Given our firms reputation as expert motorcycle accident attorneys in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, during the riding season we get quite a few calls from potential clients telling us about various motorcycle accident causes, such as being involved in an accident with a deer.
Or, perhaps even more common, is a motorcycle accident caused by roadway situations involving loose gravel, wet leaves, or a pothole.
Most of these individuals are calling a motorcycle accident law firm (we focus our practice on cycle accidents only) to find out if they have a claim against anyone or anything involved in the accident when they explain what happened and that they could not directly attribute the motorcycle accident cause to another party, because nobody was present at the scene.
Motorcycle Accident Causes
To begin with, the deer situation; unless there is another vehicle that was somehow involved in the collision with the deer and then took off from the scene of the accident, in virtually all of the situations where the cause of the accident involves just the deer, there will not be a motorcycle accident claim for any type of damages except property damage, assuming you have collision coverage.
However, over the last 22 years, our law firm has handled a few cases wherein there was a passenger involved and he/she sustained significant injuries. In that situation, depending on the facts involved, the passenger may have a claim against the driver of the motorcycle. The basis for which could center around any number of driver-related motorcycle accident causes.
Regardless of how the accident happened, you want to make sure that you read the motorcycle’s insurance declarations page to see what benefits, if any, are available to the passenger. If there are no medical benefits to be found, in many cases, the passenger’s private health insurance will cover the injuries caused by the accident.
An experienced motorcycle attorney may also help collect lost wages if the injured person has disability on any policy.
If the accident involves leaves or any other type of road defect, I would suggest that, like the situation involving the motorcycle accident with the deer, the ability to make a successful claim for injuries is fact specific.
Therefore, if you are ever involved in a motorcycle accident involving a defect on the road or of the road, especially if it is oil or loose gravel, you should immediately contact an experienced Pennsylvania motorcycle accident attorney to investigate the facts.
As stated, over the years we have had perhaps a dozen or so cases wherein our client went down as a result of gravel or oil. In one case we had a situation where a client went down due to water being improperly dumped onto the roadway and we had another situation where an oil truck was leaking oil which caused my client to go down.
Fortunately, in both situations, local police were able to follow the trail that led to where the trucks were being used. Needless to say, this made our clients’ claims much less difficult to prove.
Always a Free Consultation for PA and NJ Motorcycle Accidents
My point is, when and if you are ever involved in any type of motorcycle accident wherein another party is present, or not present (such as the oil leaking truck), you want to call a New Jersey or Pennsylvania motorcycle accident lawyer who focuses his practice on motorcycle accidents.