Riding on a motor scooter or powered bike can be an efficient way to get around the city, especially in gridlocked areas with little available parking. At the same time, motor scooters, such as Vespas, can leave you exposed to serious injury in the case of an accident.
Your health and future livelihood can be put at risk by motor scooter accidents in Philadelphia, especially if a larger vehicle hits you or causes you to crash. Our attorneys can help you identify your legal damages and get compensation for your injuries after an accident.
Most accidents come from the actions of a driver, whether because of a distraction or some kind of impairment. Texting while driving can take a driver’s eyes off the road and lead to hitting a motor scooter, and driving while under the influence or while fatigued can cause a driver to fail to react in time to avoid a collision. Even a defective part in one or more of the vehicles can lead to a crash without a driver or rider driving poorly.
A typical car accident can cause severe injuries, such as brain injuries, internal damage, and broken bones, but a car does provide some degree of protection by virtue of having an enclosed cab. In contrast, a motor scooter leaves a rider vulnerable to being thrown off in a collision or directly contacting another vehicle or obstacle.
Even with a proper helmet and clothing designed to reduce injury, a motor scooter rider can still suffer serious harm. Depending on the severity and the other vehicles involved, long-term medical care and rehabilitation could be necessary, and a rider’s ability to earn income could also decrease, temporarily or permanently.
To make up for those costs, and to hold the right party responsible, a victim of a Philadelphia motor scooter crash should consider making a legal claim for compensation.
The base of a compensation claim is evidence of what happened and who is responsible. In the case of motor scooter accidents, the evidence could point to another driver or to a defect in a vehicle, each of which is a different kind of claim.
Other drivers can be negligent, meaning they unreasonably breached a legal duty to drive safely and caused the victim’s damages. A defective product, such as a part in a vehicle, implicates the part’s manufacturer, who can be held liable without needing to consider reasonableness.
Evidence for each type of claim can vary, from eyewitness statements of what one driver did to internal documents of a company showing that a defect was created in the process of putting out a vehicle. An attorney can take an active role in gathering such evidence as soon as possible, preserving facts about the accident and its cause for when a claim is eventually filed.
Filing a claim should happen relatively quickly, as a person only has two years to bring an injury claim as set by 42 Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes § 5524. As it can take time to first recover from injuries sustained in a motor scooter accident and to begin the process of collecting evidence in Philadelphia, contacting legal counsel should be a priority.
If a scooter accident causes serious injuries, you may find your everyday life altered, sometimes permanently. You can and should think about bringing suit against the person or company responsible to get compensation for your damages.
With the help of an attorney, Vespa/motor scooter accidents in Philadelphia do not have to destroy your livelihood and health. Instead, a legal claim can recover the compensation you might need to keep moving forward. Call our office for a consultation as soon as possible to see what our attorneys can do for you.
