According to the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there were a total of 8,715,204 registered motorcycles and a total of 5,172 motorcyclist deaths in motorcycle crashes in 2017.   Motorcyclists were 27 times more likely than passenger car occupants to die in a crash per vehicle mile traveled.

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Motorcycles are by their sheer relative size less crashworthy than closed vehicles.  Motorcyclists are also less visible to other drivers and pedestrians and less stable than regular four-wheeled vehicle.

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Defendants who operate motor vehicles or trucking vehicle often claim that motorcyclists cause their own accidents by the negligent operation of their motorcycles.  Frequently, defendant drivers will often claim that they did not see the motorcyclists or the motorcycles they were operating.  Common defenses employed are that the motorcyclists were traveling at a speed unsafe for road conditions, splitting lanes, weaving in and out between one lane and another, making an abrupt lane change without signaling, speeding up and cutting off the vehicle, and often a combination of these claims.

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The Law Office of Danny Soong has had extensive experience representing motorcyclists and their families for motorcycle accidents.

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In 2016, the Law Office of Danny Soong represented a family who lost their son in an accident, while he was operating a motorcycle on the 60 freeway.  Defendant was driving a pickup vehicle when he cut in front of the motorcycle.  This illegal maneuver caused the motorcycle to clip the rear end of the pickup and the motorcyclist was ejected as a result of that impact.   The motorcyclist later died from hemorrhage in spite of the fact that he was wearing a helmet at the time of this accident.

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Prior to filing the lawsuit, the insurance carrier for the defendant pickup truck offered $400,000 of its $1.5 million commercial policy limits.   Attorney Soong and his clients, the parents of the decedent, rejected the insurance company’s insubstantial offer and filed a lawsuit.  After completion of the depositions of eyewitnesses, the insurance company later acquiesced and tendered the $1.5 million policy limits prior to trial.

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Please contact the Law Office of Danny Soong, or 1toplawyer.com, if you or any of your loved ones have been involved in a motorcycle accident with another motor vehicle.