A 21-year old motorcycle rider was struck by a pickup truck while riding his motorcycle in downtown San Diego. The motorcyclist suffered a broken hip and other injuries. The motorcycle accident remains under investigation and it was not yet reported whether the driver of the pickup truck has been cited or arrested for the incident.

Too often motorcycle accidents happen in this manner. Other drivers do not pay attention to motorcycles on the road until an accident has actually occurred. And when the accident does occur, the injuries are often fatal.

Even if a motorcycle rider survives a crash, the prognosis is usually not good. There is a good chance that such a rider will suffer a catastrophic injury, face long term hospitalization, be unable to work, and have to deal with possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical expenses.

Drivers fail to yield to motorcycles or simply assume that a motorcycle is not present because they rely on their mirrors instead of checking out every blind spot before changing lanes. In some circumstances an accident occurs because of distracted driving where the driver is on the cell phone or texting just before striking a motorcycle. Sometimes drivers blow through stop signs without closely checking to see if a motorcycle is approaching the intersection.

In this particular instance, the motorcyclist was simply struck by another vehicle. Yet no matter how simple such an accident is, placing oneself back in the same position as if the accident had never occurred is difficult to impossible. Riders injured in motorcycle accidents will need all of the assistance that they can get.

Source: NBC San Diego, "Pickup Truck Strikes Motorcyclist in Downtown SD," by Joseph M.D. Young, Jan. 21, 2012