Motorcycle Accidents Caused By Road Defects

Most motorcycle accidents typically involve two drivers or at least the ones that turn into litigation. Do to someone’s negligence, a crash occurs and the party not at fault will seek compensation for their injuries. It isn’t a simple matter by any stretch, but it can be done. However, where motorcycle accidents and compensation get more complicated is when the accident wasn’t caused by another driver, but by the road itself.

Every motorcyclist has driven on some spectacularly bad roads before. However, every time you take that bike out onto a bad road, you are taking a pretty big risk. When a car drives over something like loose gravel or a pothole, it doesn’t really affect them. However, if a motorcyclist hits a pothole or loose gravel in the wrong way, it means a pretty bad accident.

Roadway hazards include:

Rough Seams – Roads are constructed so that there is typically a seam in the middle as they only typically do one side at a time. When the road is finished, however, that seam should be minimal. That is unfortunately not always the case. If you hit this uneven seam while doing something like passing another vehicle, it could be dangerous.
Gravel – Gravel road will always be difficult for bikers. Even just loose gravel on paved roads can be an issue. Essentially they can cause the front wheels of a motorcycle to slide out.
Railroad Crossings – The reason railroad crossings are required to be properly marked is not only to watch for trains but so drivers can take proper care while crossing them. They are rough to cars but even rougher on motorcycles.
Bad Design – We have all rode on roads that were a little iffy. Maybe there was a blind corner or a particularly tight curve without a guard rail. These are dangerous and should be dealt with by the governing entity before someone gets hurt.
Getting Compensation For Motorcycle Accidents Caused By Road Defects
The obvious difficulty when looking to recover compensation from a motorcycle accident caused by any kind of road defect is that there is often not one person responsible. Instead of going after another driver as you would with other accident cases, you instead need to seek compensation for the state or city that is responsible for maintaining that roadway

As you would expect, the city or state will try very hard to get out of paying you for an accident they caused by likely not wanting to spend any money maintaining that particular road. Many will try to insist that it was your fault for one reason or another. This is why it is crucial that if you need to file a claim against a government, something that is vastly more complicated than the normally complicated personal injury cases, that you hire a knowledgeable attorney. You can trust that the government entity will bring in their best lawyers to save themselves both money and reputation, so you need a lawyer to evaluate the success rate of your case and make sure you get that compensation that you need.

Need Help?
Were you a victim of a motorcycle accident that is fully to blame on a road defect that should have been fixed? You have a difficult case ahead of you, but it is not impossible. Contact us today to see what the Law Office of Freeman & Freeman can do to help you recover compensation from the government that was responsible for maintaining that road. Just because another vehicle wasn’t involved doesn’t mean you can’t recover damages from your motorcycle accident if the road itself was to blame.