Motorcycle accidents continue to play an outsized role in Washington’s statistics about traffic fatalities.
The Governors Highway Safety Association keeps a broad range of statistics about motorcycle ridership and motorcycle accidents. According to its preliminary data from 2017, motorcycle accident fatalities fell slightly from the rates of a year earlier, but remained worryingly high.
According to other reports, there are about 230,000 motorcycles registered in Washington, compared to nearly 3 million private and commercial cars. Still, the GHSA found that motorcyclists accounted for more than 15% of all people killed in Washington in 2016.
Good training and careful driving can prepare a motorcycle rider for hazards like rough roads and sharp turns, but there’s only so much motorcyclists from careless driving by others on the road. Many motorcycle accidents are caused by other drivers who fail to see a motorcyclist when they change lanes or cross an intersection. The result is a collision, and since motorcyclists are exposed to the elements, any collision can result in serious injury or death for the motorcyclist, even when the driver of the other vehicle is completely unhurt.
When a motorcyclist is injured through another driver’s negligence, the injured may recover compensation for their damages through a personal injury lawsuit. These damages can include medical expenses, lost wages and more. Since the injuries in a motorcycle accident are often severe, these damages can be very high. It is crucial to the injured and their families that they recover as much compensation as they can, and as much as they deserve.