Traffic at Bakersfield intersections can get hectic, but drivers are always responsible for monitoring for any riders who may be around and showing them the utmost caution. When motorcyclists end up hurt in accidents, they can ask at-fault drivers for help in paying hospital bills and replacing paychecks they lose while out of work. Victims should even earn support for the time they must give up their rides.
Maison Law Accident & Injury Lawyers of Bakersfield offers a free, no-obligation consultation for all motorcycle accident victims in Kern County. It’s a chance to determine the value of your case and find out how to force car insurance companies to accept accountability.
Do I Need a Motorcycle Lawyer After an Intersection Collision?
When you come away from a motorcycle collision with a serious injury, and medical bills are more than a few hundred dollars, it’s a good idea to go over your case with a Bakersfield Motorcycle Accident Lawyer.
These are a few of the car insurance company tactics your attorney can help you protect yourself against:
Raise doubts about your injuries: When recovery will be expensive, insurers protect their profits by limiting what injured riders receive. They might question your doctor’s assessment of how bad the injuries are as an excuse to pay you less. They may ignore a diagnosis that indicates you could require expensive surgery in the future.
Blame you for an accident you didn’t cause: Insurers can just outright deny your claim by insisting that you were at fault. Intersections bring in traffic from many different angles, and insurance adjusters may use this confusion to their advantage. They may ignore a Bakersfield Police accident report and attempt to blame the motorcyclist instead of the reckless driver.
Fortunately, our lawyers fully investigate each accident and make sure your claim is backed with strong evidence. We can also bring in an accident reconstruction team to sort out a complex intersection collision. This keeps the blame with the right party.
Your lawyer’s experience and negotiating skills are also often able to win you much more in support than if you proceed without legal protection.
Intersection Dangers for Bakersfield Motorcyclists
Local riders can be forced into a dangerous spot by drivers on any road. But fast-moving intersections, like the one at Brundage Lane and Oswell Street, can require more attention from already distracted drivers. A crossroads also requires drivers to observe right-of-way laws, laws they may have never paid much attention to.
These mistakes and lapses in judgment can be dangerous for anyone, but especially for riders who ride in the open air without a metal shell or airbags to protect them.
These are just a few of the hazards drivers present at intersections:
- Intersection Lane Changes – For some reason, drivers usually wait until the last second to get into the lane they need to be in. This might leave cars whipping right or left without giving a thought to blind spots. Motorcyclists can be side-swiped and thrown to the ground or into other vehicles.
- Left Turn Motorcycle Accidents, U-Turn Accidents — Drivers already on edge and perhaps unfocused on the road can be placed under a lot of pressure when preparing for a left turn. This maneuver will have them monitoring several lanes of traffic and crosswalks to figure out when it’s clear to make a long, wide left turn. Motorists may have waited for oncoming cars to clear, but may have forgotten to take a second look for the smaller profile of a motorcyclist. The driver can gun it and suddenly be a wall of metal in front of an approaching rider.
- Right Hand Turn Accidents, Right Hook Motorcycle Accidents – Drivers may have to dart into a right lane to get ready for a turn, skipping a look in mirrors for the defenseless motorcyclist who may be there. SUV and car drivers can also be ready to make a right turn on red while watching the traffic coming from the left to open up. They can pull out just feet in front of a nearing rider. This gives the motorcyclist just moments to brake, to veer dangerously into another lane, or to ram the vehicle’s rear-end. All choices are devastating.
- Stop Sign Runners – Drivers may perform a “California stop” and not come to a complete halt at a stop sign. They may see no traffic approaching and decide to blow through the stop sign. Then they realize they failed to notice the motorcyclist that was approaching, pulling out right in front of the rider.
- Lane Splitting Accidents – Some Bakersfield drivers may still not realize that riders can legally ride in between cars. This practice is usually done at slow speeds, often while cars are stopped at intersections. It gives the quicker-accelerating motorcycle a chance to jump out in front of cars that will take longer to get up to speed once the light changes. Careless drivers can switch lanes while a motorcycle is sharing the lane. They may also open their doors while sitting at a red light, causing an obstacle for a lane-splitting motorcyclist.
These and other hazards put riders at the mercy of drivers who are looking at their cellphones or are heavy on the gas pedal. Drivers may never show the full caution to riders that they should, but they should be forced to provide for injured victims when they strike motorcyclists.
A skilled attorney can help riders hold reckless drivers fully accountable and make sure insurers provide 100% compensation for their injury hardships.
Contact a Bakersfield Motorcycle Accident Lawyer
Motorcyclists can seek help with their doctor bills and their lost paychecks while they can’t work. But this support is often only available if victims can force insurance companies to accept responsibility and accept the facts. A Maison Law Accident & Injury Lawyer wants to help you take on insurers and secure everything victims need to rebuild their lives.
Contact us to have a discussion with a real lawyer in a free consultation. It’s a confidential, no-obligation review of your case that can help you get the most for your claim in the shortest amount of time.
And if you do need to hire us to help you earn more, you don’t have to worry about a lawyer’s fee during such a difficult period. You don’t pay us anything unless we win your case for you. Then our fee comes out of the settlement check that a car insurance company must write for you.