Bikers' Hazards

Southern California, like Florida, is a place with wide open places, fabulous weather, and miles of highway – a magnet for motorcycle enthusiasts and home to hundreds of clubs. One fateful Saturday in 2010, a group of 21 club members decided to celebrate their 10th anniversary with a 150-mile road trip ending at a casino near the Arizona border. Just a few miles from their starting point, four of them were dead, victims of a hit-and-run driver in a hurry. Earlier the same year, four members of a another club – this time in Phoenix – lost their lives when a speeding dump truck driver plowed into them at a traffic light. These accidents and others like them were the talk of motorcycle accident attorneys' blogs, troubling reminders that motorcyclists are among the most imperiled individuals on America's roadways.

According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration's statistics, motorcyclists are a staggering 35 percent more likely to experience a fatal accident than the driver of a passenger automobile. Statistics on accidents are similarly sobering: Three-quarters of all motorcycle accidents involve more than one vehicle. Of the remaining 25 percent involving a single motorcycle, about two-thirds are the result of driver error. But, as attorneys who specialize in multi-car crashes well know, the really scary statistic involves the 75 percent number involving a motorcycle and another vehicle or vehicles. Of those, the automobile driver was the cause of the collision in two-thirds of the cases – most of the time because they violated the motorcycle's right of way.

The risks motorcycle drivers in Florida and around the country face are well documented. Nearly as well documented are their own fiercely independent attitudes about those risks, from defiance (or grudging acceptance) of helmet laws to complaints about car drivers failing to watch the road. The relationship between drivers and cyclists seems to waver between tense acceptance and hostility, as a recent highway sign campaign showed. Asked to “share the road with motorcycles,” irate drivers in one major city responded with a barrage of complaints about their fellow travelers.

Cyclists face a unique set of risks, from inattentive and often aggressive drivers who simply aren't willing to “share the road” with non-automobiles to the simple nature of motorcycle riding and its potentially deadly consequences for bodies involved in a collision. For the rider, an accident involving one or more vehicles can be devastating in ways both physical and financial. Recovery can be hampered by the knowledge that you weren't at fault, but you are paying the price simply because of your choice of vehicle. A Florida motorcycle accident attorney is your best bet at receiving a fair shake at justice. 

Miami personal injury attorneys, Robert J. Fenstersheib and Associates deal exclusively in personal injury and wrongful death claims throughout Florida. If you are in need of a Florida motorcycle accident attorney, call 1-855-TELLROBERT today or visit us on the web @ http://www.tellrobert.com/ to discuss your specific circumstances with a highly qualified professional attorney, and let us help you get the compensation you deserve.