Common Motorcycle Accident Injuries

People across Georgia ride motorcycles for many reasons: the feel of the wind in their faces, a greater sense of speed, lower fuel and maintenance costs, and an easier time navigating traffic and finding parking. However, riding a motorcycle also comes with risks.

Motorcycle riders are directly exposed in a collision, which means they’re at greater risk of major injuries such as road rash, traumatic brain injury, spinal injuries, facial injuries, road rash, disfigurement, broken bones, muscle and tissue damage, and internal organ damage. According to the CDC, wearing a motorcycle helmet can decrease the risk of head injury by as much as 69% and the risk of death by 37%, many motorcycle riders still find themselves dealing with severe, often lasting injuries after a motorcycle accident.

To learn more about the common motorcycle accident injuries we see at Brauns Law Accident Injury Lawyers, PC, contact us today for a free consultation with a Georgia motorcycle injury lawyer.

Most Common Injuries From Motorcycle Accidents

Traumatic Brain Injuries

When disaster strikes on the back of a motorcycle, the driver and any passenger may have nothing to protect the brain other than a motorcycle helmet. A well-fitted, high-rated helmet provides critical protection in an accident, decreasing the effect of traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) and increasing the likelihood that victims will eventually return to their former lives.

With a TBI, the victim usually loses consciousness at the accident scene. Depending on the severity of the injury, symptoms may linger for days, weeks, or months. In some severe cases, traumatic brain injury victims may suffer from impacts for the rest of their lives.

Mild  Traumatic Brain Injuries

Mild traumatic brain injuries often appear to resolve, but up to 15 percent of sufferers experience symptoms for years after the injury. With a mild TBI, victims may have normal CAT scan and MRI results but still experience many brain injury symptoms, including:

Severe Traumatic Brain Injuries

In some cases, severe traumatic brain injury can leave victims with symptoms that continue to impact them for the rest of their lives. Symptoms may include:

Many victims with severe TBIs must make lasting changes to their homes, careers, and lives to function after their injuries. Some cannot return to their former jobs. Others may require ongoing care to prevent them from causing harm to themselves or others.

Spinal Cord Injuries

When most people think of spinal cord injuries, they think of paralysis — the full loss of motion below the affected spinal cord area. While spinal cord injuries almost always lead to a loss of mobility, they do not necessarily cause full paralysis.

A complete injury to the spinal cord — one that goes all the way through the spinal cord — typically causes a complete loss of motion below the affected area. Generally, complete spinal cord injuries do not heal over time. Patients may never regain mobility in the affected areas.

On the other hand, partial spinal cord injuries may cause some loss of sensation or mobility but may allow patients to retain some movement. Partial spinal cord injuries can heal and improve over time.

Spinal cord injuries do not just cause a loss of movement in the victim. They may also cause other symptoms, including:

• Loss of bladder and bowel control
• Loss of involuntary functions, including breathing
• Difficulty with or loss of sexual function
• Low blood pressure
• Chronic pain

Many victims of spinal cord injuries face long, difficult recovery periods that change their entire lives — and not necessarily for the better. Spinal cord injury victims may need wheelchairs or other mobility aids to get around. They may also need to make substantial changes to their homes and routines following the injury, including installing wider doorways, wheelchair ramps, and stair lifts that make it easier to get around the home. Some victims may require special vehicles that accommodate their wheelchairs or allow them to drive using their hands rather than requiring the use of their feet on the pedals.

Amputations

In some cases, motorcycle accident victims suffer amputations during the accident itself. The other vehicle may cause the limb to separate completely from the body. In other cases, doctors may choose to remove a crushed or otherwise damaged limb after the accident. For example, severe damage may leave a patient with more pain and less functionality than using a prosthetic.

Many victims of amputation go on to live full, active lives. But getting to that point requires substantial rehabilitation, including support from family and friends. Victims of amputation may need wheelchairs and other devices to help them get around. They may need to spend time in a rehabilitation facility while they learn to adjust to the missing limb. Amputations can also leave victims with ongoing pain at the site of the amputation or phantom nerve pain while adjusting.

Broken Bones

After a serious motorcycle accident, many victims have to deal with broken bones. Simply getting around with a broken bone can cause difficulty that prevents many victims from returning to their usual jobs and responsibilities after the accident. In a highly physical job, for example, a broken arm or leg can make it impossible to perform regular job duties until the bone heals. Even office workers may struggle to complete daily responsibilities with broken bones in the hand or arm.

Many broken bones also cause long-term complications that can seriously impact the victim’s overall quality of life. Broken bones can decrease range of motion and flexibility. Some people note long-term pain in broken bones even after they heal. Others cannot return to highly physical activities, including sports and hobbies they once enjoyed.

Road Rash

Road rash occurs when the road’s surface scrapes violently across the skin, usually during an accident. Many people have experienced minor road rash after taking a spill on a bicycle. However, motorcycle accident victims may suffer much more severe complications. Road rash can scrape all the skin from a limb. In severe cases, it can take other layers of tissue with it.

Worse, dirt and grit from the road may be embedded in the wound. At the hospital, doctors and nurses must remove as much of the foreign tissue as possible from the wound before healing begins. Not removing the foreign matter can substantially increase the risk of infection — already high for victims of road rash, who may have large quantities of skin missing, depending on the extent of the injury.

Road rash can cause excruciating pain in victims while it heals. Many victims experience increased sensitivity in the skin even post-healing, while others may lose sensation in the affected area. Many victims of road rash suffer from serious scarring. They often struggle to accept the changes to their appearance or feel self-conscious in swimwear or other revealing clothing.

Muscle and Tissue Damage

Muscle and tissue damage can cause more problems, including pain and suffering, for the victim than broken bones. Muscle and tissue damage typically occurs in one of two ways: either the affected tissue takes a great deal of blunt force trauma during the accident, or the victim over-extends a limb during the accident, often due to the force of the accident itself.

When muscle and tissue damage occurs, victims may require surgical intervention to repair the affected limbs and help restore functionality. Often, damage to ligaments and tendons results in permanent disability, including decreased mobility.

Organ Trauma

In addition to the impact on the rest of the body, some motorcycle riders suffer extreme force to the core of the body, where the organs reside. Damage to the heart or lungs could prove fatal, either immediately or in the days following the accident. Damage to other organs, including the liver and kidneys, may require long-term changes to the biker’s life, such as:

• Reduced alcohol consumption
• Decreased physical activity
• Inability to participate in activities they formerly enjoyed

Facial Injuries

Facial injuries are quite common in Georgia motorcycle accidents, especially for riders not wearing helmets with face guards. Riders are frequently thrown from their bikes in collisions, causing them to sustain blunt force trauma or road rash injuries as they tumble along the ground. Not only are facial injuries extremely painful, but they can also be hard to treat and are often disfiguring — even with extensive corrective surgeries.

Common examples of facial injuries in motorcycle accidents include:

• Road rash
• Burns
• Broken bones in the face
• Eye injuries
• Ear injuries
• Cuts and penetration injuries from shards of glass or other objects

Open Wounds

Severe cuts, road rash, compound fractures, and other open wounds are also common in motorcycle accidents. Open wounds are a major health concern as they can become infected, leading to additional health complications such as gangrene or sepsis.

An open wound on a limb that becomes severely infected after a motorcycle crash may require part or all of the limb to be amputated. While medical device technology has come a long way in recent years, a prosthetic will never replace the body part they lost. They may also see a significant drop in quality of life. A severe infection on the torso or head could even be fatal.

Preventing Motorcycle Accidents and Injuries

Bikers must protect themselves on the road as much as possible. While all drivers bear a duty of care to others on the road, including bikers, many drivers miss the presence of bikers around them. Motorcycles have a smaller profile and fit easily into the blind spots of many vehicles. Not only that, they do not fit the visual pattern that most drivers look for on the road — the larger, bulkier look of cars, trucks, and SUVs.

As a result, bikers must protect themselves every time they head out for a ride. The following simple steps can help protect you every time you hit the road.

Protective Gear

Most bikers know they need protective gear to prevent injuries from motorcycle accidents. Wearing appropriate protective gear can go a long way toward decreasing the severity of injuries when a biker suffers an accident.

Appropriate protective gear includes:

• A helmet
• A full-body protective suit, which can protect against road rash
• Proper clothing, including long-sleeved shirts and pants, if the biker does not use a protective suit
• Closed-toe shoes

Motorcycle Maintenance

Regular maintenance on any vehicle helps decrease the risk of mechanical failure, which can help keep the driver safer on the road. In a motorcycle, mechanical failure can result in an even greater catastrophe. Keeping up with maintenance, including replacing tires and conducting oil changes as needed, can ensure that the motorcycle remains safe for everyone.

Following the Rules of the Road

Because of their smaller size, motorcycles can easily slip into places cars and trucks simply cannot go. Many riders try to take advantage of this fact, such as by slipping their motorcycles between crowded lanes of traffic on the road. Other riders may weave in and out of traffic, taking advantage of the motorcycle’s ability to get up to speed faster and stop equally quickly.

Unfortunately, ignoring the rules of the road makes a biker unpredictable. Drivers cannot tell where the biker is or what he will do next. This can substantially increase the risk of an accident.

When you head out on your motorcycle, follow the rules of the road just like other drivers. Maintain appropriate speeds, adhere to posted stop signs and red lights, and share the road. Use the lane you should remain in for your motorcycle, rather than trying to create your own lane or zip through traffic.

Exercising Caution Around Large Vehicles

As a motorcycle rider, you must pay more attention to everything around you than other drivers. A moment’s distraction on the part of another driver can cause an accident that causes far more damage to you than to them. When traveling around large vehicles, exercise extra caution.

Learn the location of big trucks’ blind spots and how long it takes them to stop. Avoid falling into a vehicle’s blind spot even while traveling alongside regular passenger vehicles.

As a biker, you may want to offer more distance to large vehicles and avoid pulling over in front of a vehicle. Check to make sure cross traffic has stopped before proceeding through an intersection, rather than assuming you can move forward when you have the right of way.

How Is Fault Determined After a Georgia Motorcycle Crash?

Anyone whose negligence contributed to a motorcycle accident can be considered at fault. One of the main jobs of any motorcycle accident attorney is to gather evidence proving the liable party’s negligence. This is what establishes that their client is owed compensation.

Evidence commonly used in motorcycle accident cases:

• Police accident reports
• Medical records
• Photos from the accident scene
• Eyewitness accounts
• Surveillance footage
• Expert testimony

Injured in a Georgia Motorcycle Accident? Talk to an Experienced Motorcycle Accident Attorney Today

After a motorcycle accident, many victims must live with serious injuries. They do not, however, have to face the legal battle for compensation alone. If you suffered serious injuries in a Georgia motorcycle crash, you should talk to a lawyer as soon as possible.

Contact Brauns Law Accident Injury Lawyers, PC today for a free consultation with a motorcycle accident attorney and find out if you could be owed money.

This article was originally published in February 2020 and was updated in September 2022 for accuracy and comprehensivenss.