In this and the next several posts I am going to analyse a recent study by the United States Department of Transportation National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.  The recently published study is titled Motorcycle Helmet Use & Head & Facial Injuries.  The study included data from eighteen containing information on 104,472 motorcyclists involved in crashes during the years 2003, 2004, and 2005.

Fifty-seven percent of motorcyclists were helmeted at the time of the crashes and 43 percent were non-helmeted. For both groups, about 40 percent of motorcyclists were treated at hospitals or died following the crashes. However, 6.6 percent of unhelmeted motorcyclists suffered a moderate to severe head or facial injury compared to 5.1 percent of helmeted motorcyclists.

Fifteen percent of hospital-treated helmeted motorcyclists suffered traumatic brain injury (TBI) compared to 21 percent of hospital-treated unhelmeted motorcyclists. TBI severity varied by helmet use. Almost 9 percent of unhelmeted and 7 percent of helmeted hospital-treated motorcyclists received minor to moderate TBI. More than 7 percent of unhelmeted and 4.7 percent of hospital-treated helmeted motorcyclists sustained severe TBI.

Median charges for hospitalized motorcyclists who survived to discharge were 13 times higher for those incurring a TBI compared to those who did not sustain a TBI ($31,979 versus $2,461). Over 85 percent of hospital-treated motorcyclists without a TBI were discharged home, compared to 56 percent of motorcyclists with severe TBI. Motorcyclists admitted to the hospital with TBI were more likely to die, be discharged to rehab, or transferred to a long-term care facility. While 17 percent of all hospital-admitted motorcyclists had TBI, they account for 54 percent of all admitted riders who did not survive.

The above executive summary is what I see in my law practice.  Typically unhelmeted riders are more severely injured than those that wear helmets.  However, that does not mean that just because unhelmeted riders are more often more severely injured that laws should be passed forcing riders to wear helmets.

The Black Sheep - Harley Davidson For Christ  chapter of the Souther Utah Harleys Owners Group (HOG) sponsored an event that raised funds to benefit foster children.  The event at Zion Harley Davidson included motorcycle riding skills courses followed by a poker run.

This is just another example of the ongoing efforts of motorcycle groups, large and small, across Utah that raises much-needed cash for all kinds of charities.  I am pround to be part of this community.

The United States Department of Transportation held a Distracted Driving Summit last month and discovered that distracted driving is a problem.  I do not know if we really needed to conduct a two-day meeting to discover that distracted driving is a problem but some of the presentations on the website are revealing about how much a problem distracted driving is a problem.

Some of the more interesting presentations were the Legislation, Regulation and Enforcement presentation that hears from a number of interested legislators and the problems that they face in introducing law that would restrict the use of cell phones in vehicles.  Some of the speakers say that the opposition they face ranges from apathy to outright hostility against more law in general.  One of the biggest problems of course is enforcement.  The actual observation of a driver on the road and how an officer enforces the law.  You can pass all of the laws you want but if you cannot enforce the law you may as well forget it.

Another great presentation was the Youth Program that has Reggie Shaw, a now 22-year-old, then 19-year-old man that confesses to killing two men in northern Utah while texting.  Mr. Shaw's talk was poignant and heartfelt and can be seen at www.zerofatalities.com.  The most sobering part of his talk is that it could have happened to any one of us that choose to be distracted while driving.

As a motorcycle lawyer in Utah I deal with distracted driving all the time.  Victims of motorcycle crashes are often the victim of people who choose to drive while distracted.  That being a fact and proving it are often two different things.  Different cell phone carriers have different policies for the retention of cell phone records.  Cricket for example does not track the number called but does track the time and duration of the call.  Different carriers keep records for different periods of time.  Some keep the records for 3 months and then purge their system and others keep the records for a year.  What is important to note here is that if you suspect a driver that crashed into you was using their cell phone you need to get the records to prove it.  It is part of our routine investigation to immediately request the cell phone records of drivers that crash into our clients.

A man on his Vespa scooter was critically injured in a head-on collision with a Toyota Carolla in Salt Lake City, Utah.  The crash happened yesterday evening at about 7:45 p.m.

The scooter rider was traveling south on 300 West when a car made a left-hand turn toward the freeway entrance near 500 South.  The scooter rider had no time to react and crashed  into the car catapulting the rider into the car's windshield and onto the road.  The scooter rider sustained severe head trauma and fractures to both legs.  The impact was so severe that one of the man's femurs came through the skin in what is called an open fracture.  The femur is a very strong big bone in your thigh and a tremendous amount of force is required to make such a horrific fracture.  It was reported that EMS personnel were searching for bone fragments at the scene of the crash.  The scooter rider was taken by ambulance to the University of Utah Hospital with life-threatening injury.

Although the leg injuries are significant the most concerning damages to this scooter rider must be the head trauma.  To be more specific, brain injury.  Brain injury can be among the most costly injury for anyone to cope with.  The cause of brain injury has really begun to take center stage as a result of damage sustained by troops in Iraq and the damage they sustain from IEDs.  Essentially the mechanism of brain injury is a severe concussive force to the brain.

This scooter rider will face very expensive rehabilitation if his brain injury is severe.  He will also be at risk from further brain injury because once the brain is injured it is susceptible to more damage even from lesser blows.  This man also faces a prolonged rehabilitation for the severe fractures to his legs.  Because bone fragments were reported to have been left at the scene this fracture is called a comminuted fracture meaning that the bone has split into many different smaller pieces.  Repair will probably require external fixators and prolonged rehabilitation.

At utahbikelaw we have represented many victims of motorcycle and scooter crashes who have suffered severe brain injury and severe fractures.  The injured rider needs to be careful not to settle their case too soon and be absolutely sure that they have recovered physically as much as they ever will before agrreing to take any money in settlement.

Chau Ngyuen was riding his motorcycle in West Valley City, Utah when a car made a left-hand turn onto Redwood near 3995 South Saturday.  Even though Ngyuen laid his motorcycle down to avoid the vehicle the motorcycle and Ngyuen slammed into the car and he sustained severe trauma and died.  There was no preliminary evidence of drugs or alcohol use.  Of course the driver of the car told police she did not see the motorcycle or the rider until it was too late.

At the time of writing this blog there were no citations issued and the investigation was ongoing.  I recently posted about a summit held by the government on distracted driving and one has to wonder if the person driving the car was distracted because she admitted to not seeing the motorcycle.  This crash needs to be fully investigated to make sure that the surviving family is fully financially compensated for the loss of Chau.

Here is a full reprint of an article in The Standard titled Unlawful and stupid to drive without insurance:

Oct. 2 2009 I was out on my Harley Davidson motorcycle on my way to a job when some one turned left in front of me. I had two choices. Hit the pickup or lay down my beautiful bike. I chose to lay down the bike over hitting the truck. People that ride their bikes into other cars and trucks don't do so well. My bike sustained sever damage. The truck responsible had no damage. I was hurt and angry. I called the police, not the driver of the truck. The driver of the truck seamed to not care if I was alive or dead. They didn't come to see if I was OK or if I needed help. The only call to the 911 operator was mine. When the emergency people of Ogden Fire and Police arrived they did their typical good job. Ogden has some of the best emergency responders in the United States. I thank you. I had some serious injuries! The investigating Officer collected all the information to make a case against the driver of the pickup for failure to yield right of way, driving on suspended driver's license and no insurance. The no insurance part left me to deal with a $20,000 motorcycle that has $8,000 in damages, my injuries and not being able to work. I have insurance! What would have happened if I had been killed? Who would have taken care of my family? It is simply STUPID and against the law to drive around without insurance! John G. Moon Ogden

The comments to this article point out that regardless of the law people, for whatever reason, will persist in driving without insurance.  So what is a motorcycle rider to do?  Buy insurance yourself, that's what!  This is even more important in tough economic times because the estimate of uninsured drivers in Utah is about 12 percent.  In other words 12 out of every 100 drivers are out there driving without any vehicle insurance whatsoever!

When you purchase motorcycle insurance you can purchase what is called underinsured coverage and uninsured coverage.  Underinsured coverage kicks in if the driver who causes the crash has insurance but not enough to cover your damages.  For example let's assume the offending driver, like in the article above, turns left in front of you and causes the crash.  Let's also assume, not like in the article above, that the offender has the minimum coverage for bodily injury in Utah, $25,000.  Let's also assume that your total damages are $100,000.  You may get the offender's policy limits of $25,000 but what about the remaining $75,000 you lost?  If you had purchased adequate underinsured coverage of $100,000 that underinsured coverage would kick in because the offender was underinsured.

Uninsured coverage kicks in if the offending driver has no insurance coverage, like in the article above.  In that case, with clear and convincing evidence, you would make a claim on your own uninsured coverage.  If you had purchased $100,000 in uninsured coverage chances are your own insurance would pay for all of your damages.

So the answer is to make sure you carry enough insurance yourself to cover your damages should the other driver that causes the crash either does not carry enough coverage or no insurance coverage at all.  Furthermore, underinsured coverage is a right in Utah.  Often I discover that our clients have not made a knowing waiver of that right and under Utah law if that right to underinsured coverage is not made knowingly you are entitled to full underinsured coverage.  At utahbikelaw it is part of our routine investigation to make sure that you get what you are entitled to under the law in Utah when you are in a motorcycle crash.

Mission Motors is an electric motorcycle manufacturer based in San Francisco and recently set a world speed record for a battery-powered motorcycle at just over 150 miles per hour - 150.059 to be exact! For official reports this is the average speed over a two seperate mile long trials but the motorcycle actually hit a high speed of 161 miles per hour. This speed record was set at teh famous Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.

A recent Salt Lake Tribune article named "Older bikers head out on highway, but don't always return" reviews the statistics and advances a number of reasons why older bikers are dying on motorcycles.  The article states that the average age of bikers killed in Utah this year is 49.5 years compared with 36.1 years last year.  This might be because one rider killed was 77 years old and if this outlying age is removed from the statistics I suspect the average age would drop.  Do not get me wrong - this is a very important statistic - older bikers are dying - the task should be to find out why.

One reason advanced in the article was that older bikers tried to economize as gas prices surged last summer making older riders the largest segment that bought new motorcycles.  Simply because older riders make a higher percentage of riders overall is not telling.  What is telling is that older riders make up a much larger percentage of new riders! The article states:

"Just two of the riders killed through the end of July had completed a state-sanctioned motorcycle training course, ... Both of those had been licensed for less than two years.  Two of the older riders killed this year had had their motorcycle licenses for a month or less ... and neither of them had taken a safety course."

The answer should not be so much that older riders are dying but new riders are dying.  So what does that mean?  It means that the current education required or being performed may not be adequate.  I think we need a fully integrated approach to preventing motorcycle crashes in Utah.  We need to educate vehicle drivers that motorcycles are often nearer than they appear and because they look to be further away but are in fact closer they need to be allowed more time before entering an intersection.  Motorcycle courses are good - I have taken them myself - but perhaps we should make a more rigorous course a requirement to obtaining a motorcycle license.

KSL also had a similar article titled "Fatalities increase among older Utah motorcyclists" but was really interesting was to read their comment board to get a feel for what people think.

The Salt Lake Tribune reported that an unnamed man crashed his motorcycle into a cement barrier requiring both northbound lanes to be closed to allow a medical helicopter to land and evacuate the critically injured man to a local hospital where he was reported to be in critical condition.

I often see reports like this where there is little detail about the crash itself.  All other facts being equal a motorcycle rider just does not crash into a cement barrier without a reason.  I understand that the crash occurred at exit 500 in Bountiful.  I have handled at least two similar crashes that were caused by other drivers simply not seeing the motorcycle and forcing the motorcycle to crash.  Hopefully the Utah Highway Patrol solicited witnesses to the crash to determine if another vehicle was involved.

If another vehicle was involved but not identified the injured motorcycle driver's uninsured insurance coverage should allow for recovery.  Hopefully the motorcycle rider had good coverage and witnesses support to a clear and convincing level that another vehicle was involved.  I have posted about the need to buy adequate uninsured coverage before and refer you to that article to make sure you are covered in a case like this unfortunate man was involved in.  If you do not know what I mean by uninsured coverage see my motorcycle insurance basics post.

At about 6:30 a.m. yesterday a 29-year-old man riding his 2007 Honda motorcycle struck a Pontiac Sunfire driven by a 19-year-old Ogden, Utah man at the intersection of Antelope Drive and Sunset Drive when the car turned left in front of the motorcycle.  The car was turning north onto Sunset directly into the path of the oncoming motorcycle causing the crash.

The motorcycle crash victim was wearing a helmet and no obvious head injuries were noted at teh scene.  However, the motorcycle rider did sustain significant injury to his pelvis and leg.  A medical helicopter was called for the injured motorcycle rider which landed east of the scene on Antelope and evacuated teh motorcycle rider ot he University of Utah Medical Canter for treatment.  An officer at the scene said that sun does not appear to be a factor and citations are pending the outcome of investigation.

It is a curious thing to me that officers and the media often want to attribute some of the blame for the crash to the sun or the weather in general.  What I do not understand is why these same people are unwilling to attribute the cause of the crash to the person driving beyond their ability for the conditions.  For example, assume that the driver of the car in the crash above was turning into the sun and his ability to see was obscured by the sun.  Regardless of his obscured vision he turns and causes the motorcycle to crash intot he side of his car.  Is the sun responsible or the driver of the car.  In my mind, if the driver of the car could not see down the road to ensure that his intended path of travel was clear, he should not make the turn and endanger the life of others or his life.  The oncoming motorcycle driver does not realize that the sun is obscuring the turning driver's vision, the motorcycle driver does not have clairevoiant powers and the motorcycle driver does not have magical power to levitate his motorcycle up and over the offending vehicle. My sentiment also holds true for trees or shrubery that might obscure an iontersection.  If the driver proceeds we should assume he was able to see the intersection od the oncoming traffic.

My sentiment however does not extend to traffic signs or more accurately to the lack thereof.  If you are traveling on a highway or road and there are no signs indicating construction you should be safe in assuming that the road is suitable for highway or road speed.  If you assume that there is no construction becasue of an abscence of construction signs and crash into construction or stopped vehicles in the middle of the road becasue of the construction I think you have a viable case against whoever was irresponsible for choosing not to place proper signs.