Motorcycle Safety Equipment May Help Prevent Road Rash

Many people who do not ride motorcycles may wonder why motorcyclists wear thick jackets, jeans, and even boots on the streets while the weather outside is in the 80s.

This is not a statement of fashion: Most serious operators, especially those who ride on public roads, have invested in more than just an authorized helmet. Additionally, they have invested in protective apparel to aid in preventing road rash on their most exposed organ, their skin.

While Colorado law requires motorcyclists on Colorado Springs highways to wear helmets, there are no restrictions for protective apparel. Wear such gear anyway, since it may help avoid unpleasant and expensive road rash.

How Do Road Rash Injuries Happen?

When you drive a car, you are enclosed inside the car, which provides some measure of protection if you are involved in a car accident. Unless you are not wearing a seatbelt, the likelihood is that you will stay in your car. As a passenger in a car, you are unlikely to get a road rash. On the other hand, accidents nearly often result in motorcyclists being thrown off their motorcycles or exposed to the road. As a result, they are far more vulnerable to developing road rash.

Road rash happens when a rider is thrown off their motorcycle and across the road. This circumstance results in you getting road rash, especially if you are wearing traditional attire. The wound may get infected with gravel, glass, or other particles. There are many varieties of road rash, each of which becomes worse over time.

There are many varieties of road rash:

Avulsion – These are the most prevalent kind of motorcycle road rash. The mechanics are straightforward—when your skin comes into close touch with the road, it scrapes away. You will lose layers of skin, and as a consequence, the underlying bone, muscle, and fat may become visible.

Open wound – This kind of road rash often occurs in motorcycle accidents. The issue is that this version has a greater potential for causing further issues. Due to the severity of these wounds, you will almost always need sutures. With these wounds, the risk of infection rises. Infection is more likely to occur due to the exposed incision, which may enable road debris and dirt to enter. The person may then get infections—serious illnesses if they reach the bloodstream. Additionally, victims of this form of road rash damage may need skin grafting to treat the lesion adequately.

Compression – These injuries occur when a rider is wedged between the road and their bike, between their bike and a car, or between any immovable object. Not only does this sort of road rash raise the risk of infection, but patients may also have shattered bones and muscle tissue damage.

Road rash is also quantified in terms of degrees. The first degree, which is the least dangerous, will cause pain, bruising, and scrapes. Generally, this kind of road rash heals quickly if the area is kept clean. If a rider develops a second-degree road rash, they should seek medical attention immediately.

Typically, the incision is bleeding, and visible muscles or tendons are present. Numerous instances may need sutures. To prevent infection, a doctor may need to clean the site of the material. The most dangerous kind of road rash is third-degree.

The skin will often seem glossy in these instances. Victims may be surprised to discover they experience little or no pain; nevertheless, this is due to nerve injury. Anyone with this degree of road rash should seek medical attention immediately.

No motorcyclist should have to fear these injuries due to a driver who is distracted, speeds are impaired, or is driving recklessly. Regrettably, this is a legitimate problem.

Road Rash Care and Treatment Following a Motorcycle Accident in Colorado Springs

Any wound needs appropriate treatment to avoid infection. You should always seek quick medical assistance after a Colorado Springs motorcycle accident, regardless of how minor you feel your injuries are at the time. When you are involved in an accident, your body is flooded with adrenaline.

This surge may cause your body to conceal symptoms of injury, such as torn muscles, head and neck injuries, and back injuries. Proceed to the emergency room—ascertain that your injuries are not more severe than you believe.

Once you are discharged from the hospital, you will be responsible for treating your road rash injuries at home. This must be done daily. To begin, wash your hands well before trying to treat your injuries. Clean the area surrounding the wound carefully with warm soapy water. Avoid allowing soap to remain in the wound since it may aggravate it.

Carefully dry the wound using lint-free gauze. Adhere to your doctor’s instructions on the use of any ointment or dressing on the wound. Keep an eye out for symptoms of infection in the wounds.

Additionally, you may need to enquire if your doctor advises a tetanus vaccine in the aftermath of these sorts of injuries. Make an appointment with your physician if the incision becomes red or inflamed or if you develop any infection symptoms.

Safety Is a Concern When Riding a Motorcycle in the City of Colorado Springs

Helmets save lives—while they cannot completely protect you from road rash, they can significantly reduce the amount of road rash on your face, scalp, and neck. Motorcycle operators are significantly disadvantaged in an accident since their form of transportation lacks a protective frame.

The speed at which you are going, the kind of hit, and your general health all have a role in determining the severity of your road rash injuries and the length of time required to recover. Always follow your physician’s instructions for treating road rash wounds.

Accountability for Your Road Rash Wounds in Colorado Springs

Following a Colorado Springs motorcycle road rash accident, you may expect to incur large expenses, both in terms of medical bills and motorcycle repairs. Colorado is a no-fault state, which means that regardless of who is at blame for the accident, you must first submit a claim with your insurance provider.

You should consult with an experienced motorcycle accident lawyer before filing any claim. The more severe your road rash and other injuries are, the more critical to see an attorney.

If you are unsure about calling an attorney, keep in mind that you will obtain the following:

Free consultation – The first thing you should know is that contacting an attorney to discuss the accident and your injuries and get their opinion on who you may hold liable will almost definitely cost you nothing.

Suitability – If the expense of treating your road rash exceeds $2,000 or results in scarring or disfigurement, you may be able to bring a motorcycle accident case. Other avenues may exist for you to pursue compensation for your injuries, and you should be aware that you cannot rely on the insurance company to inform you of them. However, an expert motorcycle accident attorney will inform you if you need to litigate to get the maximum compensation you deserve.

Compensation for Colorado Springs Road Rash Claims Is More Difficult Than You Think

You may believe the procedure would be straightforward. A car going down a Colorado Springs street hit you behind, throwing you off your bike and often leaving you with road rash. You determine that the best course of action is insurance claims for medical expenses and bike damage.

However, if your road rash damage is severe, you may face weeks or even months of follow-up treatment, surgical procedures, and high infection risk. It may take weeks before you can return to work, depending on the extra operations required to aid in the healing of your wound and the overall expense of your medical care.

The insurance company will almost certainly provide you with a quick payout. While this may seem to be a good idea, the reality is that they are constantly operating in their own best interests, not yours. Bear in mind that after you accept a settlement, the insurance company will likely be released from future liability. This implies that if you cannot work for an extended period or need unforeseen medical treatment due to your injuries, you will shoulder the whole expense.

What you should do is inform your insurer of your injuries, offer details about the accident, and supply your motorcycle accident attorney’s name and telephone number. The last thing you want to do is accept a hasty settlement and then find yourself saddled with thousands of dollars in losses due to accepting the first offer you got.

When Filing Colorado Springs Road Rash Claims, Experience Counts

You may believe that you can deal directly with the insurance provider. However, more often than not, a competent motorcycle accident attorney can get far more compensation for you than you might on your own.

A lawyer with a track record of successfully resolving cases for their clients is intimately familiar with insurance companies. They are less prone to fall into insurance adjusters’ traps—things you may be unaware of.

Never forget that adjusters work for insurance companies. An adjuster may inundate you with papers and want signatures on certain pages. Never sign anything without first consulting with your

motorcycle accident attorney. Signing some paperwork from insurance may imply that you are waiving rights, reducing your compensation claims, or even acknowledging responsibility for the accident.

Circumstances might complicate your road rash: For instance, the collision may include many cars. A car may have attempted to avoid colliding with someone who made an incorrect lane change and collided with you in the process. Your collision is unique—a knowledgeable motorcycle accident attorney can assist you in determining who is legally responsible for your injuries, even when many parties are involved.

Collaborating with a Colorado Springs Motorcycle Accident Attorney

There are several reasons to retain the services of a Colorado Springs motorcycle accident attorney after a road rash accident. Attorneys willing to spend the time necessary to understand your case, have a good handle on these often intricate matters, and have the resources to take cases to trial can assist you in making the best choices possible to maximize your reward.

Each accident victim has a unique tale. Suppose you sustained a road rash or another kind of injury in a Colorado Springs motorcycle accident. In that case, you should obtain legal counsel from a professional, educated, and efficient accident injury attorney immediately.

Because the first consultation is free, you have nothing to lose. You will then have a better understanding of your legal alternatives and their associated advantages and cons. Once you’ve gained this information, you’ll be able to make the best choice for yourself and your family.

ROAD RASH ACCIDENT ATTORNEYS IN COLORADO SPRINGS

We’ve previously discussed the difficulties of riding a motorcycle in and around Colorado Springs. Accidents often occur in this area, particularly on freeways like Power Blvd. and I-25. Even seasoned Colorado Springs bikers know that riding in traffic around Colorado Springs Airport and the downtown area is fraught with hazards. The tiniest error may mean tragedy for a rider, who will almost certainly be pushed into the roadway in the event of an accident.

Road rash, the nasty condition that results from a lengthy skid around the pavement after a bike collision, may be recognizable to experienced Colorado Springs bikers. This blog article will look at road rash injuries up and personal.

We’ll go over what they are, how they happen, why Colorado Springs is a road rash hotspot, where you can get treatment in Colorado Springs if you’ve suffered a painful slide, and how an experienced Colorado Springs motorcycle accident lawyer can help you get compensated from the party who caused your road rash injury.

LET’S HAVE A CONVERSATION ABOUT ROAD RASH

Road rash is a pleasant-sounding word for a painful and unsightly injury. When people who do not ride motorbikes hear the term “road rash,” they often think of the damage that little children get when they fall from their bicycles. A scratched knee is, in some ways, a kind of road rash. Experienced motorcycle riders and passengers, on the other hand, realize that things can—and do—get a lot more serious.

When a cyclist falls or is thrown off their bike, they take a lengthy skid over the surface of a (typically) paved road, resulting in road rash. The slide’s friction swiftly wears through all but the thickest protective equipment, causing the flesh to break underneath it. The open wound that results is bloody, filthy, and prone to infection and scarring.

Road rash injuries are often compared to burns by doctors since they are comparable in many ways. To begin, a road rash might result in burnt skin tissue due to the heat generated by friction during the slide. When a rider’s skin comes into touch with the road surface, it tends to do a number on the epidermis, the outermost layer of the skin, much as a second (or higher) degree burn does to the same skin layer.

Like a serious burn, road rash provides a high risk of deadly infection by eroding skin layers and exposing the more vulnerable tissue underneath. Finally, road rash often necessitates skin graft procedures similar to those performed on burn patients to restore the injured region. It causes scarring similar to that of a burn scar.

On the other hand, road rash is an injury in and of itself. Most importantly, it can inflict a nasty wound. Dirt, grit, filth, and debris get trapped in the tissue as the rider slides around the road surface, removing layers of skin. Even the most steady-handed trauma specialists find it difficult to clean the wound afterward. They are often unable to adequately clean the wound and must instead administer massive dosages of antibiotics to the wounded rider to prevent infection. A traumatic tattoo is the discolored scar tissue that heals over the dirt sill entrenched in the skin.

Bikers in Colorado Springs who suffer major road rash injuries may need immediate medical attention at a Level I trauma hospital like Memorial Hermann – Colorado Medical Facility (a burn center) or Harris Health System Ben Taub Hospital. Long hospital stays, several operations, and months of rehabilitation may be required to recover from injuries. Even so, scar tissue may be disfiguring and restrict a biker’s movement.

COLORADO SPRINGS IS A HOTSPOT FOR ROAD RASH.

According to the Colorado Department of Education’s Crash Records Information System (CRIS) database, there were 671 motorcycle collisions on Colorado Springs roadways in the most recent reporting year, almost the same amount as every year over the last decade. More than half of them produced known injuries or deaths, with around 85 percent resulting in at least a probable recorded injury. Colorado Springs is the hub of road rash injuries in the Lone Star State due to the sheer volume of collisions and injuries.

However, it is not simply the high number of motorcycle accidents that render local motorcyclists vulnerable to road rash injuries. Other variables contribute to the rise in road rash accidents in Colorado Springs. The suffocating heat and humidity of southern Colorado, for example, may make riding with protective trousers and jackets difficult, to put it lightly. Riders in Colorado Springs have been known to eschew jackets in favor of T-shirts in hot weather, exposing their upper bodies to road rash injuries.

Another factor contributing to the high frequency of road rash injuries in Colorado Springs is the high number of motorcycle accidents on local routes such as Powers Blvd. and I-25. According to CRIS data, there were many roadway areas in the Colorado Springs area where several motorcycle accidents occurred in the past twelve months.

Highway collisions are more likely to occur at greater speeds than collisions on a city or residential streets. Higher speeds, roughly speaking, correlate to longer slides around the road surface, which means a rider is more likely to develop a serious road rash injury.

HOW TO GET PAID FOR YOUR ROAD RASH INJURIES IN COLORADO SPRINGS

A crash is seldom completely the rider’s responsibility, and in many cases, the rider could not have avoided the collision even if they tried. Instead, someone other than the motorcyclist is

often at fault for a motorcycle accident. According to Colorado law, an at-fault party may be obligated to give the biker compensation to assist in the healing, rehabilitating, and recovery from road rash and other significant injuries.

Motorcycle accident attorneys in Colorado Springs work hard to ensure that riders deserve the compensation. Here’s a quick rundown of the procedure.

IDENTIFYING FAULT

Investigating the reasons for a motorcycle accident is generally the first step in getting compensation for a road rash injury. Lawyers representing injured bicyclists examine collision reports and other data, often collaborating with professional investigators, to establish who may have taken excessively unsafe conduct that contributed to the accident and the biker’s injuries.

The following are some of the most prevalent causes of severe road rash in car accidents:

Drivers of cars and trucks who make negligent or dangerous decisions behind the wheel, including changing lanes on a highway into the path of a motorcycle or failing to give the right of way to a cyclist at a junction.

Employers of drivers who cause accidents due to faults, particularly if they fail to instruct their drivers in safe procedures while sharing the road with motorcycles and other smaller cars.

Municipal road agencies and private road owners who fail to keep publicly accessible roads safe for motorcycle riders or who fail to post adequate warnings about potentially hazardous conditions such as grooved pavement, sand, or gravel.

Manufacturers of motorcycles and motorcycle components that sell faulty equipment that fails under normal operating settings, resulting in a crash and injury to the rider.

Motorcycle accident attorneys aren’t willing to give up without a fight. They are aware of the importance of refusing to accept simple solutions. Even though the cause of a motorcycle accident may seem to be straightforward, further investigation may show several other parties whose acts led to a Colorado Springs rider’s road rash injuries.

COUNTING THE COSTS OF THE DAMAGE

To get compensation for a road rash injury, the injured biker’s lawyer must assess the extent of the damage. Many individuals are unaware that Colorado law permits you to recover more than simply medical costs in the event of a road rash.

In most cases, an insurance claim and/or lawsuit for road rash damages will demand money for:

Medical expenses incurred in treating, mending, and rehabilitating a road rash injury, as well as any future medical care the cyclist is expected to need. 

Other expenses that the rider would not have incurred if the accident and the resulting road rash injury had not occurred, such as bike repair fees, replacement of damaged protective gear, and hiring someone to assist with daily activities while the injury heals.

Income the rider did not or will not earn in the past or future due to the injury, such as time missed at work while hospitalized or a severe road rash that results in lifelong disability.

A biker’s agony, suffering, and general difficulties due to a major road rash injury. Some riders are hesitant to discuss this kind of injury, but the emotional toll of disfiguring road rash is not to be underestimated. Nobody wants to think about pain and difficulties, yet it does, and we feel that wounded riders and their passengers are entitled to compensation.

Motorcycle accident attorneys may sometimes persuade a Colorado Springs court to impose punitive damages to a wounded rider as a form of retribution for the at-fault party’s reckless acts.

Every motorcycle accident is unique. A knowledgeable personal injury lawyer will take the time to get to know the wounded cyclist to determine how the road rash has impacted the rider’s life. Motorcycle accident victims are sometimes startled by the value of their road rash injury claim.

TAKING INITIATIVE

A Colorado Springs lawyer can begin to work on behalf of a motorcyclist, taking legal action to have them awarded the maximum attainable damages for a road rash injury after two key facts are known: who is liable and how much they should pay. In certain circumstances, all required is a simple approach to the at-fault party and a demand for reimbursement from the at-fault party’s insurance provider. In other circumstances, attorneys must take a more active strategy, bringing a lawsuit in Colorado Springs-area courts to hold the at-fault party (or parties) legally and financially responsible.

In any case, taking such action often results in talks between the biker’s lawyer and representatives of the at-fault party’s insurance carrier and the at-fault party’s insurance carrier. Those conversations often result in the biker’s claim being settled. The cyclist receives a predetermined sum of money to release the at-fault party from future liabilities.

It may, however, require a legal battle to have a rider compensated fairly for a road rash injury. That is why wounded motorcycle riders and their families need to choose a lawyer who has a proven track record of success in and out of the courts. A lawyer who only understands how to settle cases rather than win them in front of a judge and jury maybe just half the lawyer a rider needs to be compensated for a road rash injury.

YOU HAD A BAD CASE OF ROAD RASH. SO, WHAT’S NEXT?

Let’s wrap things off with some brass tacks, as we’ve covered a lot of territory in this blog article. Let’s imagine you were injured by a road rash in a motorcycle accident in the Colorado Springs region. What should you start with?

The solution, believe it or not, is straightforward. You should see a doctor right away and follow his or her recommendations. Never attempt to treat a road rash injury with over-the- counter medications, and never try to bear the discomfort. When you get road rash after a bike accident, you risk contracting a severe illness. You might make the wound much, much worse if you wait too long to get it cleaned and treated.

Seeking medical help protects you against more than just a dangerous sickness. It also provides documents that a lawyer may utilize to substantiate your case against the person who caused your motorcycle accident in Colorado Springs. These documents may establish the type and severity of your injuries, as well as the fact that you did nothing to worsen your condition.

Do you have questions regarding your rights after a motorcycle accident in Colorado Springs that resulted in a road rash? For a free consultation, contact an experienced motorcycle accident lawyer now. We’re here to assist you on your road to recovery.

Warrior Car Accident Lawyers

1902 W. Colorado Ave., Suite 100

Colorado Springs, CO 80904

719-300-1100