Early on Saturday morning a motorcyclist was seriously injured on the North Freeway in Houston due to a speeding car. According to news accounts of the crash, a witness saw the car weaving at high speed through traffic just before the accident. The driver was going very fast when the car plowed into the back of a motorcycle ahead of it, ejecting the rider. The motorcycle became stuck in the grille of the car, which continued to travel for about 300 yards after the high-speed collision.
The high-speed wreck left the biker in serious condition, and he was rushed to the hospital for his injuries. Authorities took the driver of the car, who remained uninjured, into custody to be tested for intoxication. Our Houston motorcycle crash injury attorneys note that if the tests prove positive, the driver could be charged with intoxication assault. The crash shut down all main lanes of the freeway while the accident was investigated and the scene cleared. (Taylor Gibson, KPRC click2houston.com, 5/1714)
Drivers of other Vehicles are at fault in more than Half of Motorcycle Collisions
The North Freeway motorcycle wreck illustrates one of the ways in which the majority of bike collisions involving another vehicle are the fault of the other vehicle’s driver. Studies involving sober drivers of larger vehicles consistently show that those drivers very often fail to notice smaller motorcycles in time to avert crashes. If they do notice the motorcycle, they usually think it is farther away than it actually is, and fail to leave a large enough gap in traffic when turning, changing lanes, or merging onto a freeway. That problem could only be magnified when the driver of the larger vehicle is also intoxicated.
Intoxicated drivers tend to speed excessively, and often fail to note even the most obvious stimuli like red lights, large “wrong way” traffic warnings, and even flashing emergency lights at an accident scene.
As the North Freeway crash demonstrates, bikers are at a disadvantage in a crash with a larger vehicle. They don’t have the protection an enclosed vehicle provides, and they are often thrown from their bikes or trapped between vehicles. The disadvantage is much greater with a heavy truck than with a car. The motorcyclist stands almost no chance against a massive 18-wheeler.
In fact, on Friday evening in Bryan, Texas, a motorcyclist died in a crash with a truck at Democrat Road and Texas 21. The truck was undergoing inspection after the wreck. So perhaps a vehicle defect contributed to the accident. Authorities did not disclose the cause of the collision, which might not yet have been determined. (theeagle.com, 5/17/14)
Get the Information You need after a Serious Motorcycle Accident Injury
Don’t let yourself be the victim of a negligent driver. Check out the motorcycle accident section of our website and use our built-in search function to find the information you really need. In our FAQs, blogs, and informational articles, our Board Certified Houston motorcycle crash injury attorneys have all kinds of statistics and helpful information about accident causes, how to build a successful accident claim, how anti-biker bias might affect your claim, and steps you need to take to protect yourself after a serious crash.