Are motorcycles safer than cars? If you speak to an experienced North Carolina rider with particular defensive driver training the answer might well be yes. The argument that you likely could expect to hear is that competent motorcycle riders have more options for avoiding accidents. They have a clearer field of vision of the road, more maneuverability in a crisis, tend to face fewer distractions than car drivers and assume they are vulnerable.
Granting those points, there is still the reality that multi-vehicle crashes involving motorcycles happen. When they do, the odds are worse than even that the motorcycle rider will more likely suffer serious or fatal injury as a result. And if the wreck is the result of another driver’s negligence there may be a need to pursue actions to recover due compensation.
A motorcyclist can’t read other drivers’ minds and so it is that negligence and distraction pose such great risks. Another thing they can’t predict is when another driver might be particularly hostile. That can result in displays of road rage that lead to disasters.
One accident that happened a little over a month ago in a state other than North Carolina seems to serve as an example. According to the report, supported by a helmet-cam video taken by another motorcyclist, it appears that a motorcyclist became the target of an angry sedan driver.
The video shows the motorcycle in question passing a string of cars along a two-lane highway. A double yellow line shows it’s a no passing zone. As the motorcycle is about to speed by, a sedan swerves across the line and clips the motorcycle. The biker and his passenger spin out of control and crash. Moments later, when told he collided with the bike, the car’s driver says, “I don’t care.” That driver is now facing criminal charges in the case.
To be clear, we don’t condone the actions of the motorcyclist in this instance. Traffic laws are for everyone’s safety and all drivers have an obligation to follow them. No one has the right to take the law into their own hands.
The victims of this accident may well have a claim to make for compensation, but it might be mitigated by evidence showing they were violating the law at the time. An attorney would be able to make a determination about what options might exist for them.