Tampa Personal Injury Attorney Discusses Motorcycles Accidents
As an experienced Tampa Personal Injury Attorney I am often asked about motorcycle accidents. I think one of the reasons we hear and read more about motorcycle accidents is that obviously you do not have the same protection when you’re riding as either the driver or passenger on a motorcycle as you do when you’re in an automobile. I think another problem is that there is an idea called conspicuity, and that means that a motorcycle is not as conspicuous as an automobile is. Our brains are sort of trained to see automobiles and trucks, which are very wide, as opposed to a motorcycle, which is very narrow.
We read very often in the papers where a motorcyclist is killed or injured very severely when they’re driving down the road and a vehicle coming in the opposite direction makes a left turn in front of them. Even though most motorcycles have their headlight come on automatically when you turn on the ignition switch, despite that fact, oftentimes drivers of automobiles and trucks because of the conspicuity issue because the motorcycle is basically so thin, it doesn’t register and they make that left turn not even seeing the motorcycle. That’s another reason why we read and hear more about fatalities and serious injuries on motorcycles as opposed to automobile accidents.
I think a third reason is probably the issue of helmets. While helmets are not required under the current statutes in Florida, unfortunately with the lack of adequate protection on a motorcycle and the conspicuity issue, a lot of people that are injured on motorcycles without helmets suffer very significant head injuries. That’s a third reason why we see and hear about significant motorcycle injuries and deaths as opposed to automobile accidents when we have so many more automobiles on the roads here in Florida.
Were you recently injured in a motorcycle accident? If so, contact the experienced Tampa Personal Injury Attorney Dennis Morgenstern.
This educational blog was brought you by Dennis Morgenstern, an experienced Tampa Personal Injury Attorney.
