Attorney Chris DiBella Discusses Motorcycle Accidents

Here in New England, we’re getting to the time where we’re going to start seeing a lot more motorcycles on the road, and I wanted to have a little discussion with you about the causes of motorcycle accidents and what motorcycle safety — what we can do to keep each other safe on the roads this spring and summer.

A recent report indicates that motorcycle deaths in Massachusetts from January to July of 2021 saw an increase of 31 percent compared to the five prior years. And if we dig a little bit deeper into the study, we find out from government officials that the automobiles were responsible for more than two-thirds of those accidents.

So, you know, things that we need to keep in mind — because when we’re talking about injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident versus a car accident — is that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that motorcycle riders continue to be overrepresented in traffic fatalities. And that’s just highlighting how dangerous it can be to be a motorcycle driver on the road these days.

In 2019, motorcyclists were 29 times more likely to be killed in a motor vehicle crash than a passenger who’s driving in a traditional vehicle. The chances of injury are far greater when you’re driving as a motorcycle rider.

The injuries tend to be a lot more severe, as you can imagine, when you’re traveling as a motorcycle rider, and finally, you tend to incur a much higher amount of medical bills and costs when you’re a motorcycle rider.

So, some of the injuries that you might expect when you’re involved in a motorcycle accident are going to be road rash, your typical fractures and broken bones throughout your body, to the more severe injuries like head, neck, and spinal cord injuries.

So what can we do about this? And you know, we can’t control the actions of everyone around us, but we can control what we as motorcycle drivers do when we step foot on a motorcycle. And what that’s going to be is that we need to wear protective gear, we need to wear helmets, we need to use our turn signal when we’re changing lanes, we need to make sure that we’re mindful of the speed limit in the different areas that we’re traveling. We have to make sure that we keep a safe distance between all the vehicles around us, be aware of your blind spots, and make sure that we avoid using drugs or alcohol, your phone, drinking — any distraction — anything that’s going to impair your ability to drive, we want to make sure that we stay away from.

But what we do need to keep in mind is that Massachusetts is what’s called a comparative negligent state, and what that means is that the amount of damages that one’s awarded after a motorcycle accident can be reduced depending on how much responsibility or fault the motorcycle driver had himself in contributing to the accident.

So all of these precautions that we’re taking are only going to help us if we are involved in an accident, to make sure that we get the maximum recovery in this case.

And the final thought I’ll leave you with as we all begin to get on the road together is that it’s very important that all automobile drivers give your motorcycle riders enough space in lanes, signal when it’s appropriate, be watchful when a motorcycle is riding in your area. Motorcycle drivers are more vulnerable than those in automobiles, and those traveling around them need to be very diligent when traveling near one.

Be safe.