Maximize Your Recovery: Motorcycle Accident Attorney in Knoxville, TN at Your Service

Looking for a motorcycle accident lawyer in Knoxville, Tennessee who cares about you and your case? Get a free consultation today!

Where motorcycles are concerned, thrilling can turn to calamity in a matter of seconds. Motorcycle riding offers a freeing outlet for motorcycle riders to enjoy — but also carries high levels of risk for said rider. Riders, because of the sparse safety features of their bikes, are tasked with a need for persistent awareness. A motorcycle lacks the standard safety elements that cars and trucks come equipped with, such as air bags, seat belts, and a sturdy interior. This dearth in safety standards leaves motorcyclists open to suffering substantial injury from motorcycle crashes, if not fatality.

Risks come with the territory of motorcycle riding. However, the greatest level of risk involves motorists rather than motorcyclists. In a vast array of cases, other vehicles contribute, or are directly at fault, in motorcycle accidents. If this seems to be the case for you, contact a Knoxville motorcycle accident lawyer at Wettermark Keith. We offer a free consultation in Knoxville, TN to see where your legal options may lie.

Motorcycle Accidents: Know the Causes

Zipping through city centers and riding the open road on a motorcycle carries a freeing feeling along with it. But it, unfortunately, does not free from worry. Due to the minimal safety features of motorbikes, motorcycle crashes can usher in a host of risks for the cyclist. Catastrophe can strike if negligence plays a role in the motorcycle accident, leading to serious injury or worse. Some motorcycle accident causes include:

Roadway Obstacles. Debris has a penchant to make it onto roadways. Displaced cargo, tree limbs and leaves, and other debris make for dicey situations on the road. In some cases, a local or state government could be held liable if a failure in advance warning occurred.

Risky Conditions. Problems with visibility can prove disastrous, especially on the roadways. Due to motorcycles' size, other motorists may overlook motorcycle riders. Nighttime multiplies this chance, along with inclement weather in the form of rain, sleet, or snow.

Blind Corners. Blind spots open up a route for catastrophe to strike. Turning swiftly or without notice compounds this risk, and can easily lead to an accident.

Car Doors. Neglect on the road can happen even when a car or vehicle is not in motion. Motorcycle accidents may result when someone flings a car door open into oncoming traffic.

Rear-End Accidents. Fender benders may be rather benign between two similar-sized vehicles, but rear-ending a motorcycle becomes a much different story. When rear-ended, a cyclist could be torn away from the vehicle, incurring serious injury or fatality. The same could happen if the case occurs and vice versa.

Driving Inattentively. Distracted drivers create openings for complications and calamity to enter into the equation. Messing with the radio, texting, and not paying attention to the road can set up a disaster. A motorcycle scarcely meets minimum safety needs, which makes colliding because of a distracted driver's negligence all the more dangerous.

Driving Recklessly. Along the same vein as distracted driving, reckless driving carries the same injurious and fatal risks. Drivers who act recklessly on the roadways, whether through tailgating, weaving in and out of lanes, or other careless means, pose risks to passing motorists and motorcyclists.

Drunk Driving. While illegal, driving while drunk still happens. Drunk drivers lose the faculties necessary for driving on the road, leaving cyclists and other motorists with the brunt of the burden.

Types of Motorcycle Accident Injury

Driving in general carries a slew of risks. A motorcycle in the mix adds to the volatile nature of accidents — and the harm they can produce.

Motorcycle drivers lack the safety that comes with an enclosed vehicle. A standard car or truck can insulate the driver from the brunt of accident damage, which a motorcycle struggles to do even under the best circumstances. This, coupled with motorcycles' absence of safety features such as an airbag or seat belt, makes motorcycle accidents all the more serious — and potentially opens up routes to injuries.

Motorcycle accident injuries can entail quite the string of mental and bodily harm, including:

• Severe brain injuries;
• Neck and spinal cord damage;
• PTSD and other psychological trauma;
• Head injuries;
• Burns;
• Whiplash;
• Organ damage;
• Internal bleeding;
• Compound fractures;
• Torn ligaments;
• Partial and complete paralysis;
• Need for amputation;
• And fatality.

In most cases that result in fatality, some type of head injury stood as the root cause. To help ensure safety, the state of Tennessee requires universal helmet use for both drivers and passengers in a motorcycle. This stands true the entire time the motorcycle is in use.

Tennessee Motorcycle Laws: What You Need to Know

Knowing Tennessee motorcycle law can help keep you safe on the roadways — and may even prove beneficial in validating your case in the event of an undue motorcycle accident injury.

As we've mentioned, Tennessee mandates that motorcycle drivers and passengers wear a helmet while riding. If a rider or passenger is under the age of 21, this upgrades to a crash helmet that satisfies federal guidelines. If over the age of 21, riders and passengers must still don a helmet, but it doesn't have to meet penetration standards, continuous contour standards, or the labeling standard.

Following along this vein of safety equipment, Tennessee also necessitates a windshield (or safety goggles in the absence of a windshield), at least one red stop light and tail light, rear-view mirrors, passenger and driver footrests, and a muffler. Mufflers are a must in Tennessee; straight pipes are not allowed.

A final word on Tennessee law: while joy riding can be a fulfilling pastime, lane splitting is illegal. This law excludes police officers and other members of law enforcement if their duties demand it at the time.

Motorcycle Accident Injury: The Root Cause

We discussed at length the plethora of causes that could be behind a motorcycle accident. In the case of some sort of collision, the root cause usually lies with negligence.

An accident due to negligence can occur even if you're following the speed limit. One careless motorist can wrest away calm and peace of mind, no matter how safely you operate your bike, the protective gear you don, or even how aware of your surroundings you are. Negligent driving leaves you, the motorcyclist, with little options — and may result in life-altering injuries.

When it comes to driving negligently, too often motorists fail to consider the cyclist on the roadway with them, trading caution for carelessness. Motorcycles excel at maneuvering and stopping quickly, which can catch an unaware motorist by surprise. This can ultimately lead to undue personal injury, pain and suffering, or worse for the cyclist.

Find a Motorcycle Accident Lawyer in Knoxville: Contact Us at Wettermark Keith

The rules of the road matter. That includes both motorists and cyclists being fully aware of their surroundings. The stakes are too high not to. A motorcycle accident can leave a line of consequences in its wake, the worst coming through undue personal injury or death. With the nature of motorbikes, and their scarcer safety features, that usually unjustly falls to the cyclist.

Negligent driving too often translates to injuries and pain and suffering. And the burden disproportionately affects motorbike riders, rather than the motorists whose carelessness directly contributed to the accident. If you or a loved one have fell victim to a negligent driver on the roadways, legal options do lie in front of you. The Knoxville motorcycle lawyers at Wettermark Keith can explore those with you.

With experience that reaches back decades, the attorneys at Wettermark Keith in Knoxville, TN have a wide breadth of personal injury cases behind us. That extends to cases involving motorcycle accidents. We are prepared to provide an experienced motorcycle accident lawyer dedicated to taking your case and pursuing your due compensation.

Motorcycle accident injuries don't just heal overnight. Recovery takes time — and, oftentimes, resources. At Wettermark Keith, we're here to help you reach recovery. Resources, through fair and commensurate compensation, can be claimed. The right Knoxville motorcycle accident attorney is equipped to make that a reality. That's what we can provide you or a loved one at Wettermark Keith: a route to recovery. We'll handle the logistics — all you have to do is get better. Contact us today in Knoxville, TN for a free consultation of your case, and what claims may be available to you for your personal injury.