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Bowling Green Moped Accident Lawyer

Getting around Bowling Green does not necessarily require a car or truck. Plenty of local residents, including the 20,000-plus students of Western Kentucky University, have discovered the convenience of navigating the town on two wheels. Bicycles, obviously, are a popular option. But for those needing to travel farther distances more quickly, a moped might do the trick.

Of course, all moped riders should always exercise caution when sharing the roadways with other motor vehicles. In a one-year period, Bowling Green logged 35 collisions involving mopeds, according to the Kentucky State Police. A significant number of those accidents occurred on the streets surrounding WKU. Fortunately, no fatalities resulted. However, 26 people sustained injuries.

Unfortunately, as the number of Bowling Green moped riders increases, riders will likely experience more accidents. After all, during that same time, 12 people died in moped accidents in other cities and towns around the Commonwealth.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN WARREN COUNTY

When she’s not engaged in her legal practice, Flora is giving back in the Warren County community, helping in the schools, charities, and fundraising events. If you’ve been out and about, you might have seen her law firm’s mascots, Poppy and Pixie, the raccoons. She has donated over $200,000 to charities and fundraisers over the years including: BG OnStage, Kiwanis Club, Stuff the Bus, Lions Club, Toys for Tots for Southern KY, International Center of KY, Band Together BG, Poppy Field Trips, Thunderfest, Holy Spirit Catholic Church, South Central KY Kids on the Block, Operation Stand Down, Buddy Walk, and Save Our Kids Coalition.

Attorney Flora Templeton Stuart: A Trailblazing Fighter

Flora Templeton Stuart has gained invaluable experience throughout her decades-long legal career. When she first began representing clients, Attorney Stuart was the lone female lawyer in the local bar. In the years that followed, she earned her clients’ trust and her colleagues’ admiration in case after case. She has secured millions of dollars in compensation for victims of accidental injuries and tragedies in and around Bowling Green.

Today, Flora is a testament to how fighting the good fight day-in, day-out, can make lasting changes in a community.

The Dangers of Bowling Green Moped Accidents

Mopeds are dangerous machines. Mopeds are marketed as an option for those uninterested in the effort of riding a bike, but fearful of the power and speed of a motorcycle. Mopeds (sometimes referred to as motor scooters) are, in reality, much more like motorcycles than their riders might willingly acknowledge. Kentucky law allows mopeds to reach speeds of 30 miles per hour, far faster than most people ever pedal a bike. At 30 miles per hour, a collision is not just dangerous; it’s likely deadly.

Characteristics of Bowling Green Moped Accidents

Why and how moped accidents happen is not always easy to determine. Most sources of data lump mopeds and motorcycles together as a single category. The federal National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration (NHTSA), for instance, includes mopeds in the broader category of “motorcycles” in its annual “fatal crash facts” report.

The most recent available report reflects the following facts about “motorcycle” accidents across the nation:

Crash locations. The NHTSA found that about 60 percent of deaths in motorcycle accidents happen in urban areas. However, more fatal crashes happen away from intersections than at intersections. The official Kentucky data linked above, however, seems to match with those numbers. Moped crashes in Bowling Green since the beginning of 2018 have happened in a wide variety of settings. Most accidents took place outside of an intersection.
Time of day. National-level data say that fatal motorcycle accidents happen more often during the day than at night. The same held true in Bowling Green. The majority of the moped accidents resulting in injuries have occurred during daylight hours.
Contributing factors. The Kentucky State Police report reveals that moped accidents in Bowling Green were caused by a variety of contributing factors. Collisions frequently happened “mid-block.” The location suggests a sideswipe collision between a motor vehicle and a moped. Often sideswipe accidents result from a motorist’s inability to observe the moped in their vehicle’s blind spot. Police also reported numerous “angle collisions” and accidents involving one vehicle or the other turning. This suggests that crashes result from a motorist failing to yield the right-of-way to a moped-rider. There were also, troublingly, several “rear end” collisions, though the reports do not indicate which vehicles rear-ended which.

Perhaps most concerning, data on Bowling Green moped accidents suggests that accidents most commonly occur in completely ordinary riding conditions. Most Bowling Green moped crashes have occurred during daylight hours. In addition, accidents have also happened on dry, straight roads, in clear or merely cloudy conditions.

In other words, riding a moped is not simply dangerous when the roads are wet and visibility is poor. Most of the injury-causing accidents on mopeds happen when weather and road conditions are not a contributing factor. Rather, the data suggests that human error likely causes most moped accidents in our city. So, again, it is vitally important to operate mopeds with caution.

Common Moped Accident Injuries

We are, as we said, lucky that Bowling Green has not seen a fatal moped collision over the past two years. Other Kentucky municipalities have not been so fortunate.

Of course, “luck” is a relative term. Even if a moped rider survives a collision, the rider still faces a significant risk of severe, life-altering injuries. After all, except for a helmet (which a rider should always wear, and must wear by law in some cases), riders have little if any physical protection from injury in a crash. Crashes that result in the rider being thrown from the moped are particularly dangerous.

At the office of attorney Flora Templeton Stuart, we help injured clients seek the compensation they deserve. We have helped clients recover for a wide range of catastrophic

injuries resulting from moped (and similar) accidents. Some common serious injuries include:

Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) resulting from a moped rider’s head absorbing a violent impact or penetrating injury. TBIs frequently cause permanent, severe cognitive, motor, and emotional impairments that can last for years. After suffering a TBI, moped riders and their families experience enormous physical, emotional, and financial difficulty. The most reliable way to reduce the risk of TBI in a moped crash is to wear a helmet.
Spinal cord injuries caused by a rider’s body violently impacting the road or colliding with a vehicle or other fixed object. These injuries frequently leave moped crash victims paralyzed, facing a lifetime of massive expenses.
Crushed or traumatically amputated limbs often result from a vehicle running over the rider after an initial impact throws the rider from the moped. These injuries cause debilitating and permanent loss of use of the affected limbs.
Severe road rash resembles a third-degree burn, produces a similar amount of pain, and recovery takes a comparable time. Road rash often causes disfiguring scars, sometimes called traumatic tattoos.
Orthopedic injuries include broken bones and dislocated joints sustained in a tumble from a moped. Though these injuries can heal in time, they cause significant pain and may cause lasting damage to a rider’s mobility.
Internal injuries to major organs are often accompanied by dangerous bleeding. Even if repaired, internal injuries can leave a moped rider struggling with long-lasting health complications.

Of course, this is not a complete list. Getting thrown violently from the seat of a moped can cause riders to sustain just about any injury imaginable. Regardless of the severity of your injury from a Bowling Green moped crash, Flora Templeton Stuart and her team stand ready to help. We will work tirelessly to hold the person or entity who caused your crash accountable.

Accountability for a Bowling Green Moped Accident

Who might Flora Templeton Stuart and her team seek to hold accountable for a Bowling Green moped collision? The answer to that question varies widely from accident-to-accident. However, some parties are commonly responsible for compensating victims of moped crashes:

Motorists. Careless or reckless driver behaviors put many moped riders in danger and cause many crashes. Oftentimes, the circumstances of the crash point directly to that “other driver.” Mopeds frequently collide with the side of a car or truck making a left-hand turn.
Motorists’ employers. In the case of a moped accident involving a commercial vehicle, the driver’s employer may also face legal liability. If a moped rider is harmed while an employee is performing his job duties, the employer may be responsible. As a general matter, employers are legally responsible for their employees’ poor driving.
Bar/restaurant owners. Selling alcohol to someone who is already obviously intoxicated at the time of serving may deem owners and servers liable. For instance, if an overserved customer drives drunk and injures a moped rider in an accident, the server may be responsible.
Parts manufacturers. Though complicated to prove, many motor vehicle accidents occur because of a defect in a part of one of the vehicles involved. When an attorney can show the defect led directly to the accident, the manufacturer can face liability to anyone harmed.

Of course, every moped crash in Bowling Green has its own unique facts. Flora Templeton Stuart and her team know that facts matter in proving legal liability. They are dedicated to digging deep into the details of the accidents that harmed their clients. They will identify any indication of who should be held accountable for the harm caused by the accident.

Damages for Bowling Green Moped Accident Injuries

After establishing who should pay compensation to a client injured in a Bowling Green moped accident, Flora and her team determine how much. Here, too, the details of the specific moped accident will determine the types of compensation the victim might recover.

In general, money damages for Bowling Green moped crashes may include:

Economic (or special) damages reimburse a moped rider for the direct costs of the accident and ensuing injuries. Economic damages may include:

Costs of medical care not covered by insurance;
Costs of physical therapy and rehabilitation;
Costs of medical supplies and prescriptions;
Wages the moped rider misses the chance to earn by being out of work; and
Income the cyclist cannot earn in the future because of his or her accident injuries.

Non-economic (or general) damages compensate the moped rider for the indirect harms flowing from the accident. These harms are more difficult to quantify and may include:

The rider’s pain and suffering;
Damage to the rider’s closest personal relationships, such as with a spouse or parent; and
Damage to the rider’s ability to enjoy life.

When a Bowling Green moped accident involves especially reckless or outrageous actions, a Kentucky court may also award punitive damages. Punitive or exemplary damages are a form of punishment intended to deter egregious conduct in the future.

A Bowling Green Moped Accident Lawyer Can Help Right Away

A Bowling Green moped accident can disrupt a rider’s life. Accidents are typically extremely stressful and chaotic. The last thing on the minds of injured victims or their families is hiring a lawyer. The painful and upsetting process of recovering from serious injuries takes all of the rider’s energy.

Flora Templeton Stuart and her team know, from experience, how overwhelming life feels after a moped accident. They also know, however, that seeking legal help as soon as possible can maximize a moped accident victim’s recovery. You deserve to obtain every dollar of compensation you need to heal and move forward.

Flora Templeton Stuart - Bowling Green Moped Accident Lawyers The sooner a moped accident victim speaks with a lawyer, the sooner a lawyer can:

Start investigating the accident to collect and preserve critical evidence and eyewitness accounts that might disappear over time.
Connect with insurance companies to protect the client from insurance adjusters who might try to undermine the client’s claim for compensation.
Give advice about how to talk about the accident, including on social media, so as not to put a claim at risk.