San Diego’s climate lends itself to a great motorcycle riding experience. The views, the warm air, and the sunshine all make for an enjoyable ride. Whether you are out to experience the freedom of the open road or heading to work, a motorcycle provides you with a great way to get around Southern California.
Yet, in just the blink of an eye, all that enjoyment can quickly turn tragic. Whether at the dangerous intersection of University Avenue and 52nd Street or in your own neighborhood, you may encounter an extremely treacherous driving situation.
Frequently in motorcycle accidents, victims suffer road rash if their body slides across the asphalt. An injured individual may suffer only road rash or may suffer many serious injuries. If you or a loved one has sustained injuries, including road rash, in a motorcycle accident, you should consult an experienced San Diego road rash injury lawyer to advocate for you.
Gomez Trial Attorneys stands ready to lend our resources to help you recover maximum compensation given the specific circumstances of your accident.
Gomez Trial Attorneys’ Past Results
Gomez Trial Attorneys takes pride in helping our San Diego neighbors hold negligent parties responsible for their careless actions that result in harm. Our goal is to help victims like you recover maximum compensation for your road rash injuries.
With over $750 million recovered for injury victims, our results speak for themselves. Unlike many other law firms in San Diego, we have the resources necessary to take on a complex motorcycle accident injury case. For over fifteen years, we have developed relationships with motorcycle accident reconstruction experts who help us determine the exact cause of your accident, so we can work to hold the at-fault party liable for your injuries.
We’re also not afraid of going to trial. While we may attempt to settle your case out of court, the last thing we want is to see you settle for less than the full value of your case. Many insurance companies refuse to settle for a fair and reasonable amount, so going to trial might be necessary to achieve the most favorable result. You don’t want to be stuck with a lawyer who has never been to trial before. Without the right resources battling for you, you could miss out on your chance to collect maximum compensation for your road rash injuries.
Road Rash Causes
San Diego has been on a mission to review and fix the most dangerous intersections in the city. The city has made substantial progress but still has a long way to go. Whether your accident happened at one of the intersections identified as particularly dangerous by the city, in a parking lot, or even on your own street, if someone else causes the accident, you may qualify to recover compensation for your losses.
Road rash happens when your open skin drags across the ground. Caused by friction with the ground, your skin can suffer everything from minor scratches to being completely peeled back, exposing nerve and bone. It sounds awful and it is extremely painful. Often, victims who suffer serious road rash have to get the wound cleaned with abrasive cleaning methods, causing additional pain.
Road rash is usually simple for medical professionals to diagnose, so you should have no problem getting prompt and accurate treatment. The site of your injury may appear red and raw. The skin may feel hot to the touch and it may feel like you have burned the area. Road rash may also bleed, depending on the depth of the wound.
In minor cases, you may be able to treat road rash at home. Wash your hands thoroughly so that you don’t transfer any bacteria or other items into your body since you will be dealing with an open wound. Gently wash the road rash injury. Your skin will feel extremely sensitive and being too forceful during cleaning may cause additional damage.
Once the area is clean, look for any debris, like tiny pebbles, that might have lodged themselves in your skin as you slid across the ground. Removing this debris is crucial to ensure that you don’t get an infection. Then you need to dry the area, apply antibiotic ointment, and cover it with a clean cloth or medical covering. If the injury bleeds slightly, change the covering routinely. If it doesn’t stop bleeding, seek medical attention.
Failing to adequately care for your road rash injury can cause painful infections and other medical complications. If your injury does not start to look better, you need to see a doctor to get medical treatment.
Types of Road Rash
Depending on the severity of your road rash injury, your treatment may vary. Going from minor scrapes that you can bandage with at-home remedies to road rash so bad that it requires emergency surgery, these injuries run the spectrum from minor to life-threatening.
Road rash comes in many forms.
The most common are:
- Avulsion – The skin is scraped away, which may result in bleeding or more serious medical issues, such as exposing muscle and bone.
- Compression – Happens when your body is trapped under an object, like your motorcycle, causing bruising, muscle damage, and broken bones.
- Open wound – The worst type of road rash, all layers of skin are peeled away, exposing internal body parts, often requiring skin grafts to fully heal.
There are three degrees of road rash, much like burns. Each is recognized by different signs and may have different treatment options.
First-Degree
Considered minor and commonly treated with at-home remedies, you might walk away from this type of road rash injury. You may see bleeding and some scrapes at the site of the injury. You may experience pain that goes away in a few days with the help of over-the-counter medicine. In the longer term, you may have bruising, redness, and some pain that lingers, but you should have no problem fully healing from a first-degree road rash injury. To be safe, you should still seek medical attention, because a dirty wound could cause a serious infection.
Second-Degree
When you slide across the ground and your skin is damaged beyond just the first layer, you may experience second-degree road rash. Second-degree road rash may include the exposure of nerves, muscles, and even bone. You will notice swelling, bleeding, heat, and pain at the injury site. Long-term, you may have scarring. Second-degree road rash requires immediate medical attention. With the right treatment, however, you could make a full recovery.
Third-Degree
The most severe road rash injuries require immediate medical attention. Some third-degree road rash injuries can even prove life-threatening. Not only does this injury expose bones and other internal body parts, but infection often results. When so much of the internal workings of your body are exposed to open air, it does not take long for infections to take hold. The infections can cause additional medical problems, above and beyond the road rash. Third-degree road rash often requires skin grafting, and many times leaves victims with permanent scarring.
How Accident Investigations Work
Motorcycle accidents are complex. Because of this complexity, you want a legal advocate fighting to protect your rights. The police and accident investigators may conduct their own investigations, but you want a skilled San Diego road rash lawyer to investigate your accident, too. Your lawyer may uncover items the police missed that help prove someone else caused your accident and injuries.
Gomez Trial Attorneys has developed relationships with San Diego motorcycle accident reconstruction experts who can review your accident details, visit the accident scene, and use their expertise to determine the cause of your accident. This is an important step to make sure that you sue the right party (or parties).
To determine the cause of your accident, we may collect evidence that includes:
- Eyewitness statements
- Police records
- Medical records
- Medical bills
- Insurance company documentation
- Video surveillance
- Crash scene pictures
- Driver mobile phone records
- Vehicle damage estimates
Collecting this evidence is vital to accurately determining who caused your accident and, ultimately, your road rash injury. Holding the right party accountable is an important step toward attempting to collect maximum compensation for your injuries.
Damages You May Qualify To Pursue
Gomez Trial Attorneys works diligently for San Diego motorcycle accident injury victims like you.
While you deal with your road rash injury and put all of your effort and energy into your physical recovery, your aggressive legal advocate may try to recover compensation on your behalf for:
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Lost income
- Lost earning potential
- Loss of companionship
- Loss of life enjoyment
- Present and future medical expenses
- Rehabilitation costs
Many San Diego road rash victims see the mountain of medical bills piling up on their kitchen table and mistakenly think that the insurance company’s initial settlement offer is as good as it’s going to get. Thinking this way could leave you covering your out-of-pocket expenses, adding insult to injury.
Even first-degree road rash could leave you out of work for some time. For millions of Americans, missing even a single paycheck could put them in financial trouble. Add to that the astronomical medical bills, and you may be in a tough spot.
That’s why speaking with a knowledgeable road rash lawyer in San Diego as soon as possible after your accident is always a wise choice. It’s not your job to pay your medical bills. You did not cause the accident, and you should not bear any responsibility to cover those costs. Likewise, you should be able to recover compensation for your missed paychecks while you are out of work recovering from your injuries. Gomez Trial Attorneys can help you by advocating for your best interests and working toward that common goal.
Maximizing Your Settlement
After a motorcycle accident, you may get a call from the insurance company representing the at-fault driver. For many road rash victims, this causes excitement and hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Without a trusted legal advisor at your side, however, we urge caution when considering this initial settlement offer. The insurance adjuster may try to get you to settle on the spot. The adjuster may tell you that you won’t get a better offer and that a lawyer will just cut into your settlement. Consider why the agent is pressing so hard for you to settle without thinking about your options or getting a second opinion. It’s because a quick settlement is in the insurance company’s best interest, not yours.
Your lawyer shares your interests and can aggressively battle the insurance company to try to get you maximum compensation. Settling quickly and without a lawyer is not advisable. What the insurance adjuster won’t tell you is that if you do settle, you will waive your right to bring any future claims against the insurance company for this accident. Months or years later, when you still have medical bills to pay or are still not back at work full time, if the settlement funds have run dry, it’s too late to pursue additional compensation. You have no other option but to cover those expenses yourself.
Gomez Trial Attorneys can help avoid this situation. By partnering with respected road rash injury lawyers in San Diego, you can give yourself every opportunity to collect maximum compensation and avoid paying out of pocket.
Speak With a Trusted San Diego Road Rash Lawyer Today
San Diego is a great place to ride a motorcycle, but that can come with dangers. Like any major city, San Diego has bad drivers. Some get distracted, and others drive too aggressively. When that happens, you may pay the price by being knocked off your motorcycle and suffering a road rash injury.
Partnering with an experienced San Diego motorcycle accident attorney will help you in your pursuit of compensation for the full cost of your injuries. To recover from your injuries, you need to focus on that recovery. You can’t do that if you are also worried about paying your medical bills and dealing with legal complexities.
Get a legal advocate on your side today. Contact Gomez Trial Attorneys to learn more about your legal options and how we can help you following a motorcycle accident.
