Las Vegas Injury & Accident Attorney Blog

Motorcycle riders and drivers on Las Vegas roads are urged to proceed with caution and always wear the best, most up-to-date safety gear. Obviously, full-head helmets are a necessity. For example, from 1993 to 2002, it is estimated that motorcycle helmets saved over 7,500 lives. Leather jackets and pants have also saved countless motorcyclists’ lives and reduced injury. Many protect their hands, feet, fingers and toes with boots and gloves designed specifically for motorcycles. Finally, some motorcyclists even wear jackets and pants with armor plating reinforcement on the elbows, knees, shoulders, back and hips. Regardless of what protection the motorcycle driver is wearing, if you or a relative have been injured or killed in a motorcycle accident, contact Benson and Bingham for a free legal consultation today.

Southern Nevada summers are notoriously hot in the desert; however, many riders forego some of these precautions in Las Vegas’ intense heat. While the State of Nevada does require helmets for motorcycle riders, that protection can be less than is ultimately needed in a high-speed crash.

It is unknown what protection 18-year old Frederick Carapel was wearing on Sunday evening when his motorcycle struck the back of a 2009 Ford Focus stopped at a red light on Sahara Avenue and Grand Canyon Drive. In critical condition, Carapel was rushed to University Medical Center after he was thrown from his motorcycle. If you or a loved one has been injured or killed in a Nevada motorcycle accident, contact Benson and Bingham for a free consultation. Our licensed Nevada injury attorneys will fight to get you reimbursement for medical costs, pain and suffering and for lost work.

Benson and Bingham are top Nevada personal injury attorneys who develop the closest possible relationship they can with their clients. Our staff of licensed Nevada personal injury attorneys cannot promise a successful outcome to your case, but our results speak for themselves. In the past two years alone, we have secured over $24,000,000 for our clients. Don’t take the word of insurance companies and try to navigate the personal injury process on your own – contact Benson and Bingham for a free consultation, today.

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At 6.30 am on Friday, at North Nellis Blvd. & Vegas Valley Dr.  a  car struck a motorcycle. Thrown from the motorcycle from the impact of the crash, the motorcyclist was rushed directly to the Sunrise Hospital Emergency room, even though his injuries were deemed to be non-life threatening.

While police have yet to determine who was at fault in the crash, all participants should do their best to be certain they admit no guilt when discussing the accident with other drivers, police and even insurance companies until Las Vegas Metro Police determine blame.

Once you are in a Clark County traffic accident is no time to learn you aren’t prepared for a car accident. There are many things you should have in your car ready to go should you be struck or strike someone, something or someone. Firstly, always have a first aid kit in your trunk or glove compartment – and check it periodically to be sure everything is current inside it. Place a notebook and a pen in the glove compartment as well – you will need to write down the other drivers information and retain information from the police. If your cell phone does not have a camera, it is suggested you keep a disposable camera in your car. If you are not injured and do not have to administer first aid, be sure to take pictures of the car accident scene. If you have room, it is advised to emergency flares or orange cones.

This information does not complete your Southern Nevada car accident kit, however. You should always have your insurance information handy, and have contact information for your insurance agent.

Once you get home and are safe, if you or a loved one was injured in the accident, call Benson and Bingham to schedule a free consultation from an experienced Las Vegas injury attorney.

Benson and Bingham are one of Las Vegas’ top law firms who work with victims in the aftermath of a Las Vegas car accident. While we cannot promise results, we will fight to ensure you are reimbursed for lost work, hospital costs and more. Again, if you or a family member has been injured, call us for a free consultation today.

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In our last article on our Nevada personal injury and automobile accident blog, we looked at some recent data on motorcycle fatalities and motorcycle accidents nationwide. One issue with looking at national-level data is that it does not take into account the different policies in place — both official and unofficial — in each state. One practice getting attention is known as “lane splitting,” which some motorcycle drivers attempt during slow traffic.

Take Nevada for example. Our state laws require all motorcycle drivers and passengers to wear motorcycle helmets. In some other states, helmets are only required for drivers or passengers under 18 or 21 years of age; some states have no helmet laws at all.

On the other hand, Nevada law does not require motorcycle drivers to wear any other protective gear such as leathers. And driving laws in Nevada only require drivers to carry $15,000 in motor vehicle liability insurance. That means that if you are driving your motorcycle and are hit by a driver in a car, the driver may have as little as $15,000 to cover all of your likely expenses: intensive medical care, pain and suffering, and repair/replacement of your bike.

We cannot control the actions of others, and for the time being we are bound by the laws that are in place. But what we can do as motorcycle drivers in order to reduce the likelihood of seeing ourselves and our fellow bikers hurt in motorcycle accidents is to eliminate the practice of lane splitting. We’ve all seen it, and many of us have done it: traffic is slow, perhaps in a complete stop-and-go jam, and a motorcycle driver creates an extra lane between two lanes of automobile traffic to get ahead of the line.

Proponents of the policy argue that it doesn’t harm anyone else, and in some cases it is a form of defensive driving — car drivers focus on each other in tight traffic, sometimes rendering a motorcycle invisible. But critics of the practice note that it is unpredictable and frequently results in motorcycle collisions when bikers are hit by cars abruptly changing lanes or even opening car doors in stopped traffic.

A columnist for the Sacramento Bee recently pointed out that California is the only state that has not banned the practice, but it also does not specifically permit lane splitting. Lane splitting is illegal in Clark County (indeed, in all of Northern and Southern Nevada) under Nevada Revised Statute 486.351. That means that — even if “everyone does it,” even if traffic was stopped — if you are involved in a motorcycle accident when you were driving between two lanes of traffic, you will have a harder time recovering damages because you were in violation of a driving law.

The best thing Southern Nevada motorcycle drivers can do is to follow all driving laws diligently and to use their full attention and caution while driving. When the unexpected happens and you are involved in a motorcycle accident, call us before you call your insurance company for a free consultation.

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According to data from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, Nevada’s number of motorcyclist fatalities fell 29 percent from 2008 to 2009. Data from 2003 show that Nevada motor vehicle accidents as a whole resulting in fatalities numbered 50 percent greater than the national median, but by 2009 this rate had fallen 25 percent and Nevada was only one-fifth above the national level. Have we succeeded then? Are Nevada drivers as safe as they need to be? Can we be worry-free on our Harleys?

Not quite, many say. The Governors Highway Safety Association released a report earlier this year which noted the first national decline in motorcycle fatalities in nearly 20 years. Despite media enthusiasm for the figures the Association made several caveats, including observations that a slumping economy and bad weather may have kept motorcycle drivers off the road. In other words: with motorcycle fatalities down but miles driven also likely diminished, the jury is still out as to whether or not Nevada motorcycle drivers need to drive with more caution.

As our vehicles become more gadget-oriented, distracted driving is rising as a new threat to automobile safety. Another issue to monitor is how advances in medical science are allowing older adults to continue driving well into their eighth and ninth decades. These phenomena are potential threats for all drivers, but especially for motorcyclists who lack seat belts, air bags, roll cages, crumple zones, and the host of safety features that have dampened the damage of motor vehicle accidents over recent decades. As a motorcyclist, caution is your best defense.

If you or a loved one have been involved in a Nevada motorcycle crash or motorcycle accident, call us today for a free consultation before you talk to your insurance company. We have two offices — downtown and in Summerlin — to serve you, and we can also send one of our experienced motorcycle personal injury lawyers to visit you in the hospital.

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Tired of contacting 800 numbers or web based law firms that direct you to a firm in your area that specializes in motorcycle accidents. Don’t be directed to a call center, demand the attention your motorcycle accident deserves. At Benson and Bingham you can contact our firm and talk directly to one of our experienced attorneys. Both Joe Benson and Ben Bingham are experienced riders and members of the motorcycle community. We understand and can relate to riders and the common fears encountered while operating a motorcycle. Being actual riders can help you in every aspect of the case. Don’t trust your case to an attorney that dabbles occasionally with motorcycle accidents. You need a firm that is dedicated to motorcycle enthusiasts.

We have represented riders of  sport bikes, naked bikes, Harley-Davidsons, choppers, bobbers, cafe races and many custom bikes. Let us make sure that the insurance companies give you full value for your iron horse in addition to all the add-ons or aftermarket parts. Let us ensure your medical bills are paid for, that your lost wages are recovered and that you are receiving the medical attention necessary to get you back on the road. When we take in a new motorcycle accident case, we earmark the file as these clients usually suffer significant personal injuries. Statistically motorcyclist often experience ejection from their bikes and are eighteen times more likely to have a fatal accident. Injuries often result in head trauma, brain damage, and severe road rash. From the inception we ensure that a motorcycle accident case is postured properly with the insurance company to get our riders top value for their case. Ride with a law firm that cares, Benson & Bingham handles motorcycle accident victims with priority.

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Question: My son was in a motorcycle accident in 2008. He passed away at the scene. His girlfriend was on the motorcycle at the time and survived. She has since hired an attorney and they found the driver of the car partial at fault. Is there any recourse that I as his mother can take ?

Answer:  Sorry to hear about your loss.  I too have a motorcycle, and the darn thing is dangerous–but so are the drivers that are on our roads.  The issue presented in this case for potential recovery on your son’s behalf deals with the doctrine of comparative negligence and the law of joint and several liability.  If your son was more than 50% at fault, you (as the heir) can’t make a claim in Nevada. However, if your son was 50% or less at fault, he can make a claim for his damages–which are huge because he passed away.

Most of the time motorcycle accidents are caused by the negligence (carelessness) of the other driver, however, their are always exceptions.  If will be important to investigate the case and see how well the police report documents facts–especially any eye witness accounts–including the passenger girlfriend.   The girlfriend, on the other hand, has a much different case.

As a passenger, she is fault free.  She can collect from your son’s policy AND the other driver–this is the law of joint and several liability.  This basically means she can collect if the driver of ANY vehicle was 1% or more at fault, so if their is shared responsibility for the accident, even if slight, she can exhaust both insurance policies.  If your son had no insurance or minimal insurance coverage, that would explain the claim against the other party.  You only have two years in Nevada to make a claim–so you MUST act ASAP before the two year anniversary or you totally lose your rights.

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Using a cell phone, Eating and drinking, Talking to passengers, Grooming, Reading, including maps, Using a PDA or navigation system, Watching a video, Changing the radio station, CD, or Mp3 player are all major causes of accidents because they are examples of distracted driving.   Wouldn’t be a shame if your airline pilot decided to text while landing the airplane and missed the runway?

Well, the fixed attention required to operate machinery is and should be a mandatory choice for the driver, but we are all human and we can actually think and do two things at once.  Society appears to be at ease with a certain level of distractions while driving:  the radio, billboards, etc, all take your eyes off the road, but we tend to allow certain distractions for the sake of functioning.   Imagine no billboards on the freeways?  Not likely to ever happen, but certainly, at least one auto accident has occurred because someone looked too long at the billboard and didn’t realize traffic had stopped in front.  Should we sue the billboard company for creating the distraction, or the county for allowing the billboard?  Likely not given our tolerance for certain levels of distractions.  If you have been the victim of distractive driving call Benson & Bingham today 702-382-9797.

Below are some statistics from the U.S. department of Transportation:

In 2008, there were a total of 34,017 fatal crashes in which 37,261 individuals were killed.

In 2008, 5,870 people were killed in crashes involving driver distraction (16% of total fatalities).

The proportion of drivers reportedly distracted at the time of the fatal crashes has increased from 8 percent in 2004 to 11 percent in 2008.

The under-20 age group had the highest proportion of distracted drivers involved in fatal crashes (16%). The age group with the next greatest proportion of distracted drivers was the 20- to-29-year-old age group (12%).

Motorcyclists and drivers of light trucks had the greatest percentage of total drivers reported as distracted at the time of the fatal crashes (12%).

An estimated 21 percent of 1,630,000 injury crashes were reported to have involved distracted driving.

Driving while using a cell phone reduces the amount of brain activity associated with driving by 37 percent. (Source: Carnegie Mellon)

Nearly 6,000 people died in 2008 in crashes involving a distracted driver, and more than half a million were injured. (NHTSA)

The younger, inexperienced drivers under 20 years old have the highest proportion of distraction-related fatal crashes.

Drivers who use hand-held devices are four times as likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves. (Source: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety)

Using a cell phone use while driving, whether it’s hand-held or hands-free, delays a driver’s reactions as much as having a blood alcohol concentration at the legal limit of .08 percent. (Source: University of Utah)

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When purchasing insurance coverage for your motorcycle ALL riders are encouraged to purchase Medical Payments. Further, each rider should purchase the maximum limits for which their insurance company offers. Most insurance companies limit Med Pay coverage to twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000.00) for motorcycles. Many riders are not familiar with medical payments coverage and how such coverage benefits them in the event of and accident. However, the concept of Med Pay Coverage is simple. If you are involved in a motorcycle accident and have Med Pay Coverage of ten thousand dollars ($10,000.00) then your insurance carrier will pay up to ten thousand dollars ($10,000.00) of your medical bills related to the accident. Even if you have health insurance, most health insurance policies require the insured to make co-payments.

To pay these co-payments you can have your Med Pay provider (Auto Policy) directly send you the ten thousand dollars ($10,000.00) to pay your co-payment. Further if you do not have health insurance, again your Med Pay policy will pay up to your limits. More importantly, Medical Payments coverage is a “no-fault” policy. Thus when coverage is triggered, your insurance carrier cannot raise you rates or drop you from coverage. In the event of a single vehicle motorcycle accident the insured is still covered. So next time you talk to your motorcycle insurance agent ask about Medical Payments Coverage.

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Motorcyclists have the same rights and the same responsibilities as other drivers. However, there are special situations and conditions we all need to be aware of so we can safely share the road with them. Following the suggestions below will significantly reduce a riders risk of injury.

First, Motorcycle operators have the right to operate their bikes in an entire lane. However,  two motorcycles may maintain the same lane. Second, because of their size and single headlight, motorcycles are harder to see and may appear to be farther away than they actually are. Third, it is important to remember that other drivers have a hard time determining the speed of  motorcycle. Fourth, road condition and weather conditions (wind) can change a motorcycle’s position of the road.  Fifth, turn signals do not automatically cancel after a turn on a motorcycle. So do not always assume a motorcycle is turning or changing lanes because a turn-signal is illuminated.   Sixth, when approaching a motorcycle from behind, provide an extra cushion for motorcyclists.  Seventh, when approaching a motorcycle traveling in the opposite direction, double check to ensure your high beam lights are not illuminated as high beams may effect an motorcyclists balance and visibility creating a dangerous condition.

Finally, poor weather conditions (rain, wind, snow) can create very difficult riding conditions for motorcyclists so give riders plenty of space. Keeping these simple thoughts in mind and providing these courtesies while driving near motorcycles will increase the safety for all of us on the road and help save lives in Nevada.

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Nevada Personal Injury Attorneys should be aware of laws that will affect all automobiles, motorcycles, and bikes next year.

You can Pass on the Right!

Vehicles may now pass on the right—what?  That is correct, vehicles traveling may pass another vehicle on the right side of the road!  The caveat here is that obviously no parked cars must be in the way, and the pavement must be unobstructed.  Other terms of this law include no passing if there is a private driveway or intersection, and the passer must do so within 200 feet.

Accident Law

Tow trucks must use their amber lights when at an accident scene, and drivers must use caution around such lights.

Environmental Boost

First, in Assembly bill 163 Electric cars get a boost from the wave of green thinking.  This bill allows jurisdictions to enact laws allowing use of green vehicles to use a designated multi-passenger lane the HOV lane or car pool lane. This includes L.E.V.’s (Low Emission Vehicles) and golf carts.

Bikes need to Signal!

Also, AB 247 mandates bicycles must signal to turn unless they are in a turn lane.

Slow Down In Red Rock!

Finally, Red Rock National Conservatory and state route 159 traffic speeds will be reduced to accommodate the visitors to the area (e.g. make it safer for all those bicyclists who do the Red Rock Loop.)

If you have been cited for a traffic violation and need a ticket attorney, contact 24 Hour Ticket Power, Las Vegas’ Only 100% online ticket fighter!

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