Motorcycle accidents are rather common in Ontario as there is a fairly large number of bikers. Once the weather starts to get warmer, this becomes a preferable method of transportation and means of spending leisure time for a huge amount of people. The reasons are different – from the well maintained roads and the beautiful nature in the province, the incentives are numerous. However, being involved in a motorcycle accident is without a doubt something tremendously daunting and potentially devastating.
Motorcycle accidents, just like highway accidents find regulation in the Insurance Act of Ontario as well as the Highway Traffic Act. With this in mind, those pieces of legislation are particularly comprehensive and provide clear guidelines as to what constitutes an accident and how its development goes.
What is more, within the Insurance Act of Ontario, you are going to stumble upon the so called Rules of Fault Determination. These are regulations which are going to provide the proper distribution of fault in any accident which involves motor vehicles, regardless of whether they are motorcycles or cars, trucks and whatever. There is a specific rule which is particularly paramount for the development of each and every motor vehicle case in Ontario. This is the so called “No fault” rule. This rule stipulates that regardless of who’s the at fault driver, the insurance company is going to handle the compensation.
Now, keep in mind that motorcycle accidents are much more severe than regular car crashes. This is due to the fact that the cyclist is absolutely exposed. The only thing that’s going to help him out is his protective gear and that’s widely insufficient when it comes to it. There is no additional support from the roll bars of the car nor airbags and other safety mechanisms. This is why motorcycle accidents usually end up with tremendous injuries and even with death in a lot of instances. This is more with motorcycles as there is no auto body to lower the impact and the driving speed is usually high which translates as more severe injuries and death.
This is why the aforementioned rule has a huge impact. Instead of directing the claim towards the other driver, the victim has to claim his compensation from the insurance company. Of course, this doesn’t mean that fault isn’t going to be assigned. The insurance company itself is going to conduct its own investigation in order to determine the faulty driver. This is done so that his premiums can be increased accordingly because his risk rate has increased as a result of the accident. As you can see, there are quite a lot of things that you’d have to take into proper account when it comes to personal injury law and especially when it comes to motorcycle accidents. It is highly advisable that you get the help of a personal injury lawyer. They have the experience to deal with law enforcement and other government services.
