Motorcycle vs. Car: Motorcycle Always Loses

Memphis, TNIt is a sad truth that most people regard motorcycle enthusiasts as irresponsible speed demons who only have themselves to blame for their own motorcycle accident. However, the real truth is that most motorcycle accidents are caused by other drivers turning into the path of the motorcycle, resulting in motorcycle injury or even death to the rider.

According to the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA), more than half of all motorcycle crashes are caused by other vehicles violating the right-of-way of the motorcycle rider.

Why? Perhaps they don't see them. Perhaps they think that because a motorcycle is a smaller vehicle, it should be able to stop on a dime. Perhaps they misjudge the motorcyclist's speed. Or perhaps they just don't care, thinking erroneously that all motorcycle riders are longhaired n'er-do-wells who are not worthy of being granted the right-of-way.

Whatever the correct scenario, it happens all too frequently—and if the motorcycle rider is fortunate enough to survive, a lawsuit seeking damages for the negligence on the part of the driver is almost sure to follow.

The typical scenarios that see a motorcycle come in contact with a car to cause a motorcycle accident include cases in which the driver turns left in front of an oncoming motorcyclist, pulls into the path of a motorcycle from a side street, or cuts into a lane occupied by a motorcycle.

Earlier this month in Memphis a motorcycle officer was seriously injured when a woman driving a car eastbound along Union turned into the path of the motorcycle that was proceeding in the opposite direction. The officer couldn't stop in time and crashed his bike. The officer was actually thrown over the top of the car at the intersection of Union and Cox in the City of Memphis, and landed in a stream. So far it is not known what caused the crash, although it was noted in media reports that the woman driving the car was an older woman, and had a handicapped sign in her car.

It was noted at the time of the crash that this is the fourth, or fifth motorcycle police officer to be injured in such a fashion.

While this is just one accident that happened in one city in the US, the AMA will tell you that this kind of thing happens all the time, and has for years. And it has to stop. As a means to try to educate drivers and curb the number of needless motorcycle accidents, the AMA introduced its 'Motorcyclists Matter' campaign early in 2001. While it is not known what kind of effect the campaign, and others like it have had on the number of motorcycle injuries and deaths, there has never been a better time to bring the hammer down on drivers and force them to extend the respect to the motorcycle as a licensed vehicle on the road.

That's because the aging baby boomers are reaching back to their youth by embracing the motorcycle for a second time, at mid-life. This crowd rides mostly for fun and recreation, although some living in a more tropical clime will trade the car in for the motorbike as their primary mode of transportation.

And if nostalgia doesn't drive that evolution, the current state of the economy most assuredly will. The global economic downturn is hammering families, who are being forced to alternative modes of transportation. Motorcycles, Mopeds and scooters have long carried a reputation for being fuel misers. Suddenly finding it challenging to put food on the table, and with retirement investment value going down the dumper, many Americans are trying to find economies where they can—and for some that means parking the car and dusting off the old motorbike, to try to save a couple of bucks and make ends meet.

That motorcycle coming down the road in the opposite direction may not necessarily be the speed demon that left you in the dust on a previous day, without any regard for you, his own safety or for the others on the road. That's a shame, and it's too bad that a few bad apples spoil the pie for everybody. But that guy coming down the road towards you right now just might be a middle-aged father suddenly struggling to pay the bills, and has taken to the motorcycle out of necessity. For him, it's the right thing to do.

While any motorcycle accident is tragic, it is more so if this man, facing as many challenges as he is on behalf of his family, is injured or killed while simply riding down the road, minding his own business, because somebody in a much larger, and heavier vehicle either callously or carelessly cut him off, causing a motorcycle injury.

Were he to survive, he would get his day in court. But a terrible price to pay, for the carelessness or callousness of another.