​Cocoa Beach Motorcycle Accident Lawyers

The fun and carefree vibe of Cocoa Beach and the beautiful scenery along the city's roadways make it a popular destination for motorcyclists. However, the roads here often fill with other traffic, including vacationers unfamiliar with the route and drivers engaging in risky driving practices.

If you were injured in a motorcycle accident, a Cocoa Beach motorcycle accident lawyer can help. Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers, PA, can seek compensation for the financial, physical, and psychological costs you incurred due to the accident. We have been providing legal representation for injured riders in motorcycle accident cases in Florida for many years with great success.

As you consider hiring legal representation, let us help you navigate the personal injury claims process. We'll start by evaluating your case with a free consultation.

Why You Should Work With the Cocoa Beach Motorcycle Accident Lawyers at Dolman Law Group

The personal injury lawyers at Dolman Law Group are dedicated to fighting for motorcycle riders' rights after being injured by someone else's negligence. We understand why you ride and the joy you feel on the open road. We also know how severe motorcycle accident injuries can be and the impact they can have on your life.

After a crash, you deserve a law firm and a team of motorcycle accident attorneys with a track record of recovering the maximum possible compensation for injured riders. Although we can't guarantee any specific outcome, some of our past successes include:

Motorcycle Accident Requiring a Cervical Fusion: $415,000

After cervical fusion surgery was needed to repair a disc in our client's neck, the insurance company only offered $130,000 in compensation. We resolved the claim just before the trial to help cover our client's financial needs.

Another Cervical Spine Fusion Surgery After Motorcycle Accident: $320,000

After a motorcycle crash, a different client also required cervical spine fusion surgery. The insurance company refused to offer more than $215,000. After eight months, our attorneys squeezed another $105,000 out of the company for our client before having to file a personal injury lawsuit.

What Makes Cocoa Beach a Dangerous Place for Motorcyclists?

Cocoa Beach is not only popular with motorcyclists but also with beach-goers, Space Coast tourists, and others who come to the area to have fun. Often that fun involves alcohol, as well as drivers who are so distracted by the sights and sounds of the area that they forget to focus on driving safely.

During popular vacation times of the year, such as Spring Break, the traffic becomes thick on the roads leading into and throughout the city. Finding a parking space becomes more difficult for drivers, leading to people parking and opening their doors in unexpected areas of the roadway.

Motorcycles are less crashworthy than other types of vehicles traveling through Cocoa Beach, and riders can quickly lose traction in certain situations. Beach sand regularly finds its way to the road, causing a risk of a motorcycle accident from the tires slipping. Hurricane season presents a whole new list of hazards for riders.

The Ways Drivers in Cocoa Beach Cause Motorcycle Accidents

According to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, Brevard County sees nearly 300 motorcycle accidents annually, many of which occur in Cocoa Beach. More than 250 of these accidents result in injuries, and around two dozen motorcyclists are killed on Brevard County roadways yearly.

Many motorcycle accidents in Cocoa Beach occur due to careless and reckless drivers of passenger cars, trucks, and commercial vehicles. Here is a look at some driver behaviors that lead to motorcycle accidents.

Left-Turning Drivers

As noted by RideApart, one of the biggest risks facing motorcyclists is drivers making left turns at intersections without a solid green turn arrow. If there is only a solid green light at the corner, the left-turning driver is required to judge a safe gap in traffic to pass through the travel lanes going through the intersection. If the driver fails to see the approaching motorcyclist traveling straight through the intersection, there is an extreme risk of the car colliding with the motorcycle.

Some common reasons a driver would not see an approaching motorcyclist when making a left turn include distracted driving and inattentional blindness. Inattentional blindness refers to how the brain processes information at a chaotic scene such as an intersection. A driver will typically notice larger hazards, such as an approaching tractor-trailer but fail to recognize the presence of more minor risks, such as motorcycles or other vulnerable roadway users, including bicyclists and pedestrians.

While inattentional blindness occurs naturally, it does not take away the liability of a driver who failed to yield the right-of-way to a motorcycle at the intersection.

Distracted Driving

Distracted driving is a significant factor in all types of traffic-related accidents, including those involving motorcycles.

Driving distractions include anything that causes the driver to:

• Look away from the road, which is known as a visual distraction
• Take their hands from the wheel, which is known as a manual distraction
• Think about other things besides driving safely, which is a cognitive distraction

Internal distractions refer to activities or occurrences inside the car, such as texting (which involves all three types of driving distractions), eating, drinking, smoking, visiting with passengers, or attending to children or pets in the back seat. External distractions are activities and occurrences outside the vehicle, and Cocoa Beach roadways provide plenty.

Some common external driving distractions that can lead to a motorcycle accident include people and vehicles on the road, beautiful scenery, exciting shops, or even the sites of previous crashes.

Distracted driving is dangerous to motorcyclists because the period in which the driver is not attending during the roadway is often plenty of time for motorcycles to enter or cross the driver's lane of travel.

Tailgating

When a driver follows another vehicle too closely—which is commonly called tailgating—they risk causing a collision if the driver of the lead vehicle suddenly stops or slows. The majority of rear-end accidents occur in this way.

While rear-end accidents involving two cars can result in injuries or even death, that is a less likely outcome than it is with other types of accidents. However, if a car follows a motorcycle too closely, it runs a significantly higher risk of causing a catastrophic injury or even death. Motorcycles lack protective features that prevent the rider from being ejected from the vehicle in an accident.

Impairment by Alcohol or Drugs

Alcohol impairment is another leading contributor to traffic accident injuries and fatalities, including motorcycle accidents, with 32 people dying daily in the U.S. due to drunk driving. In vacation hotspots like Cocoa Beach, there is no shortage of people wanting to party, and establishments are happy to provide them with the space and drinks to do so.

Alcohol and drugs cause significant deficits in drivers' skills to operate their vehicles safely.

Some of these deficits include:

• Loss of the ability to track moving targets
• Difficulty steering, braking, and maintaining a single lane of travel
• The inability to perform multiple tasks at once, which driving often requires
• Reduced responses to emergency driving situations
• The inability to control one's speed
• Short-term memory loss and difficulty concentrating
• A reduction in information processing capacity needed for signal detection
• Impaired perception
• Difficulty making good driving decisions

Speeding

When a collision occurs while one of the vehicles is traveling at a high rate of speed, it is generally a more severe collision because speed increases the force of the accident. This can turn a minor accident with another vehicle into a serious affair and is often deadly when a motorcyclist is on the receiving end of a speed-related collision.

Speeding reduces the time the driver has to see a hazard on the roadway and respond to it by applying the brakes. At the same time, it increases the distance the vehicle will travel after braking because the brakes have to work harder to stop the vehicle. It causes difficulties for motorcyclists and other roadway users to determine a safe gap in traffic in which to enter a travel lane.

Dooring

As mentioned above, there are busy times in Cocoa Beach when the roads and parking lots fill with vehicles, including the winter months when the snowbirds return, spring break, and any large event happening in the region. One of the major issues Cocoa Beach motorcyclists face when the city's streets and lots fill up is the risk of being doored.

Dooring occurs when the occupant of a vehicle parked alongside the road opens their door into the path of an oncoming motorcyclist. This causes the rider to collide with the door or risk an accident with a vehicle in a neighboring travel lane while trying to swerve to avoid it.

Failure to Yield the Right-of-Way

Failure to yield is among the most common causes of accidents occurring in intersections, and it occurs when a driver fails to yield the right-of-way to other roadway users at a stop sign or stop light. With a slimmer frame and fewer lights, motorcycles are less likely to be seen by drivers than other vehicle types, particularly on poorly lit roadways.

The Types of Injuries Commonly Sustained in a Motorcycle Accident Case

As noted by the National Safety Council, while motorcycles make up only 3 percent of the vehicles on U.S. roads, they account for 14 percent of all traffic fatalities and 4 percent of all occupant injuries. A two-wheeled vehicle, compared to four-wheeled vehicles, is relatively unstable. This instability makes it even more likely that they will lose control of the vehicle during a collision. Lack of protection for the rider's body could mean a catastrophic injury in a motorcycle accident.

A traumatic brain injury is one of the most deadly and debilitating injuries that a motorcyclist can incur in an accident. The brain is responsible for sending messages to the rest of the body through the spinal cord to control both voluntary and involuntary responses.

Despite its importance, the brain has a limited ability to heal from injury. Because of this, many of the deficits resulting from the injury will be permanent, including memory loss, difficulty speaking or understanding spoken communication, loss of vision, difficulty controlling emotions and behaviors, and loss of balance and coordination.

Brain injuries pose a high likelihood of permanent impacts that impair the sufferer's ability to earn an income.

Other catastrophic injuries that a motorcycle accident can cause include:

• Spinal cord injuries
• Traumatic limb amputations
• Loss of vision
• Severe damage to the spinal vertebrae and discs

Other common injuries in Cocoa Beach motorcycle accidents include:

• Road rash refers to a deep skin abrasion caused by contact between the skin and a rough surface, such as asphalt. While traumatic brain injuries are the most common injury leading to death after a motorcycle accident, road rash is among the most common injuries experienced.
• Broken bones, particularly in the hips, legs, and feet, due to the collision's impact point or being crushed beneath the motorcycle during the accident.
• Internal injuries include damage to the lungs, liver, kidneys, bladder, or spleen due to the motorcyclist's abdomen colliding against other obstacles such as cars, road signs, medians, and more. Internal injuries often feature unseen and severe bleeding, known as a hemorrhage.
• Burns. The rider is in proximity to the motorcycle's gas tank, which is relatively unprotected and prone to being punctured due to the crash. This can result in caustic and flammable liquids burning the rider.
• Damage to the soft tissues and joints in any part of the body. Motorcycle accidents are generally violent occurrences involving an ejected driver contacting any number of obstacles on the roadway or alongside.

What Damages Can You Request in a Motorcycle Accident Case?

While each case will be different, riders often suffer the following monetary damages after motorcycle accidents:

• Medical bills, including expenses for current and future medical treatment
• Lost wages, both current and future potential lost income
• Motorcycle repairs
• Pain and suffering
• Emotional distress
• Loss of enjoyment of life and family relationships

An experienced personal injury lawyer can walk you through the legal process, build a solid injury claim based on all the evidence, negotiate with insurance companies, or take your case to trial if necessary to pursue compensation and the financial recovery you deserve. Reach out today for a free consultation with our experienced team that has recovered millions for injured motorists like you.

Contact a Cocoa Beach Motorcycle Accident Lawyer Today

Serious or debilitating personal injuries in Cocoa Beach can change a person's entire life, preventing them from performing the tasks of their job. This injury could also require care at a long-term nursing facility or an at-home nurse, taking away their ability to participate in their favorite hobbies and even changing the nature of the sufferer's relationships with their family.

With offices across both Florida coasts, you can easily reach Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers, PA, at 321-456-9379, or you can write to us using our online contact page.

Cocoa Beach Office
1980 N Atlantic Ave, STE 218
Cocoa Beach, FL 32931
321-456-9379

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What Our Clients Have to Say:

“Chad Robinson always responded immediately whenever I had questions or concerns. He worked hard to make sure I received what I deserved.”

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December 19

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“AMAZING and understanding attorneys! Did great on my case and I highly recommend Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers, PA for anyone that has been injured in an accident!"
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Jan 2020
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