Rear-End Motorcycle Accidents

Rear-end Collision Motorcycle Accident

Imagine pulling up to a stop light on your bike, waiting for the light to turn green, then hearing the screech of tires as the driver behind you locks up their brakes too late to stop. If you've been involved in a rear-end collision motorcycle accident, you know the terror that instant can bring and the pain and suffering you'll experience after the fact.

Rear-end collision motorcycle accidents are not only common, but they're also particularly dangerous for motorcyclists in California. Read on to learn the risks and what you can do during recovery if you've been injured in a rear-end motorcycle accident.

One Quarter of All Crashes are Rear-end Collision Motorcycle Accidents

It's no secret that riding a motorcycle can be dangerous. Bikers are more likely than their automobile operating counterparts to be in accidents and they're also much more likely to suffer injuries (including serious or even fatal ones). But, one type of motorcycle accident poses a particularly large threat to motorcycle enthusiasts: the rear-end collision motorcycle accident.

Indeed, an older National Highway Safety Transportation Administration (NHTSA) traffic study found that a full 25% of all accidents involving motorcycles and automobiles were rear-end collisions. That equates to roughly 2,000 accidents every year in California alone. More recent studies have shown that figure declining slightly over time but these types of crashes still represent a significant portion of the total number of two-vehicle collisions involving motorcycles.

Compare that to head-on collisions and left-hand turn collisions (which currently represents 73% of all two-vehicle collisions involving motorcycles and 40% of all motorcycle accidents, respectively) and you can begin to see just how much of an impact these types of crashes have on individual motorcyclists and the community as a whole.

How many lives could be saved if drivers simply obeyed traffic laws and watched out for motorcyclists in front of them? How much pain and anguish could be avoided for those victims who survive those collisions?

Rear-end Collision Motorcycle Accidents Can Be Especially Deadly for Motorcyclists

Unlike other more common types of motorcycle crashes, rear-end collision motorcycle accidents can be exceptionally injurious and fatal for bikers. How are these accidents different?

No Time to React

When a rider cannot see the accident coming, they can do nothing to stop it. That means they can't react to perform potentially life-saving maneuvers like splitting the lane, turning off the road, or even breaking to slow their momentum.

Higher Risk of Secondary Impacts

Additionally, rear-end collisions often result in the rider being thrown backward off the bike and into the path of the oncoming vehicle that struck them. That secondary impact can cause serious bodily harm including major crush injuries and Traumatic Brain Injury from the motorcycle accident that can be life-altering if not immediately lethal.

Impacts Occur at Higher Speeds

When distracted or impaired drivers strike motorcyclists from behind, they often do so “at speed.” That means the motorcyclist directly absorbs a significant amount of the force created by the car's full forward momentum.

In other types of accidents, that force is often implied at angles creating "glancing blows." This greater impact not only leads to more severe primary injuries (like broken bones and internal injuries) but also turns the motorcyclist into a projectile. Bikers are often tossed many feet through the air only to stop when they hit other automobiles, roadside obstructions, or jagged pavement.

Common Causes of Rear-end Collision Motorcycle Accidents

Rear-end collision motorcycle accidents are always the automobile driver's fault. Even if a motorcyclist stops quickly, the following driver must allow adequate space to slow or stop in time to avoid crashing. When you're operating a multi-ton machine, how do you not see or respond to a motorcyclist in front of you?

Where

These types of motorcycle accidents most often occur at intersections when bikers are slowing or stopping for a red light or stop signal. Drivers either don't pay enough attention to the bike, "don't see" the motorcyclist, or don't react in time to stop.

However, occasionally rear-end collision motorcycle accidents do occur on the open road. A motorist might try to overtake motorcyclists, misjudge distances between the vehicles, or speed excessively resulting in a crash.

Why

The most common reasons for drivers to crash into motorcycles traveling ahead of them include:

Distracted Drivers
Drowsy Drivers
Intoxicated Drivers

Texting, eating, talking on the phone, and other in-car distraction that takes a driver's attention away from the road for a second can lead to fatal rear-end collision motorcycle accidents. At 55 miles per hour, taking your eyes off the road for just over three seconds is the equivalent of traveling the length of a football field blindfolded.

And when distraction isn't the issue, debilitation can be. Drivers who use alcohol or other intoxicants are willingly slowing their own reaction time to deadly lows. Scientific experiments have found alcohol can decrease a person's reaction time by 30%. In addition, it can completely eliminate your ability to make a rational decision (such as whether to apply the break or steer clear of an impending collision).

Consumption of these mind-altering chemicals is considered a willing act which means if a driver is under the influence of these chemicals and causes a crash, they did so understanding their actions could have such dire consequences.

Most Common Types of Injuries Seen in ERs after Rear-end Collision Motorcycle Accidents

Despite the differences in the mechanics of a rear-end collision motorcycle accident, the types of injuries victims of these traffic crimes often suffer are nearly identical to those seen by EMTs and ER crews when responding to head-on or left-turn motorcycle accidents. These common types of injuries include:

Road Rash—ragged lacerations from where the skin comes into contact with asphalt, pavement, or dirt. This type of injury can result in significant disfigurement as well as dramatically increasing the risk of infection.
Broken Bones—especially of the lower extremities. Motorcycle collisions often leave bikers with broken ankles, legs, and hips which—by themselves—are not immediately deadly but can lead to internal bleeding, infection, and a host of other complications. However, it's not uncommon for motorcyclists who have been struck by a car to also suffer broken hands, arms, or sustain motorcycle shoulder injuries, as the upper extremities often absorb a ton of force when an ejected rider impacts the ground.
Back and Spinal Injuries—even the slightest motorcycle crash trauma to the neck can leave motorcyclists suffering from lifelong disability and even paralysis. Unfortunately, California's mandatory motorcycle helmet law really doesn't do anything to protect a motorcyclist's neck from the whiplash motion caused by the impact of a rear-end collision motorcycle accident.
Traumatic Brain Injury—Traumatic Brain Injury (or TBI) is the most costly and life-altering non-lethal injury a motorcyclist can suffer in a rear-end collision motorcycle accident. Ranging from mild concussions to permanent brain damage, TBI can manifest itself in many ways and often the secondary injuries in closed-wound cases caused by decreased blood flood, swelling, or internal bleeding do more damage than the initial impact.

Who is at Fault for Rear-end Motorcycle Collision Accidents?

California traffic laws clearly make rear-end collision motorcycle accidents the fault of the driver who strikes the motorcyclists. It's illegal to follow too closely and failing to give yourself enough time (and distance) to react is just foolish.

Additional laws on the books prevent:

Distracted driving
Driving while under the influence
And driving while incapacitated (such as due to an injury)

Essentially, by getting behind the wheel a driver acknowledges that they have an implied responsibility to watch out for the safety of pedestrians, bicyclists, and other motorists (including motorcyclists) who share the road with them. When they willingly or unknowingly break that contract, they are often breaking the law.

Drivers who cause these rear-end collision motorcycle accidents are potentially subject to criminal prosecution.

Also, they can be held financially liable through the motorcycle accident settlement process for any injuries or property loss their poor decisions and reckless behavior has caused.

This is why one of the first things you should do after a motorcycle accident, other than making sure your injuries are treated, is to look into your options for compensation.

Compensation for Rear-end Collision Motorcycle Accidents

Indeed, motorcyclists injured in rear-end collision motorcycle accidents can often file insurance claims or motorcycle accident lawsuits to seek compensation for:

Direct Medical expenses
Long-term care or ongoing treatment
Physical and emotional pain and suffering
Property damage (repair/replacement cost)
Lost wages/earnings

And while proving liability in rear-end collision motorcycle accidents can often be much easier than doing so in another type of motorcycle crash, that doesn't mean getting just compensation will be.

In fact, aggressive insurance adjusters and lawyers for at-fault parties often try to shift the blame in these types of accidents to the victims. They often paint pictures of motorcyclists as reckless drivers who must have done something to at least contribute to the crash.

If that's happening to you, it may be time to seek out the best motorcycle accident attorney for your case. Your advocate should be able to put together an air-tight case and present that case in such a way as to win over judges and juries while showing insurance companies they mean business.