If you’ve been involved in a serious South Carolina motorcycle accident one of the most important things to determine is which party is responsible for the crash. Sadly, there appears to be a clear bias on the part of some law enforcement officers and insurance companies against motorcyclists.
This bias may not be overt, but even subconscious bias can lead to inaccurate or incomplete accident reports or lowball settlement offers from insurance carriers. The kneejerk response by many appears to be that motorcyclists are a risky sort and that any accident involving a motorcycle must have been the biker’s fault.
Thankfully, this kind of prejudice can be overcome with scientific evidence. A skilled South Carolina motorcycle accident attorney can use the process of accident reconstruction to help uncover the true cause of a motorcycle accident and, even more useful, pinpoint who was responsible for the collision. To find out more about how motorcycle accident reconstruction works and what techniques investigators use to uncover clues about accidents, keep reading.
How Does Motorcycle Accident Reconstruction Work?
Whenever there’s a vehicle accident, whether the crash involved cars, trucks, SUVs or motorcycles, there’s bound to be chaos. Between injured drivers, passengers, crumpled vehicles, broken glass and shattered debris, it can be difficult if not impossible to understand exactly what chain of events led to the mess on the street.
Thankfully, that’s where trained motorcycle accident reconstruction experts come in. Motorcycle accident reconstructionists aren’t simply hobbyists, they are trained professionals who rely on scientific principles to guide their work. Motorcycle accident reconstructionists use tried and true approaches to recreate the accident scene and determine what may have caused the crash. Motorcycle accident reconstruction involves using physics and engineering principles to analyze road debris, vehicle parts and photographs of the crash scene to simulate the accident, hopefully shedding light on what went wrong in the first place.
What clues do investigators look for when examining accidents?
There are several aspects of a motorcycle crash that accident scene reconstructionists will examine to help shed light on the accident. One thing that reconstructionists look for is a sign of avoidance on the part of the motorcyclists. If a motorcyclist sensed a dangerous situation ahead, he or she almost always steers or breaks to avoid the upcoming hazard. Investigators will explore crash scene data to determine if any avoidance maneuvers took place, hopefully explaining what may have sparked the collision.
Sliding is another factors that accident investigators rely on to explain what happened prior to a crash. If a rider brakes quickly it is possible that he or she will lose control of the bike, ultimately leading to a slide or skid. Investigators examine skid marks and the distance and direction of slides to find out all kinds of things like the speed and orientation of the vehicles involved in the crash. The information gathered from slide investigation is combined with other known facts about the accident and a more complete picture of what occurred can be formed.
Finally, by examining the damages caused by impact, in the form of bent and broken auto parts, any remaining details of the crash can be explored, including the angle of the collision and the force of impact.
Investigators take what they’ve learned and use it to create simulations of the accident, playing out the different ways that the crash could have taken place. By using tested a scientific approach, witnesses and firsthand accounts can be bolstered with a physical recreation of the accident scene, taking out a lot of guesswork out of the process and, in so doing, making it easier to demonstrate to a judge and jury what happened prior to the crash.
The Goal of Motorcycle Accident Reconstruction
Accident reconstruction happens in cases where a person has been seriously injured and there are questions remaining about who is at fault. Following a serious motorcycle accident, a civil lawsuit is often brought by either the injured party or his or her family members. This lawsuit against the at-fault party allows the victims to recover money for medical bills and lost wages, as well as pain and suffering that resulted from the crash. Accident reconstruction is useful in these cases when the exact cause remains unknown. By proving that the at-fault driver was negligent in some way, the family can improve their odds of winning the case and securing the compensation they need to begin the healing process.
Riders Law Group has assisted countless injured individuals across South Carolina and helped secure damages for the harms they’ve suffered. Riders Law Group understands that motorcycle accidents can be scary, leaving injured bikers and their families with expensive medical bills and confusion over how to move forward. If you’ve been injured in a South Carolina motorcycle accident and have concerns, feel free to contact the Motorcycle Injury Lawyers of Riders Law Group today at (843) 310-4949.