Ventura Motorcycle Accident Attorney
Experienced Ventura Injury Lawyer Helping Victims of Motorcycle Accidents Throughout California
Injured in a motorcycle accident in California? Contact experienced Ventura motorcycle accident attorney Craig Murphy for a free one-on-one consultation.
Most rides you take on your motorcycle probably aren’t all that memorable, but when yours turns into a collision, it very well could be a drive you’ll never forget. No one likes to mess up, but we do. On the road, these mistakes can cost you a lot of hurt, particularly on a motorcycle. Sometimes you have no choice but to drive defensively on the road when another vehicle comes swerving into your lane without looking. Because you are smaller on the road and more exposed, the injuries you sustain in a motorcycle crash can be absolutely devastating.
Read Our Motorcycle Accident Guide
California is of the top three states that sees the most fatalities in motorcycle accidents. With 955,293 motorcycles registered in the state in 2017, the odds of an accident are elevated. It’s no coincidence that Texas and Florida take the top two spots. Long periods of beautiful weather for these areas don’t necessarily cause the accidents, but because it is warm, there are more motorcycles on the road which leads to more accidents. In 2013, California had almost 12,000 accidents involving motorcycles, roughly 5% of which were fatalities. If you are involved in a motorcycle accident, you will know the pain and suffered that it entails. You may be unable to enjoy life like you used to, and you wonder, “What do I do now?”
There are a few things that you can and should do. The top of the priority list is seeking medical attention. This might be emergency medical care immediately following the accident, or it may be going for follow-up visits. Perhaps it even involves getting surgeries and extra treatments to help aid your recovery. All of these things are vital to your health first and foremost, but it is also going to play a key role in your personal injury case. Your health should come first. Once you have begun your road to recovery with the help of medical professionals, it is then time to turn it over to the legal professional to see about recovering for your damages.
Ventura Motorcycle Accident Injuries and Fatalities
Of the many fatal accidents in and around Ventura, certainly one of the most notable and tragic losses was that of astronaut Pete Conrad, the third man to ever walk on the moon. He was in a mountainous area in Ojai when he lost control of his motorcycle. We can learn a lot about the injuries that we see in motorcycle crashes from this incident.
When you tell a family member that you ride a motorcycle, you probably always hear about the gruesome accidents that require serious clean up on the road after. This is not always the case with these types of accidents. However fatal they can be, a lot of the times people survive the initial crash, but then later are found to be seriously injured. Pete Conrad appeared to be only minorly injured but in the hospital, they found out just how badly hurt he was. This can happen because of the nature of these accidents. Unlike being in a car or an SUV, you are not wrapped in a huge, heavy metal frame that will take the majority of the blow for you. On a motorcycle, you are mostly vulnerable. Your body takes more trauma than it would in a car. Therefore, the injuries are more often than not more traumatic. This is why we see more wrongful death cases with motorcycle accidents than we do with car accidents. These accidents can be so devastating to both the family of the rider who has been killed, as well as to the survivors who may be permanently injured.
Another unfortunate reason behind the causes of motorcycle accidents is due to the reputation that motorcycles, and their drivers have. Even in Southern California where it is almost always perfect riding weather, people have a negative opinion of motorcycles. Many times, an accident is caused by a driver simply not bothering to check the lane for a motorcycle and smashing into them. Motorcycle drivers are often looked upon as reckless. There are so many horror stories of terrible accidents, and people wonder why anyone would even take that risk.
While many times, there are seriously injuries for these motorcycle riders, fortunately, in Ventura as well California as while, there is a universal helmet law that requires every single driver, regardless of skill, age, or experience, to wear a helmet while riding a motorcycle. This is good news for most people involved in a motorcycle accident. Because of these laws, riders are less likely to suffer serious traumatic brain damages, head injuries, and fatality.
Fighting Motorcycle Accident Cases in Ventura
Accidents can happen, and tragedy can strike, but so many of these motorcycle accidents are potentially avoidable. Drivers on the road tend to have a biased against motorcycle drivers. If they see someone on a motorcycle changing lanes on the 101, even if they are doing it perfectly lawfully, they may think that that driver is putting themselves in danger for just being on the freeway. This mentality often makes fighting these cases more difficult. Especially when you have a jury of people who have this way of thinking. Our Ventura motorcycle accident attorney is prepared to face a jury that does not inherently feel pity for you, the seriously injured motorcycle driver.
Juries aren’t the first group of people that you need to be worried about right after the accident. If you want your injuries, damages, and medical covered after the accident, you are looking toward the insurance companies for help. The insurance companies will be looking to get themselves out of the responsibility for the accident, therefore it is so important that you do not make a statement of any kind to them especially if they contact you early on while you are on pain medications and are particularly vulnerable. You won’t be able to take those words back if you say something to put yourself at fault for the accident.
Having a Ventura motorcycle accident attorney who knows what they are doing can make all the difference in the world. This attorney will be familiar with motorcycle accidents in the Ventura County. They will be ready to face the insurance companies, the biased jury, and get you the compensation you deserve despite the obstacles. You deserve to see this fully and fairly compensated so that you can go about living your life after this accident and begin to find enjoyment again.
Hiring a Motorcycle Accident Lawyer
In most instances, you do need an attorney for your Ventura County motorcycle accident case, and here is the reason. The adjusters have years of experience and training in dealing with these cases, and they always try to blame you, the motorcycle rider, for causing or contributing to the crash. Their goal is to make sure that they pay you as little as they can for your injuries and damages. The only way that you can protect yourself is by having a skilled and experienced trial lawyer who handles Ventura motorcycle crash cases on a regular basis.
If you have a lawyer who rides a motorcycle, or handled your divorce, or maybe got you out of a traffic ticket, that does not make that person a skilled Ventura motorcycle accident attorney. You need someone who takes these cases into litigation and who knows how to properly build them with the proper foundation and get all of the evidence that is necessary to make sure that you’re fully and fairly compensated for all of your injuries, especially if you have serious, lifelong injuries from your Ventura County motorcycle crash.