There are many dangers a person can encounter when they are riding a motorcycle. Accidents can be caused by erratic driving or distracted driving. There may be slippery conditions, potholes, or the road may be sloped. Sloped road accidents are not uncommon because they can cause a driver’s view of oncoming traffic to be obstructed. They can increase a vehicle’s speed, and when speed increases very quickly on a motorcycle, the results are often deadly.
Arizona is a fault state when it comes to insurance. This means that the individual or entity that caused the accident must pay its associated bills. If a municipality has no warning signs posted for a dangerous road, they may be blamed when an accident occurs. If a road is unsafe for motorcycles, that should be posted as well.
Guardrails have saved many motorcyclists’ lives over the years. If there are no guard rails at the side of the road, a municipality may also be to blame. If you are in a steep slope accident that was no fault of your own, Wattel and York will help you to get the settlement you need to recover from your injuries.
How insurance Claims Work
When you have a bike collision, you will collect documentation of the accident and your medical bills and lost wages. If someone else caused the crash or even part of the accident, you would file an insurance claim with their insurance company.
Insurance companies are especially hard on motorcycle riders. Even if a motorcyclist was obeying all the rules of the road at the time of their accident, the fact that they were on a motorcycle often hurts their case.
The insurance company for the city is unlikely to admit responsibility for a sloped road being unsafe. If they say they are responsible, people who drive on that road and have experienced accidents may try to sue them. If the road is especially unsafe for motorcycles, a group of motorcyclists could sue them. If a road was improperly marked or there were no warning signs of a sloped road and someone died in an accident, it might cause a local media scandal.
Determining Fault
There are several different methods that an adjuster will use to determine fault. They will look at the safety warning signs on the road,the police report for the accident, and any pictures you or anyone else took of the crash.
The adjuster will have additional questions about safety when they are looking at a motorcycle-involved accident. They will want to know how you were dressed and if you were wearing a helmet. Although adults are not required to wear helmets when riding motorcycles in Arizona, most insurance policies require them.
Determining fault in a sloped road accident can be difficult. The road might have a design flaw that caused the accident, or the city may have simply failed to put up the necessary road signs.
If the road would be safe at 20 miles an hour but unsafe at 30 miles an hour, and the municipality set the speed limit at 30 miles an hour, then the municipality would be to blame. If they did not have a sloped road sign, the municipality would also be to blame. Should another driver knock down a road sign warning of the slope, that driver would be responsible. If the road has design flaws, the engineer who designed the road will be at fault rather than the municipality or the other driver.
If an insurance company refuses to pay for your injuries or if they offer you too little money, you will need an injury attorney to negotiate with the insurance company on your behalf.
Why You Should Hire Wattel & York
The attorneys at Wattel and York are well versed in Arizona insurance law and know what to look for in motorcycle-involved sloping road accidents. We will do everything possible to negotiate a fair deal for you. If we are unable to secure a fair settlement, we will represent you in a lawsuit against the insurance company.
Our motorcycle accident attorneys have many years of experience in negotiation and litigation. We know the Arizona court system and the judges who preside within it. We have a great reputation with the state bar association and can provide you with many references who will tell you that we are professional, fair, and successful.
We want to ensure that you get the money you need to move on with your life, so give us a call today.
