By Allan M. Parvey Certified Civil Trial Attorney
In the thirty-seven plus years I have been handling Plaintiff’s personal injury cases in the state of Florida I have counseled hundreds of motorcycle accident victims. In my experience most motor vehicle/motor- cycle collisions are not the fault of the motorcyclist. Drivers of automobiles are conditioned when navigat- ing traffic to look for four wheel or more vehicles when checking their side view mirrors, rear view mirrors and intersections. Unfortunately many drivers never see an approaching motorcyclist because they are not conditioned to look for a two wheel vehicle with very little mass on the roads and highways. Many collisions occur because a driver of a motor vehicle will pull forward from a stop sign into the path of an oncoming motorcyclist who has the right of way and claim that they didn’t see the motorcyclist. They will say “he must have come out of nowhere or a side street.” This is also true of a vehicle changing lanes while navigating the roadways. A motor vehicle op- erator will check his mirrors and fail to observe an ap- proaching motorcycle in an adjacent lane and cut the motorcyclist off which many times causes extremely catastrophic injuries to the motorcyclist.
Motorcycling in southwest Florida can be extremely
treacherous when one considers the number of el- derly drivers on the roadways whose reaction time and vision may not be up to par. When riding a mo- torcycle one should never expect that a vehicle ap- proaching a stop sign is going to stop for the stop sign or that a vehicle traveling ahead of you in an adjacent lane is not going to change lanes in front of you be- cause they obviously should see you in their mirrors. One must drive defensively in operating a motorcycle, especially in southwest Florida.
Anticipate the po-
tential for a vehicle running a stop sign. Anticipate and prepare yourself for a vehicle which may change lanes into your right of way. Remember, when riding a motorcycle you have little or no protection from a collision with a motor vehicle. You must drive with the assumption that the other motorists are going to do something to violate your right of way.
I recently received a multi million dollar settlement
for a young motorcyclist that lost his leg below the knee due to a negligent driver changing lanes and cutting off the motorcyclist, who was clearly within vi- sion of the side view mirrors of the motor vehicle. Un- fortunately the millions of dollars will not restore the young man’s leg. The fact is that he will live the rest of his life with disability and disfigurement through no fault of his own. Please drive defensively.
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