Common Injuries After a Houston Motorcycle Accident

Motorcycles leave operators and passengers exposed to significant risks in a motorcycle accident. Without a passenger compartment, riders can suffer injuries during the collision with a vehicle and a subsequent impact on the road. Motorcyclists can get thrown from their motorcycles or crushed underneath them.

Some of the most common injuries after a motorcycle accident may require expensive treatment and leave you with long-term disabilities. If you get injured in Houston, Texas, a motorcycle accident lawyer from Zehl & Associates Injury & Accident Lawyers will evaluate your claim and pursue the compensation you need.

Contact us today for a free initial consultation with an award-winning attorney. You can call us at (888) 603-3636.

Table of Contents

• How Zehl & Associates Injury & Accident Lawyers Can Help You After a Motorcycle Accident in Houston, TX
• Texas Motorcycle Accident Injury Statistics
• The Most Common Motorcycle Crash Injuries
• Schedule a Free Initial Consultation With Our Undefeated Houston Motorcycle Accident Lawyers

How Zehl & Associates Injury & Accident Lawyers Can Help You After a Motorcycle Accident in Houston, TX

Since 2006, Zehl & Associates Injury & Accident Lawyers has assisted injured people in Houston, TX, fight for compensation from at-fault parties and their insurers. Our Houston motorcycle accident attorneys have earned an undefeated record in court.

If you suffer an injury due to someone else’s negligent or wrongful actions, our attorneys will provide the following:

• A free consultation to discuss your injuries and the compensation you can seek
• Preparation of your insurance claim and a negotiation strategy to settle it
• Litigators who have recovered over $1 billion 
• A record-setting trial attorney who isn’t afraid to take your case to court if necessary

Injuries from a motorcycle crash may require expensive medical treatment and long-term physical therapy. Contact our Houston personal injury lawyers to learn how you can recover compensation to pay for these and other losses that result from your accident.

Texas Motorcycle Accident Injury Statistics

Houston had 705 motorcycle crashes in 2022, according to a query on Texas’s Crash Records Information System (CRIS). 

If you generate a chart showing the severity of these crashes, you will find that they include the following:

• 36 fatal crashes
• 155 serious injury crashes
• 187 minor injury crashes
• 211 possible injury crashes
• 15 unknown injury crashes

Of these crashes, 101 caused no injuries. Thus, if you include the crashes with injuries of unknown severity, you can calculate that 85.7% of motorcycle crashes in Houston in 2022 caused injury or death.

If you eliminate single-vehicle crashes and focus solely on collisions between motorcycles and automobiles, you have 462 total crashes. If you run the same calculations, you will find that 81.8% of motorcycle collisions in Houston in 2022 caused injury or death.

An injury rate of over 80% is extraordinarily high. If you calculate the overall injury rate for traffic accidents in Houston that same year, you find an overall injury rate of just 36.8% or less than half the motorcycle injury rate in the same place and time.

The Most Common Motorcycle Crash Injuries

Scientists have studied both fatal and non-fatal injuries caused by motorcycle accidents. Some of the most common motorcycle crash injuries include:

Limb Injuries

The most common body parts injured in a motorcycle crash include your arms and legs. This makes sense because a motorcyclist’s arms and legs are exposed to injury in a collision. They could scrape along the pavement, producing road rash. They could strike the ground, fracturing bones.

Your legs, in particular, can suffer an injury in a crash. Your motorcycle might crush your leg if it falls on you. While you are pinned under the motorcycle, the hot exhaust parts can also burn your legs.

Head Injuries

Even if you wear a helmet, you have a significant risk of injuring your head in a motorcycle crash. However, one study found that helmet use reduces the odds of head injury by up to 69%. Another study determined that about 38% of unhelmeted motorcyclists under 40 suffered head injuries, while this number dropped to 24% when they wore a helmet.

Some common head injuries that may result from a motorcycle crash include:

• Bruises
• Lacerations
• Facial fractures
• Skull fractures
• Traumatic brain injuries, including concussions

These injuries can range from minor to fatal. Wearing a helmet reduces the odds of dying in a crash by 37% for operators and 41% for passengers.

Thorax Injuries

The third-most common area of the body to suffer an injury in a motorcycle crash is the thorax. This region of the body sits between the shoulders and the diaphragm. 

Some common injuries to the thorax from motorcycle crashes include:

• Broken ribs
• Dislocated ribs
• Torn chest muscles, particularly intercostal muscles between the ribs
• Broken collarbone
• Torn cartilage

A powerful impact can also cause internal injuries. A broken rib or foreign object can pierce the chest cavity, causing a collapsed lung. Internal bleeding can fill the pericardium, a membrane that surrounds the heart, with blood. This blood can strangle the heart.

Schedule a Free Initial Consultation With Our Undefeated Houston Motorcycle Accident Lawyers

A motorcycle crash can cause disabling injuries that prevent you from working or caring for yourself. Contact Zehl & Associates Injury & Accident Lawyers for a free consultation to discuss the effects of your injuries and the compensation you can seek for them.