Injuries to a motorcyclist are often serious and I’ve seen many cases in motorcycle injury claims where there is a fatality involved. Motorcycle injury cases are often different than car accident injury claims. The main difference is that Oregon State law does not require that a motorcycle have PIP (Personal Injury Protection) insurance. If you do not carry PIP on your motorcycle then your insurance company will not pay your medical bills up front. If you elect to have a PIP endorsement on your motorcycle then PIP would pay your medical bills for one year and up to $15,000.

If you do not have PIP in a motorcycle injury claim than your private health insurance carrier will pay the bills. Oregon State is a mandatory insurance state. This means the law requires that you have liability insurance. If you don’t have liability insurance and are injured your injury claim may be voided unless certain exemptions are satisfied. Its best to check with a lawyer, to see if you have a valid motorcycle injury claim, if you are hurt as the law is complicated.

Few people are aware that your car insurance will cover you if your are injured on a bike or when walking on the street. Many in the bicycle community commute to work- like I did for over one year- and have canceled their car insurance.

It is unfortunate that the only way to get upfront payment of your medical bills while injured on a bicycle or while a pedestrian is either to have your own private health coverage or to pay for a car insurance policy. Believe it or not there is no insurance company that currently will sell you a liability or medical Personal Injury Protection (PIP) insurance policy for your bike alone.

Bicyclists or injured pedestrians in Oregon State and Washington State may be able to obtain coverage if someone living with them has a car insurance policy. Its better to check your situation with a lawyer who knows injury and bicycle law well. With many serious car accidents caused by uninsured drivers its better to be safe than sorry.

When you are driving on the freeway, ever notice how many more large commercial trucks there are on the road? This is a reaction of our growing economy. Though with the big boost to the economy it is inevitable that more accidents will occur involving commercial trucks. Unlike smaller passenger vehicles, the potential for huge property damage and catastrophic injury is enormous in accidents involving 18- wheeler semis and tractor trailers.

According to the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT), in 2003, there were 1,070 accidents with large trucks that resulted in death, injury or disabling damage to a vehicle in Oregon alone. That adds up to one truck-related accident every 8.2 hours – just in Oregon!

This is not a problem that will go away, with our continued growth in our economy, this is a number that will continue to go up. In fact, according to the ODOT, the number of accidents in 2003 involving trucks increased 2.9$ from 2002.

More trucks on the road means more accidents involving commercial trucks. Local and state governments, as well as the federal government, are all passing laws in attempt to make the trucking industry safer. For instance, truck drivers are required to obey federal maximum driving hour regulations which limit the number of hours a truck driver can legally drive in a 24 hour period.

It is extremely important that these drivers get enough sleep especially if they have a long distance trip. Yet, all these drivers are under extreme pressure to get their cargo to their destination in a timely manner. So it is not always the case they are stopping for their correct number of sleep hours. As owners and shippers demand quick delivery, often times truck drivers are put in a tough position.

Buyers and shippers often insist on time-frames that cannot be met without violating the federal maximum driving hour regulations.
Because of this demand, many accidents that are involved with a large commercial truck are a result of driver fatigue. When driver fatigue is the cause, or suspected cause of an accident, a new set of legal issues arise.

If the driver fatigue is due to a conscious decision by the truck owner or shipping company to require the driver to exceed the federal maximum driving hour regulations, they too can be held liable to victims of the accident.

Another issue that is becoming more common is truck drivers and truck companies are falsifying log books. Truckers are legally required to keep these log books to record the number of hours they have driven. In these types of cases, often times a court will find what’s called “gross negligence” or “willful and wanton misconduct” on the part of the drivers and trucking companies.

In the case of gross negligence, victims may be entitled to recover punitive damages which are substantially greater than the damages awarded in normal negligence lawsuits.
Remember, before you go to your insurance company, call an attorney that is familiar with the laws and requirements that are placed on large commercial truckers and companies.