Motorcyclists in Washington may operate their vehicles in a safe and legal manner, yet they are very often blamed as the individual who caused the accident. Statistically, 80% of vehicle accidents that involve motorcycles are not the biker’s fault. Whether the accident occurred because a driver failed to see, or even chose to ignore, a motorcycle changing lanes, turning, or any other action, many times it is the result of someone else’s negligence.

Motorcyclists are at an extremely high risk of being seriously hurt if involved in a crash. Because of the lack of protection that exists when riding a motorcycle, more than 80% of motorcycle accidents result in the rider or the passenger being seriously injured. Whether the injury may be road rash, spinal cord or brain damage, bone fractures or even an unfortunate death, victims and their families may face loss of income, high medical bills and continued emotional distress.

If a motorcycle accident is the result of someone else’s negligence, you need the help of a knowledgeable, experienced, and aggressive personal injury attorney. Premier Law Group’s experienced and aggressive personal injury attorneys have years of experience successfully representing people who have been involved in motorcycle accidents due to someone else’s negligence. We have won millions of dollars for our past clients, and we will do whatever we can to help you recover the maximum possible compensation.

If you have been in a motorcycle accident, Premier Law Group can help you no matter where you are in Washington State. We routinely make home and hospital visits. We truly go the extra mile for our clients, and we believe our experience, past results, and personal attention make us different from most other Washington personal injury attorneys.

Call us today for a free consultation and case evaluation. If we handle your case, you pay absolutely no legal fees unless we win. Premier Law Group is here to make a difference in your life.

F YOU OR A LOVED ONE WAS INJURED IN AN ACCIDENT

If you are injured in an accident, you must keep two very important goals in mind:

1.  You want to increase your chances of a complete recovery from your injury by getting the best medical care possible.

2.  You want to recover the most money possible to pay for all your medical care, loss of income, and pain and suffering.

To achieve both of these goals, you have certain duties. There are certain steps that you should take. Your doctor and lawyer can only achieve the best results with your cooperation. The best doctor and the best lawyer in the world will not achieve the maximum result possible unless you take the following steps. So pay very close attention and read this until you have mastered it.

Report complaints thoroughly

Every time you see a doctor, be as thorough as it is possible for you to be. One of the challenges of a motorcycle accident is the fact that memory is often impaired. The ability to communicate can be severely limited.

If you are the loved one of someone who has been injured, you are in a position to be his or her advocate. Begin a journal immediately. Record every detail no matter how insignificant it may seem. In many cases, the victim of a motorcycle accident needs all their energy to deal with the challenges of the motorcycle accident.

Preserve all the evidence

Now is not the time for vanity. Make sure to get photos of wounds, lacerations, bruises, and any other physical evidence that proves you or your loved one were injured. Also, make sure to get photographs of the accident scene immediately. The scene will be cleaned up and most of the evidence will be lost if you don’t act promptly.

Witnesses

When a motorcycle accident is involved, independent witnesses can make the difference between proving that you aren’t at fault for your own accident.. This is because a motorcycle accident victim often has very little memory of the event. It is not unheard of to never recover memories leading up to a motorcycle accident.

Get the names, addresses, and phone numbers of anybody who witnessed the accident, even if the other person admits at the time that the accident was their fault. Often, the person who caused an accident will change their story later. Having the ability to prove through independent witnesses that an accident happened the way you claim it did can be the difference between winning and losing.

Keep a journal

We have mentioned this already, but we want to emphasize this again. Between the day of your accident and the time that you fully recover or your case goes to trial, many important details will be forgotten unless you write them down. If your loved one’s injury has robbed them of the ability to journal, keep a journal from your perspective.

The day that you sat there and tried to balance your checkbook but couldn’t do it yourself because of you couldn’t make sense of the numbers anymore may have faded into the background as a significant day in your life. Thanks to your journal that experience may draw a far more compelling picture in the jurors’ minds than any doctor can paint by describing your injury in medical terms.

What do you want to record in the journal? Write your daily experiences, restrictions, and pain in it. Share this information with us so that we may better understand the full extent of your harm. That will enable us to convey it more effectively to the jury or whoever we are settling your case with.

Continue treatment

If you stop going to the doctor for any reason, you make it easy for the jury to assume you were feeling fine and didn’t need any treatment. It will also take longer for you to recover from your injury. Your reasons may seem logical—not having the money, not having a car, not having time, having to go to school, having to take care of the kids, etc. Unfortunately, this logic won’t improve your health, and it will destroy your case. Consistent treatment proves the ongoing nature of your pain and suffering.

If a certain type of treatment is not helping you, talk to your doctor or to us about other methods of treatment. Do not sit and wait for your doctor to refer you out to another specialist. It is quite common for a doctor to have difficulty admitting that his treatment plan isn’t working for you. With a motorcycle accident, many treatment plans may have to be tried before the right one for your specific injury is found.

As long as your symptoms still exist, you need to consistently see your doctor and medical providers. If no treatment has proven helpful, only show up once a month and tell your doctor about your complaints. Ultimately, the main proof of your injury will be the visit to your doctor’s office.

See the right doctor

There are many different issues that can arise from a motorcycle accident. You need to go to the right doctor for your type of injury. Use the following guide as a general reference, but we encourage you to visit a physician to determine which specialists are the best for your actual injuries.

• Neurologist – Severe consistent headaches, dizziness and vertigo, numbness, paralysis, loss of motion and/or feeling, loss of memory, loss of consciousness and/or change in cognitive functioning may require a neurologist’s analysis or testing.
• Orthopedist – Spinal injuries, severe and continuous neck and/or back pain, pain and discomfort in shoulder, knees, hands and feet as well as all broken bones or other spinal and bone related injuries usually require visiting an orthopedist.
• Psychologist / Psychiatrist – Anxiety, depression, withdrawal, fear, phobia, and other behavioral and mood related symptoms must be examined by a Psychologist or a Psychiatrist.
• Physical Therapist / Chiropractor – While the abovementioned doctors will treat patients by medication or surgery, most everyone who has muscle, tendon, ligament and spinal injury will benefit from a course of physical therapy and chiropractic treatment.
• Obviously there are many other specialists that have not been listed such as Opthalmologists, Otolayrngologists, Podiatrists, etc.

Of course, we do not want you to undergo any unnecessary treatment or examinations. This will undermine the legitimacy of your injury claim as well as create unnecessary medical bills which may not be compensable.

Talk to an attorney

If you follow these steps, you provide us with all the tools necessary to obtain the absolute maximum recovery possible. At Premier Law Group, we believe you deserve the best outcome. Our attorneys fight aggressively for your rights. If you think that you have a claim, call us today.

Read the MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENT FAQs