Missouri Motorcycle Accident Attorneys

Motorcycle Accident Injuries

Unfortunately, death is a very likely outcome of a motorcycle crash, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. That agency's report on crashes in 2006 said motorcycles were involved in 8.5% of fatal accidents, but only 2.6% of non-fatal injury crashes. That study takes into account only those riders who die at the scene. A 2006 study by West Virginia University reported that 20% to 30% of riders involved in crashes died in the hospital -- most commonly those with brain injuries.

Another study, conducted in 2005 by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, examined non-fatal motorcycle accident injuries. That study found that the most common type of non-fatal injury was cuts and scrapes, but these were almost always eclipsed by a more serious injury. Among serious injury, the most common was one or more leg fractures, at 29% of all injuries. Next were arm fractures, at 13% of all injuries. Non-fatal head injuries made up 12% of injuries to the riders in the study, and injuries to the spine and internal organs made up less than 10%.

Riders concerned about the effects of helmet use on motorcycle injuries can examine studies in two foreign countries -- New Zealand, which has a universal helmet law, and Iran, which has no helmet law at all. In both countries, riders who survived a crash were most likely to have injuries to the extremities -- broken arms, legs, hands and feet. Head injuries were second most common in both countries. But in Iran, those who survived with a head injury were very likely to have a severe head injury -- 96% of all patients. In New Zealand, 65% of those with head injuries had head injuries considered severe. In the Iranian study, internal and spinal injuries were less likely than the other types of injury. But when patients had those injuries, they were likely to be very serious -- broken ribs and collapsed lungs.

Most studies of motorcycle injuries focus on the financial costs. For seriously injured victims, the costs are always steep. A survey of financial studies by the NHTSA found that emergency room costs alone were more than $5,000 per patient. Those admitted to a hospital or trauma center can expect to spend at least twice that much, and up to $43,000 for patients with severe brain injuries. Helmeted patients tended to need less expensive care than unhelmeted ones -- but costs for both were still steep. And while the study didn't put a number on long-term costs for riders with permanent or long-term disabilities, it pointed out that years or decades of treatment and care for these patients is always very expensive, and comes with a reduced lifetime earning potential.

Thanks to our extensive experience in motorcycle cases, the lawyers at Page || Cagle know all too well that motorcycle accident injuries can be catastrophic. Some victims are left with permanent disabilities that affect everything about their lives and their futures. Others may only be laid up for a short time, but the effect on their jobs, their families and their finances can still be devastating. If you have been seriously injured in a motorcycle accident caused by a careless driver, you deserve answers, and you deserve justice. Call the St. Louis law firm of Page || Cagle to discuss your case and your potential financial recovery with an experienced motorcycle accident lawyer. You can contact us using our confidential online case evaluation form, or call us at 1-866-620-5757 or (314) 322-8515.

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St. Louis, Missouri 63103
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