How To Be Eligible For Compensation After A Motorcycle Accident

Getting into an accident of any kind is one of the most difficult situations anyone can go through. Vehicle accidents are always rising because of irresponsible driving, speeding, and not taking the necessary safety precautions. Motorcycle accidents specifically can have much more damage for all parties involved and unfortunately they are common in Harrisonburg, Virginia. While they make up only 1.7 percent of all traffic accidents in Virginia, they handle 12.7 percent of traffic fatalities with 100 fatal crashes in 2017 alone. If you’ve been in a motorcycle accident and wondering if you qualify for compensation, here are some cases that will mean you’re eligible:

1. You Sustained Injury

Any accident is considered to be physical and emotional trauma, but with motorcycles, in particular, injuries are usually more severe. In this case, you would be entitled to a pain and suffering compensation which includes physical pain when performing daily activities, emotional distress, or mental suffering. When it comes to physical injury, it could range from slight injuries like sprains, bruising, or soft tissue strains to minor head wounds, to moderate injuries like fractures to certain bones, deep cuts, chest injuries, partial loss of a limb, or deeply penetrative wounds to severe injuries like a broken neck or spine, a head, and brain injury, or internal injuries.

2. Proof of Valid Cause

If you want to be eligible for compensation for your motorcycle accident, there should be a valid cause that proves who is at fault. This is where a Harrisonburg motorcycle accident lawyer comes in to help show how the other party’s careless actions resulted in the accident. Otherwise, their insurance company can twist the facts to make it seem like your fault. There are some common reasons behind motorcycle crashes that can make you eligible for compensation by either the other driver’s insurance company or the motorcycle company. It could be that the car driver did not notice you on your motorcycle, they were speeding, there were dangerous road conditions, or there was a defect in your motorcycle.

3. Your Motorcycle Is Damaged

If you’ve been in an accident, your motorcycle is likely to have suffered significant if not major damages. In this case, you would be eligible to submit a claim to your own insurance company for reimbursement, regardless of who is at fault if you have collision coverage. Collision coverages usually involve a deductible which should be paid by the other party’s insurance company if the accident was their fault. If it’s completely totaled, the insurance company would owe you the market value of your bike. There is an additional claim you can file for ‘loss of use’ which is to compensate you for the time that you are without a motorcycle while it’s fixed/replaced.

4. You Need Medical Treatment

Because you get checked for any physical injuries after a motorcycle accident, you will be left with a pile of medical bills that need to be paid. Whether it’s the ambulance fee, the ER fees, surgeries, or any future medical treatment from the accident’s injuries, it would qualify you for compensation from the party responsible for the accident. Even if your medical insurance paid for any expenses, you are entitled to receive the amount as reimbursement. You would also qualify if you had to undergo any kind of long-term physical rehabilitation due to your injuries as well as therapy sessions to recover from the trauma.

5. You Had to Miss Work

Another thing that would qualify you for compensation after a motorcycle accident is what is known as ‘loss of earnings’. This is when the accident procedures or your injuries, whether physical or emotional trauma, causes you to miss time from work. You are still qualified for the loss of earnings compensation even if your job covers these days by vacation time, sick leave, or disability coverage.

You would multiply your hourly rate by the number of hours you missed from work or divide your salary by the number of workdays in a year to calculate your daily rate. If the accident resulted in you not being able to properly perform your job due to a disability, you could be qualified to receive a steady source of income based on your last earned salary.

There you have it, these are the cases that make you eligible to file for a compensation claim following a motorcycle accident. The most important thing is to prioritize your physical and health after the accident. Then you should proceed to collect as much evidence from the scene as you can including pictures, witness information, and collect other parties’ information. You should also take some time to search for an experienced motorcycle accident lawyer that can follow up with the legal technicalities and get you fair compensation for your suffering and damages.

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