As a St. Louis car accident attorney, I’m very familiar with how automobile accidents can be serious and life-threatening especially when motorcycles are involved. Motorcycle riders can be severely injured when struck by a vehicle or tractor trailer because the rider has little protection. Recently, two different Missouri men were killed in two different accidents involving motorcycles. Last week, a 51 year old man was riding his motorcycle when he was struck by a car. The man was riding next to a companion when he was struck. The riding companion was not involved in the accident. While the motorcycle driver was injured in this Missouri roadway accident, the driver of the vehicle involved in the accident was not injured. Unfortunately, later that very night, another Missouri accident involving a motorcycle and vehicle took place. The motorcycle rider died in the crash.
Oftentimes, motorcycles are struck on the roadway simply due to inattention – on the part of the motorcycle driver and the vehicle driver. Motorcycles are smaller and sometimes faster than cars. Motorcycle riders may make the mistake of ignoring the dangers of the vehicles around them. Specifically, the motorcycle rider may wrongfully believe he can safely pass a car or weave between lanes. Careless behavior on the part of the motorcycle rider can prove to be deadly because more often than not, an accident between a motorcycle and a vehicle favors the vehicle. Such crashes are not always due to the carelessness of the motorcycle driver. Indeed, sometimes the vehicle driver simply is not paying attention to his surroundings and does not even see a motorcycle in his past. State legislators continue to propose laws to protect the rights of motoryclists, like bicyclists, on the roadway for this very reason.
The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) has reported 1,442 motorcycle accident/crashes in Missouri in 2009. Shockingly, 58 of these accidents were fatal, causing the deaths of 59 individuals. There were 101,005 automobile accidents in Missouri in 2009. Of these Missouri accidents, 778 of them caused fatal injuries, which resulted in the deaths of 883 people.
Two Motorcyclists Killed In Separate Kansas City Accidents, LAS Newswire, October 19, 2010