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Motorcycle accident, Truck caused my swerve

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ckwong21

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? MD

This past Sunday, October 21, I was involved with a motorcycle accident on the highway. I was NOT swerving in or out of traffic because there was close to bumper to bumper traffic. While in the slow lane, the only one that was moving relatively at 5-15mph, another vehicle started to merge into my lane on the hwy, from a two lane offramp. So after swerving to the left to avoid the truck merging into me, and while staying within my lane, I noticed the car in front of me had stopped due to traffic. I attempted to swerve to the right to avoid the car, but ended up rashing their rear right bumper. The collision was at about 10mph, and luckily no one was injured, including myself...not a scratch. I have the info from the car I hit and the driver and passenger contests to the truck causing me to swerve. BUT I do not have any info on the truck since it drove off once I moved to the shoulder along with the car I hit to exchange insurance info. Police came to write up a report, which listed me at fault. The car I hit left after the report, and I waited for a tow to come. The rude cop issues me a ticket for "Failure to Control Speed to Avoid Collision" after writing up the report that I was at fault. How should I report this to insurance? How in court? The party I hit contests to the truck merging into my lane causing me to swerve!

We, the car I hit and I, are both insured under AllState. My coverage includes:
Motorcycle Liability Insurance
- Bodily injury $25k/$50k
- Property Damage $15k
Uninsured Motorists Insurance
- Bodily injury $25k/$50k
- Property Damage $15k ($250 deductible)
Motorcycle Comprehensive Insurance Actual Cash Value
- Deductible = $1000
- Optional or Added Equipment $1000

I called the party that I had hit, and they said they reported it to AllState already. I asked if they mentioned the fact that my swerving was caused due to the truck merging into my lane, and he said that he mentioned it but was not sure if they wrote it down. I need to report this ASAP. I have about $1.5-$2k damages to my bike I think looking at it preliminarily myself.

I am at a loss for words right now because it seems like I will have to pay for my personal damages to my bike, my insurance will have to pay for the party I hit, I will have to spend time in court to appeal my case, and my insurance premiums will increase next year. I am fairly broke right now. If anyone can help with advice, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks all...
 


ecmst12

Senior Member
This is known as a "phantom vehicle" case. You can't prove that the truck made you swerve, and there was no contact between you and the truck, and you can't even prove that the truck existed, so you are most likely going to be found at fault for the accident, due to lack of evidence to the contrary, and PLENTY of evidence that you did in fact rear end the car in front of you. I'll add to that regardless of the REASON you weren't paying attention to traffic in front of you slowing down, you are still at fault for not paying attention and controlling your speed accordingly. Sorry I don't have better news.
 

ckwong21

Junior Member
How can I use the information that I have to help my case? The party that I hit can contest to the truck causing me to swerve. Thanks.
 

ecmst12

Senior Member
You'd need to be able to track down the truck driver and get a statement from him confirming what happened, OR a statement from a witness who saw what happened. And even then, it may not help, since like I said you still were not paying attention to the traffic in front of you stopping and the truck trying to merge into you may not mitigate that fact.
 

ckwong21

Junior Member
thanks for the posts ecmst...so what options right now in the given situation? I WAS paying attention to the traffic ahead, but my only two options at that time were to brake hard to let the truck cut in, maybe causing myself to be rear ended, or maneuver my bike to avoid getting hit by the truck. I knew traffic was blocked up.

Is there a way I can upload pics? I have sketched a preliminary scene of the accident...
 

moburkes

Senior Member
thanks for the posts ecmst...so what options right now in the given situation? I WAS paying attention to the traffic ahead, but my only two options at that time were to brake hard to let the truck cut in, maybe causing myself to be rear ended, or maneuver my bike to avoid getting hit by the truck. I knew traffic was blocked up.

Is there a way I can upload pics? I have sketched a preliminary scene of the accident...
No, you can't upload pics, nor do you need to. You need to provide proof to their insurance adjuster that you swerved, and why. That is the only thing that you can do.
 

FlyingRon

Senior Member
I'm confused. The car that you struck was in the lane you were originally in. It seemed that despite the swerving, you failed to notice traffic was stopped ahead of you. While swerving is a good defensive reaction for a motorcyclist, your fault still remains that you must leave enough following distance to brake to a stop in case traffic stops ahead of you.
 

JustAPal00

Senior Member
I'm confused. The car that you struck was in the lane you were originally in. It seemed that despite the swerving, you failed to notice traffic was stopped ahead of you. While swerving is a good defensive reaction for a motorcyclist, your fault still remains that you must leave enough following distance to brake to a stop in case traffic stops ahead of you.
I was thinking the same thing. Had you swerved into the car next to you I could see your argument, but you hit the car in front of you. What you did was take your eyes off the road to look at the truck, and hit the car you were following!!
 

tammy8

Senior Member
Doesn't matter about the disappearing truck. You failed to control your vehicle.

And for the record, the limits you have are unbelievable! You need limits atleast 3X what you have. What if you hurt someone? How far is $25K going to get you in a hospital?
 

ckwong21

Junior Member
as a motorcyclist, there are a whole lot of other considerations that we are taught. Lane position and the protection of your lane is very important. I was protecting the right side of my lane (if ONE lane is split into imaginary thirds, i'm in the 3rd quadrant), and the lane to my right had started to merge into my lane. I swerve from the 3rd quadrant into the 1st (still in ONE lane), and notice that the cars in front are braking.

You CANNOT brake mid swerve on a motorcycle or else you will highside (flying OVER the bike), which means you will fly over the top of bike, likely causing more fatal injuries. Once i swerved left, and realizing the cars in front were hard braking, i swerved back right because the lane to my left was open for a safer exit to the situation. SO, i swerved back from the 1st quadrant through the 3rd quadrant attempting to switch lanes to my right. I did not make it and hit the rear right bumper of the car that was in front of me (of my ORIGINAL lane). This caused me to tip and lowside...where the injuries sustained are significantly less.

I was riding cautiously, that is why there was room in front of me to swerve to begin with.

speeds were at about 10-15mph, car coming in was going approx. 30mph, off of a TWO lane offramp (a route merging into the interstate). If I did not pick up my speed I would have been hit by the truck and my bike would have ended up going dead center into the back of the car. Course then I wouldn't be in the predicament that I'm in right now, but would instead sustain injury.

I am asking on this site regarding the laws and how they can hopefully help me. I acted in a split second, and only RIDERS can understand how it exactly feels when cages don't see you on the road. The accident scene drawing would have helped non-motorcyclists understand and visualize the situation better.


This was also NOT an incident where perception may elude to having a crotchrocket weaving in and out of traffic going at 90mph. This was IN TRAFFIC...meaning people were crawling at 5-20mph for about 45 minutes in the time I was IN traffic already.
 
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ckwong21

Junior Member
Doesn't matter about the disappearing truck. You failed to control your vehicle.

And for the record, the limits you have are unbelievable! You need limits atleast 3X what you have. What if you hurt someone? How far is $25K going to get you in a hospital?
Dear Senior Member Tammy. $25k/50k is PER PERSON. thanks for asking prior to judgement. and thanks for the lack of advice. For the record.
 

tammy8

Senior Member
Dear Senior Member Tammy. $25k/50k is PER PERSON. thanks for asking prior to judgement. and thanks for the lack of advice. For the record.
You are quite welcome idiot! There is no laws to help you make things go *your* way because YOU are 100% at fault! You rear ended a car. End of story.

And again idiot, the limits are stupidly low. I wouldn't write a 25/50 policy for my worst enemy.
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
Dear Senior Member Tammy. $25k/50k is PER PERSON. thanks for asking prior to judgement. and thanks for the lack of advice. For the record.
You're not getting it.
If you cause an accident that seriously injures someone, how far do you think the $25k will go towards the overall hospital bill?
(25k per person/50k per incident)

I am not a motorcycle rider, so forgive the obvious ignorance in my upcoming question. Why didn't you just slow down and let the other vehicle in?
 

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