Personal Injury Law

Gas Hike Resulting in Motorcycle Accident Hike

By Eddie Farah

Emergency room doctors are seeing more motorcycle injuries as the price of gasoline rides higher.

The ER at University of Florida at Shands has seen a hike of more than 37 percent in motorcycle accidents so far this spring, says Dr. Richard Crass, an emergency room physician.

That is not entirely unusual. More motorcycles hit the road in April and May generally, but Dr. Crass says he's never seen such an increase. The riders in more serious wrecks never make it to an emergency room.

Helmets are likely to decrease the severity of head injuries in a motorcycle crash. Florida however does not require helmets if adults on a motorcycles and moped riders have at least $10,000 of medical insurance.

After that was allowed in 2000, a published report in the American Journal of Public Health, noted that there was a 49 percent jump in motorcyclist deaths the next year.

With an auto fill-up around $70 or more, motorcycles will increasingly be an attractive alternative. It's just one more good reason the price of gasoline should go down.

Full post as published by Jacksonville Personal Injury Lawyer on June 25, 2008 (boomark / email).