Motorcycle Accident Attorney in Atlanta Explains Common Motorcycle Accident Injuries
Victims of motorcycle accidents often suffer serious personal injuries that are disabling or life-threatening. Unfortunately, our motorcycle accident attorney in Atlanta knows that some of these injuries may lead to the wrongful death of a rider. Indeed, statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reveal that over 6,200 motorcycle riders are killed each year in the United States. This accounts for approximately 15% of all traffic fatalities, although motorcycles account for just 3.5% of all registered vehicles on the roads. Further, other statistics show that fatal motorcycle accidents have increased by over 20% over the last decade and indicate that motorcycle riders are 28 times more likely to die in a traffic accident than drivers of other vehicles. In addition, nonfatal injuries can also cause significant hardship to victims and their families, especially some of the most common motorcycle accident injuries in Atlanta.
Here at the K. Hall Law Group, we handle motorcycle accident cases throughout Georgia, especially right here in Atlanta. Our compassionate and skilled legal team knows how to handle these serious injury cases, working with law enforcement, treating physicians, and retaining experts to help prove liability and damages in motorcycle accident cases. If you or a loved one were hurt in a motorcycle wreck in Georgia, call to schedule a free case evaluation with our motorcycle accident lawyer in Atlanta to learn more about your rights to compensation.
Why Motorcycle Accidents Cause Serious Injuries or Wrongful Death
All motor vehicle accidents could cause serious personal injuries or the wrongful death of a driver or occupant. However, as the statistics above indicate, motorcycle riders often face the greatest threat to bodily harm or death. That’s because motorcycle riders lack the protection that the drivers of other vehicles enjoy. This includes everything from seatbelts, airbags, and side curtains, to also even just the steel shell of a vehicle’s walls around them.
In addition, motorcycles are thinner, smaller, and often harder for other drivers to detect and gauge the speed and direction of travel. Even some of the most advanced driver-assistance systems that have crash avoidance detection may miss motorcycles. As a result, riders often face the full force of an impact. Thus, the combination of having limited protections plus being subjected to the full impact of a collision usually results in serious or catastrophic personal injuries for motorcycle riders in Georgia and throughout the United States.
Common Motorcycle Accident Injuries in Atlanta
Due to the lack of protections and likelihood of a full impact, motorcycle drivers and their passengers often suffer serious and catastrophic personal injuries in a motorcycle accident. Some of the most common types of motorcycle accident injuries that our motorcycle accident attorney in Atlanta can handle for victims and their families include the following:
Traumatic Brain Injuries
Also known as TBIs, traumatic brain injuries are considered to be any injury to the brain caused by trauma. This trauma may be caused by a blow, bump, jolt, or other impact to the head, or it could be caused by even a non-contact force such as a violent whiplash-like motion. Further, TBIs are generally classified as either being closed head (no fracture of the skull) or open head (fractured skull) – both being potentially devastating.
There are many different types of TBIs that a motorcycle accident could cause, including the following:
Concussions – impacts to the head that cause a “shock” to the brain and brain tissue, resulting in damages from the impact, swelling, bleeds (if any), and other chemical changes that can affect brain tissue. All concussions, even a mild concussion, are dangerous and potentially fatal. Sometimes concussions are called a mild traumatic brain injury, or mTBI, which again is a misnomer because all brain injuries should be treated seriously and reviewed by a motorcycle accident lawyer.
Diffuse axonal injuries – also known as a DAI, this type of brain injury is caused when tissue rips or shreds, often because of the seriousness of an impact
Coup-contrecoup injuries – a rider who experiences severe whiplash will often suffer this type of brain injury, which occurs when the brain slides back and forth inside the skull and suffers bruising on both sides of it
Brain bleeds – when damage causes internal bleeding that can cause serious harm to the brain, either due to the chemical changes or because of the increase in intracranial pressure that can cause crushing injuries to brain tissue, and
Other types of brain injuries that should always be treated seriously and reviewed by an experienced motorcycle accident attorney in Atlanta.
Spinal Cord Injuries and Paralysis
Spinal cord injuries can result in partial or total paralysis, and are often considered one of the most devastating types of personal injuries that a motorcycle rider could suffer in a crash. Also known as SCIs, there are several types of spinal cord injuries that riders could suffer, including the following:
Quadriplegia – loss of use of all four extremities due to an upper spine/neck injury
Paraplegia – loss of the lower extremities due to a middle or lower back injury
Monoplegia – loss of one limb, often due to an injury to a major nerve branch coming off the spine such as the brachial plexus in the neck/upper shoulder that affects the arms, and
Other types of paralysis due to a motorcycle accident.
Broken Bones or Fractures
One of the most common motorcycle accident injuries is a broken bone or fractured bone. These types of injuries could be caused in either the initial collision (primary impact) or after a rider is thrown from a vehicle and onto the pavement (secondary impact). Although most broken bones are closed fractures, some may be known what is an open fracture or “compound fracture,” which means that the broken bones have pierced through the skin.
This often means that a fracture will need to be surgically repaired, something called an “open reduction,” which could be required even if a fracture did not pierce the skin. That’s because some fractures require painful hardware like pins, screws, rods, plates, and other medical devices to stabilize the ends of the bones to get them to stay together to mend.
Other Types of Personal Injuries
In addition to TBIs, SCIs, and fractures, there are many other common types of motorcycle accident injuries, including the following:
Amputations or loss of a limb
Organ injuries
Nerve injuries
Significant scarring or disfigurement
Chemical burns (i.e., colliding with a truck or injuries from a battery accident in a crash because riders are not protected inside a vehicle and could be splashed by chemicals)
Shoulder injuries
Knee injuries
Hip injuries
Neck injuries and back injuries, including disc herniations, compression fractures, need for a spinal fusion, and other spine injuries
Dislocations and separations
Wrongful death, and
Any other injury or harm caused in a motorcycle crash that our motorcycle accident attorney in Atlanta could handle for you.
Did You Suffer Any of the Common Motorcycle Accident Injuries in a Georgia Crash? Call Our Motorcycle Accident Attorney in Atlanta For Help
Motorcycle accidents are always serious. Even a minor tap from a car’s bumper can send a rider off his or her bike, crashing into the ground and suffering a broken bone, TBI, or another type of personal injury. However, collisions at speed or even high-speed often result in life-changing and life-threatening harm to riders. These injuries can cause unexpected and crushing medical bills while preventing a victim from being able to work, all because of a defendant’s negligence.
That’s why our motorcycle accident attorney in Atlanta works with victims and their families to help them recover the compensation that they deserve for their pain and suffering, lost wages, medical bills, and other damages caused by a motorcycle crash in Georgia. To learn more about your rights to compensation, call to schedule your FREE consultation with the K. Hall Law Group by dialing 678-367-3339 or by using the Contact Us form here.
Comments