While riding your motorcycle, you face a lot of hazards from drivers who make crucial mistakes. A tailgating driver can rear-end you; a distracted driver can hit you at a stop sign. Nothing you can do completely eliminates these risks. They rest on others. You simply have to drive carefully, stay alert and do what you can to avoid injury when others make mistakes.
One of the most common mistakes that drivers make is that they turn left in front of a motorcycle when there is not enough room to complete the turn before the bike arrives at that point in the road. This leads to a side-impact for the car and a direct front crash for the motorcyclist. Since it often happens quickly, when motorcyclists think a driver will wait to turn, the bike may hit the car traveling at full speed. It can be deadly.
Why does this happen? Distraction plays a role, for sure. On top of that, drivers do tend to misjudge the distance between them and a bike, because it’s so small, or they misjudge the speed. In many cases, though, they just don’t see the motorcycle at all. They’re shocked when it slams into the side of the car, but by then the accident cannot be stopped.
All motorcyclists can really do is focus on staying aware and understanding the danger. When a driver is waiting to turn, riders must be extra careful and watch for the first sign that he or she is going to turn at an inappropriate time. When an accident happens, that’s when riders need to know what legal rights they have to compensation.