Jersey City Motorcycle Accident Lawyers
We are a team of highly skilled personal injury attorneys. If you have a bodily injury legal issue in or around Jersey City, New Jersey, we can help. Call us today for a free consultation.
Jersey City Motorcycle Accident Lawyers
New Jersey averaged roughly 2,200 motorcycle crashes per year between 2012 and 2016. Approximately 82% of motorcyclists in these accidents suffered a fatal or non-fatal injury.
To put these numbers into context, motorcyclists involved in a crash are 24 times more likely to die and four times more likely to suffer injury than an automobile crash victim.
Sadly, these motorcycle accidents can have catastrophic consequences, such as catastrophic brain, spine, and limb injuries. Jersey City motorcycle accident lawyers from Garces, Grabler & LeBrocq have decades of experience helping crash victims pursue compensation from negligent drivers.
In fact, our attorneys are members of NAMIL, the North American Motorcycle Injury Lawyers. This esteemed organization is only open to attorneys who have been recognized by their peers as leaders in motorcycle injury law. Our membership shows that we’ve demonstrated excellence and experience in the complex legal matters surrounding motorcycle injury claims. We’re also dedicated to protecting motorcyclists’ rights.
Severity of Motorcycle Crashes
Motorcyclists have a higher likelihood of suffering injury and death for many reasons. Motorcycles require greater skill to operate than cars. In addition to operating the vehicle, motorcyclists must maintain their balance and shift their weight properly when cornering to keep the motorcycle upright.
With only two wheels, motorcycles are inherently unstable, particularly in bad weather or on wet roads. A collision or near miss can cause the rider to “lay down” the motorcycle and slide. Riders can get injured when their motorcycle strikes the ground and pins them as they get dragged across the pavement.
Motorcycles have no passenger compartment to protect riders. During a crash, they can get injured when their bodies get hit by a vehicle. They can also suffer injuries from an impact with the ground.
Moreover, motorcycles have no seat belts. In a crash, operators and passengers can get ejected from their vehicles. They can suffer injuries when they hit the ground or other vehicles.
Common Causes of Motorcycle Accidents in Jersey City
Many conditions can lead to a motorcycle crash. For example, motorcycles and their operators are more sensitive to poor road conditions, reduced visibility, and mechanical failures. Additionally, rider errors arising from distractions, inexperience, and carelessness can cause crashes.
However, research shows that automobile drivers pose one of the greatest threats to motorcyclists. Drivers bear the blame for over 60% of collisions between autos and motorcycles. There are many ways drivers cause motorcycle crashes.
INATTENTIONAL BLINDNESS
Inattentional blindness happens when a motorcycle is in plain sight, unobstructed by vehicles, glare, or darkness. Despite being clearly visible to drivers, their brains do not register the motorcycle, and they drive as if it is not there. Another term for inattentional blindness is looked-but-did-not-see.
Unfortunately, inattentional blindness is very dangerous for riders. Drivers who do not register the presence of motorcycles near them may:
- Fail to yield to them at intersections
- Turn left across their path
- Hit them from behind in slowing or stopped traffic
- Cut them off while overtaking them
Inattentional blindness can happen for many reasons, including distractions that draw a driver’s focus from the motorcycle. Another cause is the way drivers fail to think about motorcycles. Since they are encountered less often, the brain simply does not pick them up when the eyes see them.
SPEEDING
Speeding is a dangerously common traffic law violation. Speeding happens when a driver exceeds the speed limit set by engineers based on the type of road and traffic levels. Speeding also happens when drivers travel too fast for the road, weather, or traffic conditions.
Speeding increases the risk of a crash. When drivers speed, they risk losing control of their vehicles. They also shorten the time to spot and react to other vehicles on the road. Since motorcycles are harder to spot, speeding may leave drivers with no time to swerve or stop when their brains finally recognize a motorcycle on the road.
Speeding also worsens the injuries that result from a collision. The energy released during a crash depends on the speed and weight of the vehicles that collide. An automobile already weighs more than a motorcycle. When that automobile also speeds, it has much more energy to crush the motorcycle and injure the rider.
IMPAIRED DRIVING
Drivers who are intoxicated by drugs or alcohol are less attentive and, thus, less likely to spot motorcycles trying to share the road. Drugs and alcohol also slow a driver’s reactions. They might not be able to react quickly enough to make emergency maneuvers when they finally see the motorcycle.
Finally, impaired driving inhibits coordination and alertness. A driver might drift into a motorcyclist’s lane while changing lanes or slam into them from behind as they approach a red light or stop sign.
DISTRACTED DRIVING
Distractions include any task that interferes with a driver’s vision, mind, or hands while driving. Some common distractions for drivers who hit motorcyclists include:
- Using smartphones
- Eating and drinking
- Talking to passengers
- Daydreaming
- Reading billboards
A distracted driver might not see motorcyclists on the road. When they finally see them, they might not have enough time to maneuver to avoid them.
CARELESSNESS
General carelessness can cause collisions between automobiles and motorcycles. Many drivers engage in careless behaviors. When they drive carelessly around motorcyclists, they can produce catastrophic results due to the lack of protection provided by motorcycles.
Some ways drivers can carelessly hit motorcycles include:
- Making lane changes without checking their blind spots
- Disobeying stop signs or red lights
- Ignoring yield signs and yellow lights
- Trying to beat motorcycles when merging
Most drivers don’t ride motorcycles. As a result, they aren’t familiar with the difficulties motorcyclists face and drive in ways that endanger them without even realizing it.
Another difficulty arises from the size of motorcycles. Since motorcycles are small, it can be difficult for drivers to judge their speed and distance. When drivers fail to pay attention to motorcycles, they can make mistakes like turning into the path of an oncoming motorcycle while pulling into traffic.
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Common Motorcycle Accident Injuries
Motorcycle crash injuries follow some predictable patterns, with several types of injuries being the most common suffered in motorcycle accidents.
Limb Injuries
Statistically speaking, the most likely injury you will suffer in a motorcycle crash will be an injury to your limbs. This makes sense because if you lay down your motorcycle, your legs and arms will hit the ground, and you could break bones, tear soft tissues, and suffer road rash on your skin.
Head Injuries
Head injuries are the most common injuries after arm and leg injuries. But your risk of a head injury varies depending on your use of a helmet. Helmet use reduces your risk of head injury by up to 69%.
Head injuries can produce brain injuries. When your head hits a vehicle or the road, your brain shakes inside your skull. The protection of a helmet could reduce a fatal brain injury to a mild concussion.
Spine Injuries
Unlike automobile seats, motorcycle saddles typically do not include a backrest or neckrest. Without this support, the force of impact from a vehicle can cause whiplash, damaging the motorcyclist’s neck.
Also, many motorcyclists get ejected during their collisions. When the rider hits the ground, they can damage their neck or back. Some spine injuries you may suffer include strained back and neck muscles, herniated discs, and fractured vertebrae.
Fractured vertebrae are particularly dangerous because bone fragments can dislocate and compress or sever the spinal cord. A severed spinal cord can produce paralysis and loss of sensation. Spinal cord compression can cause weakness, numbness, pain, and other disabilities.
Common Claims for Motorcycle Accidents
Depending on how your motorcycle accident occurred, you may have a legal case against anyone who contributed to the cause of your accident. Personal injury claims for motorcycle crashes take three forms.
Negligence
The most common claim is for negligence. Negligence happens when a driver fails to exercise reasonable care and, as a result, injures another road user. To win a negligence claim, your injury attorney must prove:
- Duty of care
- Breach of duty
- Damages
- Causation
The duty of care comes from the obligation of all drivers to drive with due concern for other motorists, pedestrians, and cyclists. Drivers breach this duty when they violate traffic laws and customs. If you get injured, you will have damages such as financial losses, pain, and suffering.
Causation has two parts. First, your injuries must arise naturally and logically from the driver’s breach. Second, the breach must be the type of action that could foreseeably injure a road user.
For example, suppose an impatient driver turns left across your path at an intersection.
The driver had a duty to yield to you since you were proceeding straight through the intersection with a green light. They breached this duty when they turned without having the right of way. As a result, you can pursue a claim for any losses you suffered due to your crash.
Intentional Tort
Another possible type of claim is an intentional tort. This type of claim is rare, but it can happen in narrow situations like road rage. If a driver deliberately hit your motorcycle, you may have a claim for civil battery.
This isn’t the same as criminal battery, where the driver may go to jail. Instead, a driver who intentionally makes harmful contact with you will pay damages to you for the civil battery.
Product Liability
Finally, you may have a product liability claim for any defective products that caused or worsened your injuries.
Suppose that you suffered a brain injury because your motorcycle helmet was defective. You can pursue a product liability claim against the helmet manufacturer by proving the helmet was defective when it left the factory and the defect caused your injury.
How Insurance Laws Affect a Motorcycle Accident Lawsuit in Jersey City
New Jersey has a choice no-fault insurance system for automobiles. Under this system, injured drivers and passengers can get basic injury compensation from the insurer of the vehicle in which they were riding.
This compensation gets paid regardless of who caused the crash. Thus, even the at-fault driver can get no-fault insurance benefits for their injuries.
However, this system doesn’t cover motorcyclists. When an automobile collides with a motorcycle, the automobile driver’s no-fault coverage won’t pay for your injuries. More importantly, your motorcycle insurance doesn’t include no-fault coverage.
As a result, your only option for recovering injury compensation will come from a claim against the at-fault driver’s liability coverage.
Unfortunately, New Jersey doesn’t require drivers to buy bodily injury liability coverage to pay for the medical bills of anyone they injure. Thus, you can get hit by a driver lacking insurance coverage to pay for your losses.
When this happens, you can pursue a claim under your motorcycle policy’s uninsured motorist coverage. But once you hit your policy limits for this coverage, your only choice for paying your medical bills and making up for your lost wages might be a personal injury lawsuit against the at-fault driver.
Damages in a Motorcycle Injury Case in Jersey City
The damages you can pursue in a motorcycle injury case include economic and non-economic ones. In rare cases, you can also pursue punitive damages.
Economic damages encompass all the financial losses and costs you incurred due to your injuries. Some categories of losses you can pursue include:
- Past and future medical bills
- Lost wages
- Diminished earning capacity due to disabilities
- Reasonable and necessary out-of-pocket costs
You will use receipts, credit card statements, and other financial records to prove your economic losses.
Non-economic damages include the impact of your injuries on your life. Some losses you can include in your non-economic damages are:
- Physical pain
- Mental suffering
- Disability
- Disfigurement
- Dismemberment
The amount of your economic damages depends on the severity of your wounds. Injuries that cause long-term or permanent disabilities will have greater non-economic losses than temporary injuries.
Finally, courts can award punitive damages. But these damages are very rare. You must have experienced such outrageous conduct that the court feels it needs to punish the at-fault driver to deter others from behaving similarly.
How Long You Have to File a Motorcycle Accident Lawsuit in Jersey City
New Jersey has a statute of limitations for personal injury claims. While most claims must be filed within two years after the accident, you should consult a Jersey City motorcycle accident lawyer as soon as practical after a crash. The statute of limitations is a complex law that may require a lawyer’s interpretation.
Also, you want to start your case while memories are fresh and documents can still be found. Your lawyer will need this evidence to analyze your claim and develop your case for injury compensation.
Why Hire GGL?
Garces, Grabler & LeBrocq was formed over 30 years ago to assist accident victims to pursue compensation from those responsible for their injuries. Our Jersey City motorcycle accident lawyers have decades of combined legal experience and have recovered over $1 billion for our clients.
Our goal is to provide knowledgeable, aggressive, and professional services to every client. We understand the stress and confusion you may face after suffering a life-changing injury and have dedicated our careers to guiding injured people through the legal process.
Contact GGL online or call 1-800-923-3456 to discuss your motorcycle crash and how we can help you seek injury compensation.
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OFFICIAL PARTNER OF RUTGERS ATHLETICS
Jersey City Motorcycle Accident Lawyers
Address: 3000 John F. Kennedy Blvd. Suite 311 Jersey City, NJ 07306
Phone: (201) 695-1000
Open 24/7 365
Office:
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8:30-6:00 Wednesday
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Recent GGL Wins
Medical Malpractice
A 30-year-old pregnant woman went into labor. The doctor failed to take proper steps in the baby’s delivery, making the mother wait in the hallway for ten hours while the baby’s heart rate began to drop. The baby was delivered via C-Section; he was blue from lack of oxygen resulting in Cerebral Palsy.
$14 Million
Verdict
Construction Accident
Mediation award resulting from an industrial explosion causing disfiguring burns and severe orthopedic injuries.
$7,8 Million
Verdict
Auto Accident
31-year-old man who was cut off by another car causing his car to flip over. He sustained head injuries, facial injuries, and half of his pinky finger was amputated.
$3 Million
Verdict
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GGL Wins
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