Motorcycles occupy a niche out on the road — and it isn’t a pretty one. They are very vulnerable out on the road, and when they get into an accident, the rider or riders on them are highly likely to suffer serious injuries. This is why drivers of other vehicles have a big responsibility to always be on the lookout for motorcyclists. When they fail in this regard and they cause an accident, the drivers of cars must be held responsible for the immense harm they cause a motorcyclist.
We say all of this on the back of an infuriating report from the Canadian Medical Association Journal, which looked at car crash and motorcycle injuries in Ontario hospitals from 2007 to 2013. The numbers weren’t kind to motorcyclists.
What the report shows is negative consequences across the board for motorcyclists in accidents. According to the report, motorcycle accidents are more common than car accidents, more deadly than car accidents, more financially costly than car accidents, more injurious than car accidents, and often cause more serious injuries than car accidents. The numbers are staggering, and we encourage you to check out the source article for this post to see just how bad the figures are for motorcyclists.
We say all of this not to dissuade people from riding motorcycles. They are a viable form of automotive transportation. Instead, we say this to let motorcyclists know that after an accident, there could be legal repercussions for other drivers involved in the crash.
Source: Stat, “Motorcycle crashes are alarmingly common — and incredibly costly,” Megan Thielking, Nov. 20, 2017