Are You and Your Family Ready for Your Motorcycle?
There are a lot of good reasons to ride motorcycles:
- Motorcycles have great fuel economy
- Insurance is typically less expensive
- They are easy to park
- They give you a sense of freedom that is hard to find in any other mode of transportation.
There are also many reasons not to ride motorcycles, the main reason being that motorcycle accidents tend to be much more severe and more deadly.
Statistics to Help You Determine if a Motorcycle is Right for You:
No matter how you look at it, driving any vehicle is one of the most unsafe things we do everyday. In 2009, the U.S. Census reported that there were close to 10 million vehicle accidents that year. Of those accidents, almost 1% were fatal and about 25% of them involved serious injuries. As a Mesa AZ Motorcycle Accident Lawyer we deal alot with this so we know our stuff.
Riding a motorcycle can make driving even more dangerous. No matter how safe and experienced you are in riding a motorcycle, not all drivers on the road show the same caution and respect. Motorcycle crashes tend to be much more deadly with the fatality rate about 7 times higher than for normal car or truck collisions. Motorcycle accident injuries also tend to be very serious in nature, with 50% of motorcycle accident injuries occurring to the head, neck, and torso. Finally, both the fatal and non-fatal injury rates for motorcycles appear to be on the rise according to Center for Disease Control (CDC) statistics.
Everyone contemplating riding a motorcycle must do their own cost/benefit analysis. Should you decide to ride, there are several ways to best protect yourself and your family:
- Life Insurance
- Health Insurance
- Motorcycle/Car Insurance
As discussed in previous blog post, you will want to make sure that you have both uninsured motorist (UM), underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage, and medical payments coverage as part of your car insurance policy.
Having UM/UIM coverage will better protect you if you are in a motorcycle accident and the at-fault party does not have adequate liability insurance to cover your damages. Furthermore, having medical payments coverage will help you with your accident-related medical expenses, which is especially important in the context of a motorcycle accident since, as we discussed above, injuries from motorcycles accidents tend to be much more severe.
If you have questions or have been involved in a motorcycle accident, please call us IMMEDIATELY for a FREE NO OBLIGATION consultation.
