proving Fault in a Motorcycle Crash
We rely on evidence to prove fault. We conduct a thorough investigation, reviewing the police report, drivers’ statements, and any witness versions. You provide your version and any evidence you documented at the scene. The investigator examines the accident scene, the damaged vehicles, and any relevant information that helps establish fault.
If necessary, we may work with an accident reconstructionist or an engineer to evaluate complex evidence issues. Once our firm has the available evidence, we evaluate liability and develop a negligence theory to support your claim.
Statutes of Limitations
The Nevada personal injury statute of limitations is two years for motorcycle accident-related injuries. That means you must settle your claim or file a lawsuit within two years of the date your accident occurred. If you fail to act in time, you lose your right to recover damages for your injury.
Damages
An injury settlement usually includes economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages include current and future out-of-pocket costs such as medical bills, rehabilitation costs, lost wages, and medication. Noneconomic damages include pain and suffering, emotional distress, permanent scarring, and other subjective losses.
Courts sometimes award punitive or exemplary damages to punish a defendant. To receive a punitive damage award, you must prove by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant was “…guilty of oppression, fraud or malice…”
Pain and Suffering
Your pain and suffering are based on the physical discomfort you experienced from the moment you sustained an injury until the pain stopped. It’s a good idea to keep a daily journal that describes your pain, injury-related impairments, and other recovery issues. When it’s time for your attorney to evaluate your damages, you’ll have a written reference to help you remember.
Your Motorcycle Accident Settlement
When you feel confident that you’ve reached maximum healing, we evaluate your claim and discuss our plan for concluding your case. When the timing is appropriate, we initiate settlement negotiations.
As settlement negotiations often require a lot of give-and-take, the timing is usually unpredictable. When we resolve your case, we follow up with the insurer or defense attorney to complete the paperwork.
- The liability insurance company produces a release of all claims.
- If we filed a lawsuit, we prepare a dismissal entry.
- You sign the release.
- We exchange the signed release for your settlement funds.
- We file the dismissal entry.
- We receive your settlement funds, deduct the legal fees, and forward your settlement to you.
Motorcycle Accident Legal Representation
When you’re injured in a motorcycle accident, you should never handle your claim without help from a Las Vegas motorcycle accident lawyer. To find out how Pacific West Injury Law can help you recover damages for your injury, call us at (702) 602-4878. You can also leave a message on our contact page.
Call or text 702-602-HURT or complete a Free Case Evaluation form