Multiple Lawsuits Filed After Teens' Deaths in Motorcycle Crash

The family of a teenager who was killed last year when his motorcycle collided with an oncoming vehicle has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the driver of the car and his insurance company. The incident occurred June 9th of last year when the 17-year-old victim was driving his motorcycle along US Highway 45 in Oshkosh, WI when he collided with a vehicle driven by an 18-year-old man.

Five days after the accident occurred, the 17-year-old victim died of the injuries he sustained. His family filed a wrongful death lawsuit in May seeking unspecified damages for medical and funeral costs as well as compensation for loss of companionship. Details of medical and funeral expenses showed a total cost of just over $146,000.

According to the report, the 18-year-old driver suffered a broken jaw, several cuts to his face, and a fracture to his sinus cavity. The family of the 18-year-old driver filed a personal injury lawsuit in April against the insurer for the 17-year-old’s motorcycle seeking unspecified damages. The lawsuit is seeking damages for medical expenses and pain and suffering due to the injuries the 18-year-old suffered when he collided with a tree after striking the 17-year-old’s motorcycle. Neither lawsuit has any court dates scheduled as of yet.

According to the report, the 17-year-old motorcycle rider had consumed alcohol prior to the accident. Combining alcohol along with operating a motorcycle increases the potential danger of the situation significantly. This could cause some difficulty in the lawsuit against the insurance company for the 18-year-old driver as the alcohol consumption could be used against the motorcycle rider. It could be argued that the 17-year-old’s alcohol consumption contributed to the accident more than the 18-year-old man did. Regardless of the factors that could play into each lawsuit, the unfortunate part of this incident is that a 17-year-old teen lost his life and an 18-year-old suffered significant injuries in an accident that could possibly have been avoided.

 

Police Officer Killed in Motorcycle Accident While Off Duty

An off-duty police officer was killed in Cape Coral after being involved in a motorcycle accident. 24-year-old Scott Wheeler was riding his motorcycle on an eastbound road when another vehicle turned in front of him and Wheeler struck that vehicle. He was then ejected from the vehicle and died at the scene of the accident. According to an accompanying video in the CBS affiliated winknews.com, authorities believe speed may have played a part in this accident.
 

Speed appears to be a factor in a majority of motorcycle accidents that occur in general. It’s possible that people don’t always realize how fast they may be going until it is too late and they end up in a very serious accident. The major problem with motorcycles is the lack of protection they offer for the operator. It makes it very easy for a rider to be ejected from the bike because there is nothing securing them to the bike. For that reason, it is easy for a rider to suffer very serious injuries or lose their life. It is often difficult to determine who is at fault for an auto accident in general. However, if one person involved is believed to be driving at a high rate of speed and causes a fatality in the accident, they could be held liable for the accident. One of the most unfortunate things about this accident is that this off-duty police officer leaves behind a wife and 2 kids with a new baby on the way. Now that new baby will never get to know their father because of this incident.

Family Sues City for Negligence After Fatal Motorcycle Accident

The family of a South Carolina man has filed a wrongful death lawsuit on his behalf against the city of Columbia and a bus driver for acting negligently while operating the bus. 34-year-old Michael Heaston was killed after he crashed into a bus at an intersection. The bus driver, Archie Smith Jr. was attempting to make a left turn at the intersection and Heaston had to swerve to miss the bus. However, Heaston ended up getting pinned underneath the bus. He was transported to a hospital where he died a day later.

Heaston’s family filed the wrongful death lawsuit last month arguing that Smith did not try and avoid the accident in any way. The defendant’s attorney filed a response arguing that Heaston was driving at excessive speeds without a helmet. The amount in the lawsuit is to be decided by a court judge, according to the lawsuit’s details.

In wrongful death lawsuits like this, the main fact that is important is to discover whether the victim was at fault for the accident or the defendant in the lawsuit. Even if a wrongful death lawsuit is filed, it still cannot replace the fact that the family has lost their loved one. Although a wrongful death lawsuit could help the deceased’s family recover financial damages, it cannot help them cope with the loss of their family member in any way.
 

Community Motorcycle Ride in Texas Seeks to Raise Awareness

In Lubbock, TX, the community has launched a campaign called See Us Save Us to raise awareness on motorcycle safety. The campaign’s organizer, Deanna Jandrew stated that she launched the organization creating the campaign after a close friend was killed in a motorcycle accident. The organization conducted a motorcycle ride throughout Lubbock this past Saturday in an effort to educate the public on motorcycle safety and to pay more attention to the roadways in order to prevent any accidents.

Not only do riders have to deal with other drivers but also with poor road construction and hazards in the roads. The campaign organizer said one of the major causes of accidents between cars and motorcycles is that the drivers of the cars are not paying enough attention to the bikes.

One key point that the campaign organizer made was that a majority of accidents occur because of younger riders that get their first bike. Statistics have shown that a little over 300 accidents involving a motorcycle and a car involved riders that ranged in age between 16 to 20 years of age. In general, most accidents involving a motorcycle are a result of excessive speed or poor handling of motorcycles. The riders involved in this community ride were carrying 9 crosses as symbols for the 9 riders that lost their lives in the Lubbock area. That is the biggest tragedy in any accident, let alone motorcycle accidents. Fatalities in automobile accidents continue to rise because of various causes. This community ride could prove to be a good way to raise awareness for motorcycle riders so that they can maintain some sense of safety on the road.

 

State Trooper's Family Files Sues State Following Fatal Accident

The family of a state trooper that was killed when his motorcycle collided with the handrails in the Big Dig tunnel in Boston has received a $9 million settlement from the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority. Including State Trooper Vincent Cila, six other people have been killed as a result of colliding with the handrails in the tunnel.

These seven incidents including Cila’s have occurred between 2005 and 2008. The attorney representing Cila’s family argued that the company did not take the public’s safety into account when they designed and created the tunnel’s handrail system. The US Department of Transportation reportedly admonished the project’s director about the safety hazard.

Since the president of the project and the company in charge were warned numerous times about the safety hazard the handrails presented, they should be held responsible for all seven cases against them. The warnings were given to allow the company to fix the problem with the handrails but in every instance, the company disregarded the warnings and even denied an opportunity to crash test the rails. The information suggests that the company acted negligently despite knowing the issues of safety with the handrails.
 

Car Collides with 12 Motorcycles, 5 People Killed

Four people riding in motorcycles and the passenger of a Dodge Avenger were killed Saturday the 13h when the Dodge Avenger collided with 12 motorcycles in San Diego, CA. The driver in the Avenger was attempting to avoid hitting a Honda Civic that had driven past the 12 motorcycles.

The driver of the Avenger then collided with the group of motorcycles, killing the 5 people. The report states 6 other riders were injured in the accident as well. Police are looking for the driver of the Honda Civic, as the driver fled the scene. According to the report, the driver may have fled across the California-Mexico border so they are checking video cameras stationed at the border crossing.

Leaving the scene of an accident that involves personal injury to one or more people involved is a very serious offense and the penalties vary by law. However, since this accident occurred at the border of another country and the driver fled to that other country, it makes it more difficult to catch that person. Police officers are essentially confined to their own jurisdiction and are unable to make any arrests or pursue a person in a separate jurisdiction except in special circumstances.
 

Man Killed in Motorcycle Accident in Wilkesboro

Myfox8.com in North Carolina has posted a news story about a man that was killed in a motorcycle accident in Winston-Salem, NC Wednesday morning. 51-year-old Ricky Neal Myers was driving a 1999 Harley Davidson bike when it ran off the road at an intersection and moved through a grassy median.

 

Myers attempted to put on the brakes but he subsequently lost control of the bike and fell off of it. Myers was then taken to a medical facility but he died as a result of the injuries he suffered. There is no report whether alcohol or drugs had anything to do with this accident and police stated that speed was also not a factor.

This seems to be a very common occurrence with motorcycle accidents – the rider is unable to come to a stop and subsequently lose control of the bike. In many cases when this happens, the rider is not wearing a helmet which increases the chances of severe injury in the event of an accident. Driving at high speeds in a motorcycle, especially when not wearing a helmet is extremely dangerous in any situation. That is also one of the causes for losing control of a motorcycle as it is much easier for that to happen in a motorcycle than a car. In addition, other vehicles on the road not noticing motorcycle riders are a common problem on roadways causing accidents.