You’re riding your bike down I55 past Conrads Harley Davidson and traffic comes to a sudden stop. Out of 
nowhere, you get rear-ended by a truck doing 80 miles per hour. You’re thrown from your bike and your life is changed in a split second. What do you do?
Joliet is one of the fastest-growing Illinois cities. As such, our office is dedicated to representing Joliet bikers. If you are searching for a Joliet motorcycle accident lawyer, contact our office at 1-847-304-4105.
Types of Motorcycle Accidents
We have handled every type of motorcycle accident including:
- Drivers drifting into your lane
- A biker getting T-boned
- Rear enders
- Solo accident while taking a curve
- Driving taking a left turn in front of a bike
- Passengers injured by third parties
- Passengers injured by the negligence of the motorcycle driver
What type of accident were you injured in? Have you suffered medical injuries such as road rash, fractured or broken bones, a spinal injury, damage to internal organs or brain damage? If you have suffered any of these injuries and reside in Will County in any of these cities we can help:
- Preston Heights
- New Lenox
- Shorewood
- Lockport
- Homer Glen
- Plainfield
- And the surrounding areas
How Many Motorcycles get in Accidents Every Year?
According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, there were 4,985 motorcycle fatalities in 2018 – we hope that G-d willing you don’t know anyone who was killed. But this underlies the risks bikers face because motorcyclists are way over-represented on the list of total accident-related fatalities in the U.S. every year. In fact, the number of deaths by ratio is 27x higher for motorcyclists (NHTSA).
Illinois is a no helmet law state which is great for individual freedom but does lead to more fatalities if an accident does occur. Studies have found that wearing a helmet reduces the likelihood of a fatality by as much as 42% – meaning, for every 100 people who die in an accident who weren’t wearing a helmet, 42 of them would have lived. Big number. 31% of those who died were in alcohol-related fatalities.
Still, the vast majority of motorcycle accidents do not involve fatalities. This is frequently a topic a Joliet motorcycle accident attorney will harp on because of the risk (and lawyers hate risk). So, what do the rest of the accident statistics look like?
In 2017 in the state of Illinois, the Illinois Department of Transportation reports that there were over 311,000 crashes and there were injuries in 21% of those – so around 62,000 injury victims.
The number of motorcycle crashes amount to 3,326 that year. We get calls often from motorcycle riders and the vast majority of injuries are bumps and bruises, road rash, or other ‘soft tissue’ injuries. Not that these can’t be painful and are compensable as well.
Interestingly motorcycle accidents accounted for just 1.1% of all accidents but over 15% of all fatalities – which goes to support the point we made above.
Above we detailed some of the types of motorcycle accidents there are. Another interesting fact is that the vast majority of motorcycle accidents involved bikes that were driving straight ahead – not T-bones or merging lanes related accidents. It is not specified but we assume these are rear-enders.
Finally, in 2017 of the 3,300+ crashes there were 160 motorcyclists killed. 160 too many. There were also 2,514 motorcyclists injured – at least that were reported.
What is my Motorcycle Accident Claim Worth?
The single most asked question we get is ‘how much am I going to get after all of this?’ How much a motorcycle accident claim is worth depends on a very large number of factors and anyone who guarantees you a number is conning you. We will never do that.
In short, how much you can recover is dependent on several factors including:
- How severe are your injuries?
- How much insurance does the defendant, and/or do you have?
- Are your injuries permanent?
- Was the defendant 100% at fault or were you partially at fault as well?
- How much are your medical bills?
- Do you have health insurance and how much is the health insurance ‘lien’?
- Were you working at the time of the accident?
- How much in wages did you lose due to the accident and can you prove it?
- And on and on
Joliet, a Critical Part of the Chicagoland Area
Joliet is a short ride from Chicago and there are a lot of bikers there. So, we are dedicated to being your Joliet motorcycle attorney. If you were injured in an accident going to or from the Hollywood Casino & Hotel, were near the old Joliet Mound, or maybe heading to the forest preserve or nature center, reach out to us. We are always available for free consultations and can be reached at 1-847-305-4105.
