Unfortunately, there is no way to avoid contact with motor vehicles when operating a motorcycle, so riders must take precautions to minimize their risk of injuries in motorcycle accidents.
Were you involved in a motorcycle crash and suffered leg injuries due to another’s negligence? At Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers, LLC, our personal injury attorneys are legal advocates for motorcycle accident victims harmed by another’s negligence.
Call our Chicago motorcycle accident lawyers at (888) 424-5757 (toll-free phone number) or use the contact form today to schedule a free case evaluation related to a motorcycle accident leg injuries case.
All confidential or personal information you share with our legal team remains private through an attorney-client relationship.
Motorcycle Accident Leg Injuries
Motorcycle riders are more vulnerable to severe leg injuries than those riding in cars. However, there are several things a rider can do before hitting the road on his motorcycle that will help him stay safe from leg injuries while enjoying this fun form of transportation.
These include wearing protective gear such as helmets, leg protection, jackets, and crash bars and avoiding alcohol.
A Serious Threat to Motorcycle Riders
Leg injuries, such as a broken leg or an ankle injury, are excruciating and can impact your mobility and quality of life.
The Chicago motorcycle accident attorneys of Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers, LLC understand that a fractured leg can prevent you from earning a living, require extensive and costly medical treatment beyond trauma centers’ first response, and result in a long period of pain and suffering.
Unfortunately, there’s no way to prevent all motorcycle crashes from happening. However, knowing about the following dangers could help you avoid them and save your life:
- Lane Splitting: This dangerous practice is illegal in many states but remains widespread throughout the country. This practice allows a motorcycle rider to move between lanes of traffic while the cars are moving, usually below 20 mph.
- Distracted Driving: People who text behind the wheel are seven times more likely to be involved in a crash than someone who isn’t distracted by their phone while driving.
- Drunk Driving: Binge drinking can impair judgment, potentially resulting in deadly consequences.
- Bad Weather Conditions: Riding motorcycles on slick roads have been linked with over 20% of fatal crashes.
Data reveals that approximately 80% of all motorcycle accidents result in minor to severe injury and about 50% of all motorcycle crashes involve car accidents at intersections.
Typically, the passenger vehicle driver is at fault for causing the crash, likely resulting in motorcycle accident leg injuries for the rider and passenger.
Motorcycle Leg Injuries: How Do Motorcycle Lower Extremity Injuries Happen?
When you’re on a motorcycle, it is far more likely that you’ll suffer leg or foot injuries than if you were riding in a car because no protective barriers surround the rider to deflect the force of an impact if a motorcycle is struck.
In addition, car doors can open and strike motorcycle riders, causing leg injuries as motorists exit their vehicles.
In 2020, the most recent year where data is available, 5,367 motorcycle accidents in Illinois involved leg injuries. Motorcycle accident leg injuries typically include open wounds and lacerations.
The Bones and Joints That Make Up Each Leg
- Femur: The femur is the longest bone in the human body and also the strongest. Its average length is nearly 19.9 inches, and the bone extends from the hip to the knee, comprising the thigh.
- Tibia: The tibia is one of two bones that make up the lower leg and is often considered the shin bone. Most leg fractures occur in this bone, which averages 16.9 inches in length.
- Fibula: Located in the lower legs next to the tibia, which doesn’t bear much weight and merely reinforces the tibia. Its average length is 15.9 inches.
- Patella: [1] The patella protects the knee joint and is commonly referred to as the kneecap.
- Hip Joint: Whether sitting or standing, most of your weight rests on your hips, which are instrumental in maintaining posture and balance whenever you are in motion.
- Knee: The knee is one of the most critical joints in the body, as it houses the ligaments and tendons required to extend, rotate and flex each leg. Knee injuries caused by motorcycles are debilitating.
- Ankle: A series of three joints that absorb impact, connect the lower leg to the foot, and provide mobility to the lower body. The three joints that comprise the ankle are the talocrural joint, subtalar joint, and tibiofibular joint. Damage to these joints can cause ankle injuries.
Suffering from a severe leg injury from a motorcycle accident severely impacts mobility, making it extremely difficult for someone to handle menial tasks or perform job functions.
Leg Injuries and Broken Bones in the Lower Extremities
A lack of leg protection could lead to road rash, permanent nerve damage, and other injuries that require immediate medical attention. The injured rider might suffer a life-threatening infection, tears to tendons and muscles, or multiple fractures.
The seriousness of these lower extremity injuries often requires a lengthy recovery. Our Illinois personal injury lawyers have represented many injured riders who have suffered many types of leg breaks.
Here are some forms of lower leg injuries in motorcycle crashes and broken bones in the lower extremities we deal with regularly:
- Closed fractures: Are often considered simple fractures because the broken bone has not resulted in soft tissue injuries. Treatment involves isolating the leg and setting the bone fragments so that the bone can heal naturally. They are common in motorcycle injury cases.
- Open fractures: As the name implies, these fractures break through the skin and result in open wounds.
- Complete fractures: These fractures are designated by the complete separation of the bone during the break.
- Incomplete fractures: As the name implies, these fractures occur when parts of the bone remain connected. It is pretty common to happen in a hip injury.
- Spiral fracture: Fractures result from forces that twist the bone until it breaks, resulting in more severe injury to the bone. In addition, surgical repair, implants, and skin grafts may be required to help the bones heal properly.
- Impacted fracture: Caused by two bones being forced into one another, these fractures often injure the joint connecting each bone.
- Comminuted fracture: More commonly referred to as a shattered bone, it involves multiple breaks that may cause the fragmentation of the bone in many places, which often happens in foot injuries.
Many femur fractures often involve other injuries, including pelvic fractures, knee injuries, hip injuries, pelvic injuries, fibula fractures, thigh injuries, and internal bleeding that require multiple surgeries to optimize healing.
Tibia and fibula malleolar fractures, the prominent bony structures on either side of the ankle, accounted for 90% of motorcycle ankle injuries.
Traumatic Brain Injury and Other Physical Harm in a Motorcycle Accident
Many severe motorcycle accidents involve injuries to the lower extremities, including the feet, ankles, calves, and knees. Tibia and fibula fractures make up 95% of all leg injuries in motorcycle crashes. These severe injuries require reconstruction surgery and skin grafts to optimize healing.
However, data shows that catastrophic motorcycle accident injuries that require care in trauma centers include:
- Traumatic brain injury
- Paralysis, including paraplegia, quadriplegia, and tetraplegia
- Open head injuries
- Knee injuries
- Ankle injuries
- Heel bone injuries
- Complete traumatic leg amputations
- Pelvic injuries
- Hip injuries, such as hip dislocation
- Foot injuries, including amputated digits, crushing injuries, and degloving
- Upper body trauma
- Road rash
- Upper thigh injuries, including femur fractures
- Traumatic amputations requiring prosthetic devices after removal of the motorcyclist’s legs
- Brain death
- Laceration of the liver
- Loss of vision due to a lack of eye protection
- Disfigurement and scarring
The injuries in your motorcycle accident case might differ. Contact our personal injury law firm to discuss your legal options for holding the at-fault party financially accountable for your damages.
Medical Costs Involving Leg and Knee Injuries in Motorcycle Accidents
According to the Cleveland Clinic, the cost of medical treatment and care for a motorcycle accident leg injury can be high and may include the following:
- Emergency room and trauma center hospitalization and surgery: The initial treatment of a motorcycle accident leg injury includes immediate critical care, which might increase medical bills substantially.
- Physical therapy: After surgery, you will likely require physical therapy to rebuild your muscles and recover from motorcycle leg injuries.
- Gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI): An MRI that uses a contrast dye injected into your arm, allowing your doctor to see your motorcycle injury in greater detail, especially those that are not as severe.
- Medications: You will likely be prescribed a large amount of medication to help with the pain and discomfort resulting from your motorcycle leg injuries and medications to help you heal faster.
- Prosthetic devices: If your motorcycle leg injuries are so severe that the leg is amputated, you may need to use a prosthetic device to help you learn how to walk. Unfortunately, these devices are not cheap and require constant care, adjustments, and repairs as you continue healing.
- Lodging during hospitalization: If your motorcycle leg injuries are severe enough to remain in the hospital for an extended period, you may incur additional expenses related to housing, food, and travel.
- Professional counseling services: Therapists can treat mental stress from the experience of being involved in a severe motorcycle accident. These services are typically quite costly but may be covered by your health insurance company if you have this coverage.
- Attorneys’ fees and legal costs: Our motorcycle accident attorneys work on a contingency basis. You do not pay us any money unless we successfully receive compensation for your motorcycle leg injuries or soft tissue injuries.
A motorcycle accident attorney working on your behalf will deal directly with the insurance company and your health insurance coverage to ensure you receive maximum benefits.
The monetary recovery you receive for your motorcycle leg injury could include past and future medical expenses, pain and suffering, and other costs associated with your motorcycle injuries.
Hire an Attorney for Fair Compensation for a Motorcycle Accident Leg Injury Case
Did you suffer from a broken leg, foot, or pelvic injury after being involved in a motor vehicle accident? Was your motorcycle accident leg injury caused by someone else’s irresponsible or negligent behavior?
Our motorcycle accident lawyers at Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers, LLC, understand that you aren’t looking forward to accumulating outstanding debt due to expensive medical treatments and time spent at home recovering.
You can recover your medical costs, lost wages, and compensation as well as the value of your pain and suffering. Contact us at (888) 424-5757 today for a free case evaluation with one of our qualified Chicago personal injury attorneys.
Resources: [1] Johns Hopkins Medicine
