Houston Motorcycle Accident Lawyer

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Houston Motorcycle Accident Lawyer

Seeking a Free Consultation with one of Texas’ Houston Motorcycle Accident Lawyers? Call the Houston Motorcycle Accident Lawyer Reshard Alexander today at 713.766.3322.

A motorcycle often called a bike, motorbike, or cycle, is a two-or three-wheeled motor vehicle.^[1] Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising, sport including racing, and off-road riding. Motorcycling is riding a motorcycle and related social activity such as joining a motorcycle club and attending motorcycle rallies.

In 1894, Hildebrand & Wolfmüller became the first series production motorcycle and the first to be called a motorcycle. In 2014, the three top motorcycle producers globally by volume were Honda(28%), Yamaha(17%)(both from Japan), and Hero MotoCorp (India).^[2]

Street motorcycles are motorcycles designed for being ridden on paved roads. They have smooth tires with a light tread pattern and engines generally in the 125 cc (7.6 cu in) and over range. Typically, street motorcycles are capable of speeds up to 100 mph (160 km/h), and many of speeds in excess of 125 mph (201 km/h).

Standards, also called naked bikes or roadsters, are versatile, general-purpose street motorcycles.^[1] They are recognized primarily by their upright riding position, partway between the reclining rider posture of the cruisers and the forward leaning sport bikes.^[3] Footpegs are below the rider and handlebars are high enough to not force the rider to reach too far forward, placing the shoulders above the hips in a natural position.^[2] Because of their flexibility, lower costs, and moderate engine output, standards are particularly suited to motorcycle beginners.^[1]

Standards usually do not come with fairings or windscreens, or if they have them, they are relatively small.^[1] Standard is often a synonym for naked, a term that was used in reference to 1950s road racing bikes.^[9]^[10] The standard seemed to have disappeared, fueling nostalgia for the return of the Universal Japanese Motorcycle,^[1] which were admired for their simplicity, quality, and versatility.^[3]^[4]^[6]

Muscle bike is a nickname for a motorcycle type, derived from either a standard or sport bike design, that puts a disproportionately high priority on engine power.^[1]^[11]^[12] Roadster is equivalent to standard or naked.^[13]

According to the US Department of Transportation, the number of fatalities per vehicle mile traveled was 37 times higher for motorcycles than for cars.^[3]

The relative risk of a motorcycle rider being killed or seriously injured per kilometre traveled was around 54 times higher in Great Britain in 2006 than for car drivers.^[38] United States Department of Transportation data for 2005 from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System show that for passenger cars, 18.62 fatal crashes occur per 100,000 registered vehicles. For motorcycles this figure is 75.19 per 100,000 registered vehicles — four times higher than for cars.^[39] The same data shows that 1.56 fatalities occur per 100 million vehicle miles travelled for passenger cars, whereas for motorcycles the figure is 43.47, which was 37 times higher than for cars in 2007.^[40] The increased risk over other road users comes from the motorcyclist being relatively unprotected on the motorcycle.

There are also some statistics comparing the risk of hospital admissions for different leisure activities. A study shows that the probability for the activity leading to hospital admission was 4.9/10,000 hours of horseback riding, while the same number for motorcycling was 1.4/10,000 hours.^[41]

To address motorcycle safety issues, motorcycle-specific training and personal protective equipment is important for motorcyclists’ survival on the road, and mandated in many countries and several U.S. states and counties.

Causes for motorcycle accidents

A Norwegian study has looked at the reasons behind motorcycle death accidents. The study has looked at all fatal accidents in Norway (a total of 153) in the time frame 2005 to 2009.^[42] In 66% of these accidents, the motorcyclist was to blame for the accident occurring, while others were to blame in 20% of the cases.^[43] Technical problems with the motorcycle itself are rarely the cause of crashes, as this was shown to be a prominent factor in only 4% of the investigated accidents.^[44]

Racing and supersport motorcycles, even while having the best handling capabilities, are overrepresented in fatal accidents.^[45]^[46] Adventurous people are drawn to these bikes, and this group are more prone to be involved in crashes.^[46] More fatal accidents on racing motorcycles are caused by extreme behaviour than on touring motorcycles.^[47]

Helmet usage

In Europe, head injuries lead to death in about 75% of fatal motorcycle accidents. The same number for low- and middle-income countries is 88%. Helmet usage reduces the chance for death in an accident by 40% and the risk of serious injury by 70%.^[48]

While helmet usage generally is increasing worldwide and 77% of the world’s population is covered by extensive helmet laws, many countries still lack sufficient enforcement.^[48] Pakistan has both laws requiring driver and passenger to wear a helmet and regulations on helmet standards. Still, only 10% of all riders in Pakistan wear a helmet.^[49]

Reasons for riding a motorcycle

For most riders, a motorcycle is a cheaper and more convenient form of transportation which causes less commuter congestion within cities and has less environmental impact than automobile ownership. Others ride as a way to relieve stress and to “clear their minds” as described in Robert M. Pirsig‘s book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Pirsig contrasted the sense of connection experienced by motorcyclists with the isolation of drivers who are “always in a compartment”, passively observing the passing landscape. Pirsig portrayed motorcycling as being in “completely in contact with it all… in the scene.”^[7]

The connection to one’s motorcycle is sensed further, as Pirsig explained, by the frequent need to maintain its mechanical operation. Pirsig felt that connection deepen when faced with a difficult mechanical problem that required walking away from it until the solution became clear. Similarly, motorcyclists experience pleasure at the feeling of being far more connected to their motor vehicles than in a motorcar, as being part of it rather than in it.^[8]

Seeking a Free Consultation with one of Texas’ Houston Motorcycle Accident Lawyers? Call the Houston Motorcycle Accident Lawyer Reshard Alexander today at 713.766.3322.

Speed appeal

Speed draws many people to motorcycling because the power-to-weight ratio of even a low-power motorcycle is in league with that of an expensive sports car. The power-to-weight ratio of many modestly priced sport bikes is well beyond any mass-market automobile and rivals that of supercars for a fraction of the price.^[9] The fastest accelerating production cars, capable of 0 to 60 mph (0 to 97 km/h) in under 3.5 seconds, or 0 to ¹⁄₄ mile (0.0 to 0.4 km) in under 12 seconds is a relatively select club of exotic names like Porsche and Lamborghini, with a few extreme sub-models of popular sports cars, like the Shelby Mustang, and mostly made since the 1990s. Conversely, the fastest accelerating motorcycles meeting the same criteria is a much longer list and includes many non-sportbikes, such as the Triumph Tiger Explorer or Yamaha XT1200Z Super Ténéré, and includes many motorcycles dating back to the 1970s.

Hunter S. Thompson‘s book Hell’s Angels includes an ode to the joys of pushing a motorcycle to its limits, “with the throttle screwed on there is only the barest margin, and no room at all for mistakes … that’s when the strange music starts … fear becomes exhilaration [and the] only sounds are the wind and a dull roar floating back from the mufflers”^[10] and T. E. Lawrence wrote of the “lustfulness of moving swiftly” and the “pleasure of speeding on the road”. A sensation he compared to feeling “the earth moulding herself under me … coming alive … and heaving and tossing on each side like a sea.”^[11]

Benefits when commuting

While people choose to ride motorcycles for various reasons, those reasons are increasingly practical, with riders opting for a powered two-wheeler as a cost-efficient alternative to infrequent and expensive public transport systems, or as a means of avoiding or reducing the effects of urban congestion.^[12]

Where permitted, lane splitting, which is also known as filtering, allows motorcycles to move between vehicles in slow or stationary traffic.^[13]

In the UK, motorcycles are exempt from the £11.50 per day London congestion charge^[14] that other vehicles must pay to enter the city during the day. Motorcycles are also exempt from toll charges at such river crossings as the Dartford Crossing, and Mersey Tunnels. Such cities as Bristol provide dedicated free parking and allow motorcycles to use bus lanes. In the United States, motorcycles may use high-occupancy vehicle lanes in accordance with federal law ^[15] and pay a lesser fee on some toll roads and toll bridges. Other countries have similar policies.

In New Zealand, motorcycle riders need not pay for parking that is controlled by a barrier arm;^[16] the arm occupies less than the entire width of the lane, and the motorcyclist simply rides around it.^[17] Many car parks that are thus controlled so supply special areas for motorcycles to park as to save space.

In many cities that have serious parking challenges for cars, such as Melbourne, Australia, motorcycles are generally permitted to park on the sidewalk, rather than occupy a space on the street which might otherwise be used by a car. Melbourne presents an example for the rest of the world with its free motorcycle footpath parking which is enshrined in their Future Melbourne Committee Road Safety Plan^[18]

On Washington State Ferries, the most-used vehicle ferry system in the United States, motorcycle riders get priority boarding, skip automobile waiting lines, and are charged a lower fare than automobiles.^[19]^[20] BC Ferries users obtain many of the same benefits.^[21]

There is a large demand for small, cheap motorcycles in the developing world, and many of the firms meeting that demand now also compete in mature markets, such as China’s Hongdou which makes a version of Honda’s venerable CG125.^[41]

Today the Japanese manufacturers, Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, and Yamaha dominate the large motorcycle industry, although Harley-Davidson still maintains a high degree of popularity, particularly in the United States. Recent years have seen a resurgence in the popularity around the world of many other motorcycle brands, including BMW, Triumph and Ducati, and the emergence of Victory as a second successful mass-builder of big-twin American cruisers.

In November 2006, the Dutch company E.V.A. Products BV Holland announced that the first commercially available diesel-powered motorcycle, its Track T-800CDI, achieved production status.^[39] The Track T-800CDI uses an 800 cc three-cylinder Daimler Chrysler diesel engine. However, other manufacturers, including Royal Enfield, had been producing diesel-powered bikes since at least 1965.^[40]

Motorcycle taxis are commonplace in the developing world. Scooters, mopeds and motorcycles offer a fast, cheap and risky way around snarled traffic and scarce mass transit, as they can easily squeeze through jams.^[42]

The first ethanol flex fuel motorcycle in the world was launched to the Brazilian market by Honda in March 2009, the CG 150 Titan Mix^[43]^[44] During the first eight months after its market launch the CG 150 Titan Mix had captured a 10.6% market share, and ranking second in sales of new motorcycles in the Brazilian market in 2009.^[45] In September 2009, Honda launched a second flexible-fuel motorcycle,^[46] and by December 2010 both Honda flexible-fuel motorcycles had reached cumulative production of 515,726 units, representing an 18.1% market share of the Brazilian new motorcycle sales in that year.^[47]^[48] As of January 2011 there were four flex-fuel motorcycle models available in the market,^[49] and production reached the one million milestone in June 2011.^[47]^[48]^[50]

Seeking a Free Consultation with one of Texas’ Houston Motorcycle Accident Lawyers? Call the Houston Motorcycle Accident Lawyer Reshard Alexander today at 713.766.3322.

With more than eight years of experience, Houston motorcycle accident lawyer Reshard Alexander successfully handles motorcycle accident cases.

Motorcyclists often suffer catastrophic injuries when they are involved in a collision with a car or truck. Compounding this already difficult situation is the fact that the financial costs of a serious injury can easily exceed the available insurance coverage.

If you have been injured, or a loved one was killed in a motorcycle accident, it is important that you work with an attorney who knows how to pursue all possible sources of compensation, including uninsured and underinsured motorists coverage.

Seeking a Free Consultation with one of Texas’ Houston Motorcycle Accident Lawyers? Call the Houston Motorcycle Accident Lawyer Reshard Alexander today at 713.766.3322.

Motorcycles have a higher rate of fatal accidents than automobiles or trucks and buses. United States Department of Transportation data for 2005 from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System shows that for passenger cars, 18.62 fatal crashes occur per 100,000 registered vehicles. For motorcycles, this figure is higher at 75.19 per 100,000 registered vehicles – four times higher than for cars.^[45] The same data shows that 1.56 fatalities occur per 100 million vehicle miles traveled for passenger cars, whereas for motorcycles the figure is 43.47 which is 28 times higher than for cars (37 times more deaths per mile traveled in 2007).^[3] Furthermore, for motorcycles, the accident rates have increased significantly since the end of the 1990s, while the rates have dropped for passenger cars.

Counteracting the Bias Against Bikers – Houston Motorcycle Accident Lawyer

It’s a sad fact that many people (including jurors) have preconceived notions about motorcyclists, namely that they are reckless drivers. We believe this reputation is undeserved and unfounded. In fact, motorcycle accidents often result from the negligence or carelessness of other drivers who:

Do not check their blind spot when making a lane change
Do not see the motorcycle when entering or exiting a street or road
Do not yield the right of way at a stop
Made a sudden left-hand turn in front of an oncoming motorcycle at an intersection

Motorcycle safety education is offered throughout the United States by organizations ranging from state agencies to non-profit organizations to corporations. Most states use the courses designed by the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF), while Oregon and Idaho developed their own. All of the training programs include a Basic Rider Course, an Intermediate Rider Course, and an Advanced Rider Course.

Seeking a Free Consultation with one of Texas’ Houston Motorcycle Accident Lawyers? Call the Houston Motorcycle Accident Lawyer Reshard Alexander today at 713.766.3322.

Roads are primarily designed for their main users, cars, and are seldom engineered with motorcycle-specific safety in focus. The choice of roadside barriers and guardrails to prevent vehicles from crossing over a median or running off the road have proved to be dangerous for motorcyclists, as they are designed to dissipate braking energy for much heavier and structurally tougher cars and trucks.^[40] Moreover, they are designed to be impacted on the sliding rail and not at their support poles, which act as swords to unprotected road users.^[41] A statistical explanation for the automobile bias is found in use and fatality figures; motorcyclists are in a numerical minority.^[42]

The road surface can also contribute to a crash. A sudden change in the surface can be sufficient to cause a momentary loss of traction, destabilizing the motorcycle. The risk of skidding increases if the motorcyclist is braking or changing direction. This is due to the fact that most of the braking and steering control are through the front wheel, while power is delivered through the rear wheel.^[43] During maintenance, the choice of material can be inadequate for motorcycles. For example, asphalt sealer is used to fill and repair cracks in asphalt paving, but this often creates a slick surface that can cause a motorcycle to lose traction.^[44] Sometimes, steel plates are used as temporary covers over road trenches. The sliding nature of those, combined with an inappropriate installation can cause incidents.^[43]

Australian motorcycle advocate Rodney Brown writes that nature and likely consequences of hazards differ significantly for motorcyclists compared to drivers of other vehicles.^[45] For example, the current highway standards in the US permit pavement ridges of up to 1.5 inches (about 3.8 centimeters) without tapering, which poses a significant hazard to motorcycles.^[44] Potholes and presence of debris pose a greater hazard for motorcyclists than drivers of larger vehicles because the former can cause a loss of stability and control and the latter can deflect a motorcycle’s wheel at impact.^[45]

Seeking a Free Consultation with one of Texas’ Houston Motorcycle Accident Lawyers? Call the Houston Motorcycle Accident Lawyer Reshard Alexander today at 713.766.3322.

Motorcycle Injuries

Once the collision has occurred, or the rider has lost control through some other mishap, several common types of injury occur when the bike falls:^[48]

Collision with less forgiving protective barriers or roadside “furniture” (lampposts, signs, fences, etc.). Note that when one falls off a motorcycle in the middle of a curve, lamps and signs become impossible to negotiate around.
Concussion and brain damage, as the head violently contacts other vehicles or objects. Riders wearing an approved helmet reduce the risk of death by 37 percent.^[49]
Breakage of joints (elbows, shoulders, hips, knees, and wrists), fingers, spine, and neck, for the same reason. The most common breakages are the shoulder and the pelvis.
Soft tissue (skin and muscle) damage (road rash) as the body slides across the surface. This can be prevented entirely with the proper use of motorcycle-specific protective apparel such as a leather jacket or reinforced denim and textile pants.
There is also a condition known as biker’s arm, where the nerves in the upper arm are damaged during the fall, causing permanent paralysis of arm movement.
Facial disfigurement, if in the absence of a full-face helmet, the unprotected face slides across the ground or smashes into an object. Thirty-five percent of all crashes show a major impact on the chin-bar area.^[50]

The Hurt Report also commented on injuries after an accident stating that the likelihood of injury is extremely high in these motorcycle accidents – 98% of the multiple vehicle collisions and 96% of the single-vehicle accidents resulted in some kind of injury to the motorcycle rider; 45% resulted in more than a minor injury.^[51]

Attorney Reshard Alexander works hard to counteract this negative image of bikers. Through careful investigation of the accident and consultation with expert witnesses, he can often present evidence showing that the driver of the car, truck or other vehicle was the precise cause of the accident.

Seeking a Free Consultation with one of Texas’ Houston Motorcycle Accident Lawyers? Call the Houston Motorcycle Accident Lawyer Reshard Alexander today at 713.766.3322.

Motorcycle Crash Rates & Risks

Traveling on a motorcycle carries a much higher risk of death or injury than driving the same distance in a car. In 2006 US motorcyclists had a risk of a fatal crash that was 35 times greater than that of passenger cars, based on 390 motorcyclist deaths per billion vehicle miles and 11.1 car fatalities for that distance.^[2] In 2016 this rate was 28 times that for automobiles.^[3]

When looking at all reported crashes regardless of injuries, the crash rate for motorcycles in the US in 2016 was 6.31 per million miles driven, significantly higher than the rate of 3.28 crashes per million miles driven for cars and similar vehicles.^[4] However the primary reason for the higher rates of injuries and fatalities among motorcyclists is that cars provide more effective crash protection. For automobiles, 31% of crashes result in injury but only 0.29% of accidents are fatal. For motorcycles 78.3% of reported crashes result in injury and 4.24% of crashes are fatal.^[5]^[6]

Statistics from other countries confirm the US data. The UK Department for Transport indicated that motorcycles have 16 times the rate of serious injuries, people either killed or injured, compared to cars.^[7] UK data for casualties, i.e. the total of all injuries and fatalities combined, showed 6,043 casualties per billion miles traveled on motorcycles in 2017, 25.4 times the rate of 238 per billion miles travelled for cars.^[8] In the UK in 2017 there were 116.9 motorcyclist fatalities per billion passenger miles, 61.5 times the rate of 1.9 fatalities per billion passenger miles for occupants of cars.^[8] UK data shows a wider disparity between cars and motorcycles than US data in part because it is based on fatalities per passenger mile while US data is based on fatalities per vehicle mile.

A national study by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATS) found that:

Motorcycle rider death rates increased among all rider age groups between 1998 and 2000
Motorcycle rider deaths were nearly 30 times more than drivers of other vehicles
Motorcycle riders aged below 40 are 36 times more likely to be killed than other vehicle operators of the same age.
Motorcycle riders aged 40 years and over are around 20 times more likely to be killed than other drivers of that same age.^[9]

Bicyclists and pedestrians are also unprotected in collisions with cars on public roads. In 2017, there were also 5,604 bicyclist casualties per billion passenger miles or 23.5 times the rate for cars, compared with pedestrians having about 7.6 times as many casualties per distance traveled. However bicycles and pedestrians travel at much lower speeds so the risk they incur per hour of travel is only a fraction as great. In contrast, the rate of fatal accidents for buses is lower than for cars, about 0.83 times as many.^[8]

The article on Motorcycle fatality rate in U.S. by year indicates that the number of motorcycle fatalities in the US has remained about 5000 per year for most of the past decade. In 2006, 13.10 cars out of 100,000 ended up in fatal crashes, while the rate for motorcycles was 72.34 per 100,000 registered motorcycles.^[2]

Seeking a Free Consultation with one of Texas’ Houston Motorcycle Accident Lawyers? Call the Houston Motorcycle Accident Lawyer Reshard Alexander today at 713.766.3322.

Research

Two major scientific research studies into the causes of motorcycle accidents have been conducted in North America and Europe: the Hurt Report and the MAIDS report.

Hurt Report

A major work done on this subject in the United States is the Hurt Report, published in 1981 with data collected in Los Angeles and the surrounding rural areas.^[10] There have been longstanding calls for a new safety study in the US, and Congress has provided the seed money for such a project, but as yet the remainder of the funding has not all been pledged.^[11]

The Hurt Report, officially Motorcycle Accident Cause Factors and Identification of Countermeasures, was a motorcycle safety study conducted in the United States, initiated in 1976 and published in 1981.^[1]^[2] The report is named after its primary author, Professor Harry Hurt.

Noted motorcycle journalist David L. Hough described the Hurt Report as “the most comprehensive motorcycle safety study of the 20th century.”^[3]

The study was initiated by the Department of Transportation‘s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which contracted with the University of Southern California Traffic Safety Center — the work was ultimately conducted by USC professor Harry Hurt.^[3]

The Hurt Report findings significantly advanced the state of knowledge of the causes of motorcycle accidents, in particular pointing out the widespread problem of car drivers failing to see an approaching motorcycle and precipitating a crash by violating the motorcyclist’s right-of-way. The study also provided data clearly showing that helmets significantly reduce deaths and brain injuries without any increased risk of accident involvement or neck injury. The full title of the report was Motorcycle Accident Cause Factors and Identification of Countermeasures, Volume 1: Technical Report.

The Hurt Report concluded with a list of 55 findings, as well as several major recommendations for law enforcement and legislation. Among these, 75% of motorcycle accidents involved a collision with another vehicle, usually a car. In the MAIDS report, the figure is 60%.

Other notable findings in the Hurt report (quoted below) were:^[12]

75% of accidents were found to involve a motorcycle and a passenger vehicle, while the remaining 25% of accidents were single motorcycle accidents.
In the single vehicle accidents, motorcycle rider error was present as the accident precipitating factor in about two-thirds of the cases, with the typical error being a slide-out and fall due to overbraking or running wide on a curve due to excess speed or lack of side bite.
Almost half of the fatal accidents show alcohol involvement.
Injury severity increases with speed, alcohol involvement and motorcycle size.
In the multiple vehicle accidents, the driver of the other vehicle violated the motorcycle right-of-way and caused the accident in two-thirds of those accidents.
The report’s additional findings show that wearing appropriate gear, specifically, a helmet and durable garments, mitigates crash injuries substantially.
Vehicle failure accounted for less than 3% of these motorcycle accidents, and most of those were single vehicle accidents where control was lost due to a puncture flat.
Weather is not a factor in 98% of motorcycle accidents.
The failure of motorists to detect and recognize motorcycles in traffic is the predominating cause of motorcycle accidents. Conspicuity of the motorcycle is a critical factor in the multiple vehicle accidents, and accident involvement is significantly reduced by the use of motorcycle headlamps-on In daylight and the wearing of high visibility yellow, orange or bright red jackets.

MAIDS report

The most recent large-scale study of motorcycle accidents is the MAIDS report carried out in five European countries in 1999 to 2000, using the rigorous OECD standards, including a statistically significant sample size of over 900 crash incidents and over 900 control cases.

The MAIDS report tends to support most of the Hurt Report findings, for example that “69% of the OV [other vehicle] drivers attempted no collision avoidance manoeuvre,” suggesting they did not see the motorcycle. And further that, “the largest number of PTW [powered two-wheeler] accidents is due to a perception failure on the part of the OV driver or the PTW rider.” And “The data indicates that in 68.7% of all cases, the helmet was capable of preventing or reducing the head injury sustained by the rider (i.e., 33.2% + 35.5%). In 3.6% of all cases, the helmet was found to have no effect upon head injury” and “There were no reported cases in which the helmet was identified as the contact code for a serious or maximum neck injury.”^[13]

Olson Report

A lesser-known study, known as the Olson Report after the lead investigator in a 1979 University of Michigan study,^[14] found that rider safety could be enhanced by wearing conspicuous clothing (especially yellow-green); using headlights in daytime, especially modulated headlights; and using running lights and wearing retro-reflective clothing at night.^[15]^:159–161

Seeking a Free Consultation with one of Texas’ Houston Motorcycle Accident Lawyers? Call the Houston Motorcycle Accident Lawyer Reshard Alexander today at 713.766.3322.

Houston Motorcycle Accident Lawyer

If you’ve been injured in a motorcycle accident, don’t talk to the insurance adjuster until you have had a chance to discuss your accident with an experienced personal injury lawyer. Call Houston Motorcycle Accident Lawyer Reshard Alexander at (713) 766-3322 or fill out our online contact form to schedule a free consultation.

Houston Motorcycle Accident Guide