Articles Tagged with Sacramento Motorcycle Injury Attorney

Suffering Jaw Injury in Motorcycle Accidents

Damage to the jaw and temporomandibular joint (TMJ) frequently occurs in motorcycle accidents, whether or not a helmet is worn.

There have been more motorcyclists on the road in many countries over the last few decades. This has led to an increase in severe collisions and rider morbidity and mortality. There have been improvements in helmet technologies and better helmet wearing strategies that have reduced the incidence of serious injuries to the head. Now, chest trauma is surpassing head injuries and is the most serious injury seen in motorcyclists. Unfortunately, few changes have been made to change the situation when it comes to chest injuries.

A new study has looked at finding the needed information to help reduce the incidence of thoracic trauma to motorcyclists. In addition, the article looked at helping motorcycle advocates and road officials to develop ideas and put them in motion so that motorcyclists can be safer. Police and hospital data were compiled. The study looked at nearly 20,000 hospital records on motorcycles and looked at all of the particulars of the incidents. It was found that the incidence of severe chest trauma has more than doubled in the past 2 decades and they comprise 3.2 percent of all registered vehicles. One fourth of all serious chest trauma cases in the hospital have come from motorcyclists. There was an even mixture between fixed object crashes and non-collision crashes. More older riders suffered from chest trauma when compared to younger drivers.

Motorcycle accidents occur every day in California, with many resulting in serious injury and even death. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported the number of motorcycle crash-related fatalities has doubled in the past decade. There are a number of different types of motorcycle accidents, but some are more common than others. Whether you drive a vehicle or you are a motorcycle rider, it is important for everyone on the road to be familiar with the most common types of motorcycle accidents so that you can avoid them while driving.

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Head on Collision

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It’s Better to Ride Once the Storm has Passed

Most motorcyclists avoid riding in the rain. Not only does rain affect stability and traction, but it also can interfere with a driver’s concentration. Further, if it has not rained in a while. the rain will bring up the oil on the road that has built up during the dry season and causes the road to be even more slippery. Even slow speed turns in the rain can cause your rear tire to slide out from under you and cause an accident. Hydroplaning/aquaplaning (water between your tire and road) is even worse as it leads to a complete loss of traction.

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Motorcycles compose about 2% of the vehicles on the road but yet account for 42% of all fatalities involving collisions with guardrails.

When it comes to collisions involving guardrails, motorcycle riders sustain a significantly higher rate of fatality than auto occupants involved in a collision with a guardrail.  Multiple studies on this subject have produced similarly uneven results. What makes this finding so alarming is that motorcycles compose only about 2% of the vehicles on the road in the U.S. but yet account for 42% of all fatalities involving collisions with guardrails. Fatalities are occurring in guardrail vs. motorcycle collisions despite the fact that more than two-thirds of the motorcyclists involved were using a helmet at the time of the impact. The fatality risk for a collision involving a guardrail is nearly 80 times higher for motorcyclists compared to their car occupant counterparts. This high fatality rate is not unique to the United States alone but countries throughout Europe also have statistics that mirror this terribly skewed risk rate with motorcycle collisions involving guardrails.

One of the most common causes of motorcycle accidents is being struck by a motorist who doesn’t see you. This is particularly true at night, when it’s not only harder for a motorcyclists to see but also harder to be seen by other drivers. Often, driver’s at fault for colliding with a motorcyclist will claim that they never saw the motorcycle.

Driving a motorcycle at night is risky. You cannot see or be seen as well as you can in the daytime. As a result, it is important to reduce the risk of being struck by a careless driver. It’s best not to drive a motorcycle at night at all but sometimes this is not always possible. Here are ways to drive more safely at night.

Traumatic brain injury is a common cause of permanent disability in patients who have had a severe automobile accident. The injury can affect mood, speech, mobility, vision, and hearing. The part of the brain affected by trauma determines what kind of injury the patient has.

Some people have serious problems with agitation and aggression following a severe traumatic brain injury. The part of the brain affected can be the frontal lobe or the limbic system deeper in the brain. The trauma causes the damaged areas of the brain to make too many or too few neurotransmitters, resulting in changes in behavior.

Both motorcyclists and cyclists can sustain spoke injuries if not wearing the proper footwear. Bicyclists get more spoke injuries than motorcyclists because two riders will often ride on a vehicle meant for one person. The rider on a motorcyclist is also at risk for spoke injuries if he or she is riding behind the driver.

The heel is the part of the body most injured in spoke injuries. In one study, 42 patients who had sustained a spoke injury received a heel flap to repair their spoke injury. These were selected from among 216 patients, all who sustained some type of lower extremity injury. The researchers graded the injuries from Class l-lll, depending on the extent of the injury and on its severity. The classification of the injury determined the treatment.

In looking at motorcycle injuries, researchers have discovered that those motorcyclists involved in what’s known as an approach-turn crash were injured more likely than any other type of crash. The researchers also looked at crash types that occurred at T junctions and whether or not the proper right of way was given. Injuries were greatest when the motorcycle collided with a vehicle making a right turn. Injuries were actually worse when a stop or yield sign were placed at the T. Injuries in these situations tended to be great. No one knows yet how to prevent these kinds of injuries other than to request that the motorcyclist be very conspicuous.

Motorcyclists who were involved in accidents had no training. A total of 92 percent were taught by family members or friend or were self-taught. Researchers feel that accidents could be averted if the motorcyclist was properly trained by an expert or underwent classes to learn how to use a motorcyclist.

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