Advice from a Car Accident Attorney in Louisville
Louisville car accidents involving motorcycles
According to the Kentucky Office of Highway Safety, there were 349 Jefferson County motorcycle collisions in 2008. In 229 of those accidents—66 percent of the time—the motorcyclist was injured. And motorcycle injuries are often catastrophic or even fatal. In that year alone, 13 motorcyclists died in Jefferson County.
Can car drivers and motorcyclists share the road safely? Putting to good use these driving safety tips from the Ewing, McMillin & Willis, auto accident attorneys in Louisville, Kentucky, your odds of success definitely improve.
Advice to car drivers
1. Don't tailgate motorcycles
A motorcycle is much smaller in size than a car or truck, which gives a false perception of the distance between the car and the motorcyclist as being greater than it is. Car drivers often drive much closer to a motorcycle. Because a motorcycle can stop faster than a car, the danger is even greater when you tailgate it.
2. Look for smaller vehicles
With many more cars and trucks on the road compared to motorcycles, drivers often make dangerously wrong assumptions about what to look for before entering a roadway, merging, changing lanes, or opening a car door. If you are not purposely looking for something the size of a motorcycle, you may not see it.
3. Do some light reading
Tthe Motorcycle Safety Foundation has published a booklet that you can download for free—Ten Things All Car & Truck Drivers Should Know About Motorcycles—a page of potentially life-saving advice. In less than five minutes, you will be well prepared to be a safe driver around motorcyclists.
Advice to motorcyclists
1. Avoid the car's blind spot
The blind spots for cars are the sides the and right-rear or left-rear of the car. These are the spots that a car driver cannot see without turning their head and that are not easily seen in the rearview mirrors. It is difficult enough to spot a car that is camping out in the blind spots. With the relatively small size of a motorcycle, the danger of going unnoticed and getting involved in auto accidents in Louisville is even greater.
2. Brake your bike cautiously
Motorcycles have so little weight that it can stop much faster than a car or truck. Be aware of the vehicle behind you and adjust your braking speed with a thought to the car or truck's relative ability to slow down.
4. Do not ride between traffic lanes
Even if it legal to do so in some states, using the space between lanes to whiz by sluggish traffic creates a speed differential between you and the surrounding cars. This makes it easy to catch the car drivers around you off guard. For example, say that the traffic is traveling at 30 mph in heavy freeway traffic when you, driving twice that speed and switching lanes come up from behind. Your bike may be beyond the cars' view when it thinks it is safe to make a lane change.
5. Signal before switching lanes
Some motorcyclists dart from lane to lane on freeways without signaling with their turn signal or a hand signal equivalent. Since motorcyclists are the smallest vehicles on the road, they are hard to spot. Help avoid getting in car crashes in Louisville by signaling lane changes every time.
Contact a dedicated car accident lawyer in Louisville
When looking for reliable Louisville car wreck lawyers, make sure they have plenty of local experience in auto injury litigation. For those who need legal representation from car accident lawyers in Louisville who are experienced in lawsuits involving motorcycle crashes, contact the Louisville automobile accident attorneys at Ewing, McMillin & Willis.
