The warmer summer months are finally here and this is the best time to hit the open road on your motorcycle. It may also be the perfect time to buy the motorcycle of your dreams. However, before you hit the open road this season, it is important to have enough motorcycle insurance to cover any unexpected accidents or incidents. Motorcycling is dangerous and the amount of insurance you purchase should reflect these dangers. All riders should at least purchase the minimum amounts of insurance required by law in Colorado. However, safety experts encourage riders to purchase significantly more in the event they’re involved in a hit and run accident or an accident with an uninsured or underinsured motorist.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2017 saw the largest increase in trucking accident fatalities in 29 years. According to many in the trucking industry, this increase in trucking accident fatalities may be tied directly to drivers’ resistance to federal trucking rules mandated in recent years. Many truck drivers are breaking the federal rule that requires a rest break after eight straight hours of driving. Why are these drivers breaking “rest break” rules? Pressure to deliver their loads quickly may be partly to blame.
Trucking accidents are almost always catastrophic. Due to the size of large commercial trucks, semi trucks, and big rigs, they can cause massive amounts of damage and life threatening injuries to anyone involved in the accident. Unfortunately, the majority of the injuries sustained are to the occupants of passenger vehicles. Yet, even when trucking accidents are clearly the fault of the truck driver or the trucking company, trucking accident victims don’t always get the money they need to recover. That’s why it’s extremely important to reach out to a lawyer after a trucking accident for help.
Commercial truck drivers must go through weeks of specialized training in order to obtain their commercial driver’s license. However, is this enough training to adequately prevent serious and catastrophic trucking accidents from occurring? Are commercial truck drivers getting enough training?These are the questions facing trucking safety experts across the country. This is because there has been a steady and growing trend in trucking fatalities in recent years, largely due to distracted driving, driver fatigue, and inadequate training.
Motorcyclists are at a particularly high risk of dying when they are involved in a traffic accident, due to the fact that a motorcycle affords practically no protection to the rider. Unlike passenger vehicles, which surround the driver and passengers in steel and glass, hold them in place with a seat belt, and, in most newer models even offer airbags, a motorcycle has none of these safety features. Motorcyclists are a staggering 30 times more likely to die in a traffic collision than those in a passenger vehicle, according to statistics from the IIHS.
Motorcycle accidents are typically much more devastating than automobile accidents, primarily due to the fact that a motorcyclist has none of the protections afforded those inside an automobile, surrounded by steel and glass, not to mention airbags and safety belts. Consider the following motorcycle accident…
Motorcycle accidents can have severe or fatal consequences due to the nature of the motorcycle, which leaves its rider vulnerable and unprotected when hit by over 3,000 pounds of steel and glass in the form of a car. Over 8.4 million motorcycles shared the road with passenger vehicles, trucks and buses in 2014, with over a million new motorcycles being purchased every year. As many as four to five thousand motorcyclists die each year in a motorcycle accident, with more and more of those being over the age of forty—the baby boomer generation.
Over fifteen million trucks travel the roads of America each year. Because of the obvious size difference between an 18-wheeler and a typical passenger car, the drivers of these trucks have a particular responsibility to protect the other drivers. Unfortunately, this does not always occur and devastating and catastrophic trucking accidents occur each and every year as a result of truck driver and trucking company negligence. Here are some of the most frequently asked questions relating to trucking accidents in the United States.
Although all injuries can be potentially life-threatening, few are as traumatic as spinal cord injuries, which can literally transform the existence of the victim and their family, suddenly—and forever. The difficulties navigating what was once considered nothing more than an ordinary life can truly be unimaginable. Unfortunately, spinal cord injuries can be a common injury resulting from a motorcycle accident. Motorcycles have none of the protection that automobiles do—there is no steel cage, airbags and seat belt restraints to protect the body.
The sheer size of commercial trucks makes them a special hazard on the roadways of America. Part of the issue lies with the drivers of the smaller vehicles who lack understanding of the particular nature of trucks. Sharing the road with large commercial trucks requires being aware of both the capabilities as well as the limitations of the larger vehicle. While you may consider commercial trucks to be huge, noisy and downright scary at times, the fact is that over 80 percent of our communities in the United States depend on truck drivers to deliver the goods we use every day. Commercial trucks really are the backbone of our transportation system, and they are here to stay.