Maryland Motorcycle Accident Lawyer Blog

A Motorcyclist’s Liability to His or Her Passenger

February 18, 2016 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Motorcycle accidents can be especially tragic, given the speeds involved and the high likelihood that riders will be ejected from the vehicle. The reality is that, while many motorcycle accidents are not caused by the motorcyclist themselves, some are. And motorcyclists, like all other drivers on the road, owe a duty to other motorists around them. This includes a duty that arises to those riding as passengers on the motorcycle who are legally in the driver’s care.

When a motorcyclist is involved in a serious or fatal accident, and a passenger of theirs is injured as a result, that passenger (or the passenger’s family if the passenger does not survive) may be entitled to compensation from the person operating the motorcycle or that person’s insurance company. To be sure, these lawsuits can be emotional, since the parties often know each other. However, it is important to keep in mind that it is most often not the motorcyclist himself who is paying out any award amount, but the motorcyclist’s insurance company. Indeed, this is exactly the reason Maryland state law requires that motorcyclists maintain adequate insurance on their vehicles.

In tragic cases in which the driver of the motorcycle is killed as a result of the accident, an injured or dead passenger does not necessarily lose their ability to recover compensation. These lawsuits are not uncommon in Maryland courts.

Serious Bicycle Accidents Are More Common than Most Believe

February 11, 2016 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Over the past few years, the number of bicyclists has skyrocketed for a number of reasons, including a more urban-centered population and an increased importance placed on “green” modes of transportation. With this increase in the number of bicyclists on the road, local governments should be quick to add more bike lanes in order to allow safe travel. However, due to the slow-moving nature of government, the necessary bike lanes have yet to sprout up in most urban areas, and they are still no doubt years away in suburban areas.

This creates a situation in which bicyclists and motorists must coexist on the same road. Of course, this creates its difficulties for bicyclists and motorists alike. However, ultimately the duty will fall on both parties to ensure that everybody remains safe.

A bicyclist can do his or her part by wearing a helmet and following all posted traffic laws. It is important to remember that when a bicyclist is on the road, he or she is expected to obey all traffic signals and laws as though he or she were driving a car. The flip side of that requirement is that motorists are in turn required to treat bicycles as vehicles. This means giving bicycles ample room when passing, respecting a bicyclist’s right of way, and keeping an eye out for bicyclists on a daily commute.

Aggressive Driving and Maryland Motorcycle Accidents

February 4, 2016 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

The position of a motorcyclist on a Maryland highway is often a precarious one. With cars traveling at high rates of speed, switching lanes with only a moment’s notice, and coming to quick stops in the face of approaching traffic, motorcyclists are presented with their fair share of dangers. However, few things are more dangerous to a motorcyclist than an aggressive driver.

In fact, aggressive driving is one of the leading causes of fatal Maryland motorcycle accidents. Aggressive driving can take many forms, including:

Speeding;
Quickly changing lanes;
Swerving in and out of lanes;
Failing to signal when making a turn;
Making illegal turns;
Failing to yield the right-of-way;
Making obscene gestures;
Excessively using the horn; and
Making verbal threats.

Motorcycle Accidents Caused by Poor Road Conditions

January 28, 2016 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Motorcycle accidents have a variety of causes, ranging from drunk or distracted drivers in cars or trucks to speeding motorcyclists and dangerous roadways. All too often, the motorcyclist himself is seen as the at-fault party, especially in single-vehicle motorcycle accidents. However, that is a gross oversimplification, and while there certainly are irresponsible motorcyclists who cause accidents that result in their injuries, most motorcycle accidents require a deeper look to determine what is going on.

One instance in which a single-vehicle motorcycle accident may not be the fault of the motorcyclist is when the accident is caused by poor road conditions. This may mean that a construction crew didn’t adequately clean up the road and left debris that is dangerous to motorcyclists. It could also be that the roadway was not repaired after a particularly harsh winter that caused cracks in the roadway to expand and become dangerous to riders. In any event, the city or county government that is in charge of maintaining the roadway may be held liable in some circumstances when an accident is caused by a failure to maintain the roadway.

These claims differ from those alleging that the road is dangerous due to a flawed design. Those claims are less often successful because the government’s immunity to tort lawsuits attaches as long as the government agency properly researched the design of the road.

Roadside and Shoulder Accidents in Maryland

January 21, 2016 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Accidents that occur when a moving vehicle strikes one or more vehicles that are pulled off to the side of the road have unfortunately become a familiar sight. As much as we’d like to think otherwise, sometimes cars or motorcycles break down and end up on the side of the road until help arrives. Other times, an officer pulls over a motorist for a violation of the motor vehicle code, and the officer and motorist are on the side of the highway for a short time while the officer writes the citation. In either case, those on the side of the road are extremely vulnerable because they are only feet from cars and trucks sometimes passing at speeds upwards of 60 miles per hour.

Maryland’s “Move Over” Law

To limit the dangers to those stuck on the side of the road, the Maryland Legislature passed a bill to protect roadside emergency workers, commonly dubbed the “Move Over Law.” The Move Over Law requires that drivers approaching an emergency vehicle with its lights or sirens on must move one lane over or slow down to a safer speed as they pass. Currently, the law applies to police, fire, and emergency medical vehicles, as well as other government vehicles.

There is also a related law that protects bicyclists and electric personal assistive mobility devices. This law requires that drivers give these operators a berth of at least three feet as they pass them.

Hit-and-Run Bicycle Accidents on Maryland Roads

January 14, 2016 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Any accident involving a motorized vehicle and a bicycle has the potential to result in tragedy. And there are no more tragic bicycle accidents than those that result in the death of the bicyclist. Perhaps the only thing that can make a fatal accident worse is when the driver involved in the accident decides to flee the scene rather than stop to see if the bicyclist they just hit needed medical care.

While hit-and-run accidents may shock the conscience of some, they are more common than most believe. In fact, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration estimates that approximately 1,450 fatal hit-and-run crashes occur each year. Due to the reprehensible nature of a hit-and-run accident, the Maryland state legislature has enacted strict penalties for those who are found to have fled the scene an an accident resulting in serious injury or death.

Not only can a hit-and-run driver face criminal liability, but also they may be sued in a civil court of law by the injured party or the injured party’s family. These lawsuits are based on the legal theory of negligence and require that the plaintiff prove to the court that the defendant’s negligent actions resulted in the plaintiff’s injuries. The fact that a defendant fled from the scene of an accident can be a basis for liability, even if the cause of the original accident is not certain.

The Importance of an Independent and In-Depth Investigation after a Motorcycle Accident

January 7, 2016 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

After a serious or fatal motorcycle accident, the road to recovery is a long one. The victim or the victim’s family will likely have to deal with the emotional impact of the accident as well as having substantial medical costs to recoup. This is normally done through a negligence lawsuit brought against one or more of the other parties involved. However, in order to be successful in such a lawsuit, the victim or their family must show that the defendant was legally at fault for the accident.

In some cases, a police investigation is sufficient to determine who caused the accident. For example, in cases involving a drunk driver who causes a motorcycle accident, the police will likely criminally charge the drunk driver. The accident victim can then benefit from the investigative work of the police department and use the department’s findings to further their own case. However, in some cases, a police investigation is not all that fruitful.

On occasion, an investigating police department will not file criminal charges because they believe the accident to be one in which no single party is at fault. Unlike the example above, this does not help the injured accident victim at all. It is in these situations that an independent, third-party investigation into the accident may be warranted to determine if there was anything that the police investigators overlooked.

Failure-to-Yield Motorcycle Accidents

December 28, 2015 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Motorcycle accidents are a scary thought. With nothing to protect the rider except a helmet, a serious or fatal injury is often the result of an accident. While there are certainly many causes of serious or fatal motorcycle accidents, one of the most common causes is another motorist’s failure to see or failure to yield the right-of-way to a motorcyclist. In fact, by some estimates, these two causes combined account for almost half of all motorcycle accidents.

The general rule is that vehicles are required to yield to those vehicles with the right-of-way. While the situations giving rise to a potential failure-to-yield accident are countless, a few of the more common scenarios are:

Intersections with one or more stop signs;
Situations that require one vehicle to merge into another lane, such as a highway on-ramp or off-ramp;
Parking lots;
Pulling out of a driveway or shopping center exit;
Any time a vehicle makes a left turn in front of a motorcycle; and
Whenever there is a posted “Yield” sign.

Motorcyclist Settles Case against Motorist for $1.3 Million, Claim against Helmet Manufacturer Remains

December 18, 2015 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Earlier this year, a state judge approved a settlement between a motorcyclist and the person he claimed was responsible for the accident that left him seriously and permanently injured. However, the motorcyclist’s claim against the manufacturer of the helmet that he alleges failed to protect him has not yet been resolved.

Potential Parties in a Motorcycle Accident Case

While it is commonly held knowledge that a person who negligently causes a serious motorcycle accident may be held financially liable by the injured victim of the accident, that is not necessarily where liability ends. Manufacturers of motorcycle helmets represent that their product can help save lives and reduce the impact to a motorcyclist’s head in the event of an accident. When a motorcycle helmet is flawed and does not do its job, the manufacturer may be held liable under a products liability theory.

The general principle underlying products liability claims is that a manufacturer should be held accountable for what they represent to the public. There are several different product liability claims available, depending on the specific circumstances of the case. They include defective design, manufacturing defect, and breach of warranty claims. Each claim is slightly different and requires a plaintiff prove different elements in order to be successful.

A Motorcyclist’s Liability to His Passenger

December 11, 2015 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

When someone gets on the back of a motorcycle, they trust the driver of that motorcycle to operate the vehicle in a safe and responsible manner. However, on occasion, the driver of the motorcycle is inexperienced or makes a poor judgment call that results in the motorcyclist and his passenger getting into either a single-vehicle accident or an accident with another vehicle.

In either of these cases, the motorcyclist’s passenger may sustain serious injuries due to no fault of their own. Under Maryland law, that passenger may be able to file a personal injury lawsuit against one or more parties. First, if another motorist is responsible for the accident, the passenger can seek compensation for their injuries from that other driver and their insurance company. However, if the other driver involved in the accident was not at fault, or if the accident was a single-vehicle accident, the injured passenger may consider bringing a lawsuit against the driver of the motorcycle.

Motorcyclists, along with all other motorists, owe a duty of care to their passengers as well as other drivers on the road. This duty requires that drivers operate their vehicles in a safe and responsible manner. Many times, passengers feel as though they cannot bring a suit against the driver of the motorcycle, either because they know the driver or the driver died in the accident. In these situations, an injured passenger should consult with an attorney to discuss their potential rights and how they can pursue compensation.