As we’ve discussed before on this blog, motorcycle accidents have the ability to cause serious injury or death. But sometimes in the aftermath of a crash that kills a motorcyclist, it can be extremely difficult to accurately determine the circumstances that led up to the accident, often because the driver of the vehicle that crashed into the motorcycle failed to see it beforehand.
When the details of an accident are unclear to the parties involved and there are few or no other witnesses, determining who should be held responsible for any injuries, death or physical damage becomes much more difficult, too. Victims of these accidents, along with their family members, may have a much harder time gaining compensation as a result.
A recent accident between a car and motorcycle in Warminster Township, Pennsylvania, has left a good number of unanswered questions, much to the frustration of police and those involved in the collision. According to police, the accident happened the evening of Aug. 12 as a man from Southampton was driving with three children in his car. The car collided with a motorcycle shortly before 9 p.m. at an intersection, causing “disabling and catastrophic damage” to both vehicles and the motorcycle’s driver, according to a statement released by the township’s police department.
Although neither the driver of the car nor his three children required any medical help, the motorcyclist was found lying facedown in the street. He was taken to a hospital and died there of his injuries.
Police shut down the intersection a couple days later in order to reconstruct the accident in hopes of determining exactly how it happened. Although the results of that reconstruction haven’t been released, it’s worth noting that the crash was one of a string of fatal accidents on the same road, including a crash in July that killed two motorcycle riders.
If the car driver in this accident is found to be at fault, the motorcyclist’s family may decide to file a civil lawsuit to gain some compensation for his death. Because some confusion remains about how the accident happened, collecting damages from the crash could be more difficult and may therefore require an attorney with both knowledge of that stretch of road as well as proven experience in successfully bringing wrongful death lawsuits stemming from motorcycle crashes.
Source: Bensalem Patch, “Street Road Motorcycle Accident Leaves One Dead,” Jennifer Mohan, Aug. 13, 2012
· Our firm handles situations similar to the one described in this post. To learn more about our practice, please visit our Harrisburg motorcycle accident page.