Common Injuries To Motorcyclists

Motorcycles are enjoyable, but they also come with the risk of severe injuries. If you suffer one of these injuries and someone else is to blame, you should not wait to seek help from an Austin motorcycle accident lawyer.

Because of the barebones, stripped-back design of motorcycles that leaves riders exposed, motorcyclists face a considerably greater risk of injury or death in accidents than those involved in other motor vehicle accidents.

How much greater? A lot greater, as according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates, motorcyclists are five times more likely to sustain an injury, and 28 times more likely to die in traffic accidents than passenger vehicle occupants. 

Even if a motorcyclist isn’t killed in such a crash, they can easily still suffer severe, catastrophic, and drastically life-altering injuries. Here are some of those common injuries.

Nervous System Injuries

Most motorcyclists wear helmets when riding, and not unjustifiably so since they can be the one variable that differentiates a serious injury from a fatal one. Unfortunately, head and spinal trauma are amongst the longest-lasting and costliest trauma that a motorcyclist can sustain, figuratively and literally.

Per the NHTSA, 15-21 percent of injured motorcyclists suffer TBIs, and TBI motorcycle hospitalizations have a 13 times higher median charge than other injuries. These injuries can impair speech, memory, and perhaps worse of all, trigger temporary or permanent paralysis if they extend to your spinal cord.

Lower Extremity Injuries

Because a motorcyclist’s legs and hips are draped around the vehicle, their lower bodies face the greatest risk of severe injury, with the NHTSA clocking 28 percent of motorcycle crash injuries as lower extremity ones. 

When the bike loses balance and skids across the ground, so can the legs, putting them at greater risk of suffering compound fractures, ligament damage, groin trauma, and lacerations that could cause serious bleeding. Though not fatal 99 percent of the time, these injuries can still be agonizingly painful and set you back for quite some time.

Internal Injuries

Predictably, getting thrown from a motorcycle at high speeds will put you (and particularly, your limbs) at great risk of sustaining sprains or bone breaks. Legs can fall under bikes, and arms can suffer fractures when a motorcyclist braces for impact.

But if that’s not bad enough, you can also suffer deeper internal blunt force trauma. Organs could rupture and cause internal bleeding. Lungs could puncture and collapse, impeding your breathing and placing you at greater risk of pneumonia infection. Regardless of which sort you suffer, you should seek medical attention for any internal injuries as soon as possible.

Road Rash Injuries

An accident injury almost exclusive to motorcyclists, road rash refers to severe abrasions that occur when your skin scrapes against the pavement during a crash. This can lead to mild irritation or severe burn-like scars that may require skin grafts to heal.

To add insult to injury, pieces of debris can lodge and penetrate the skin, like shrapnel or splinters. This greatly exacerbates the risk of infection and greatly demands prompt treatment.

Legal Action by Austin Motorcycle Accident Lawyers

If you’re a local motorcyclist whose accident was caused by somebody else’s negligence, you might be entitled to a claim settlement. Here at TK Injury Lawyers, our talented Austin motorcycle accident lawyers can help you fight for the compensation you deserve. 

We’ve won damages for dozens of our clients, and we’d be happy to fight for you. Contact our firm today, and we’ll have one of our Austin motorcycle accident attorneys in touch for a consultation and case evaluation, free of charge.