Aurora Motorcycle Accident Teaches Valuable Lessons

I’d like to wish Greg Edwards a speedy recovery.  According to a story in the Denver Post, Mr. Edwards was riding his motorcycle through an intersection in Aurora when a motorist ran a red light and hit him broadside.  Mr. Edwards received serious injuries as a result of the other driver’s reckless driving.  As a motorcycle accident attorney, I unfortunately see this type of accident all the time.  But, there are lessons that can be learned from Mr. Edward’s experience.

First, Mr. Edwards had on proper safety equipment including a full face helmet.  ”It really paid off — the full shield helmet,” Edwards said. “When I got airborne, I hit face first.”  Mr. Edwards was also wearing a protective riding jacket that helped minimize his injuries.

Second, Aurora uses video cameras at intersections and more importantly it releases accident videos to the public/victims.  We help motorcycle accident victims all over the State of Colorado and if more municipalities used video cameras, riders would get the justice they deserve.  Let me explain.  In a typical motorcycle accident, the motorcycle rider is heading east on a road and the motorists is heading west.  As the motorcycle rider approaches an intersection with a green light the motorists makes an illegal left hand turn in front of the motorcycle and hits the rider.  Who do you think gets the ticket?  Time and time again it is the motorcycle rider who gets ticketed for careless driving.  Whether it is because of police bias or some other factor it happens too often to be just a coincidence.  If more municipalities like Aurora had cameras at intersections more motorcycle riders would receive the justice they deserve.

But just having video cameras at key intersections does not solve the problem.  Municipalities must be willing to release the video footage to the parties involved in the accident.  For example, Denver refuses to release video footage to parties involved in accidents where video cameras may have captured footage of the accident.  Denver’s policy has no rational basis.  Yet they refuse to release footage even in extreme accidents.

Once again, I wish Mr. Edwards a speedy recovery and I appreciate him telling his story to the Denver Post.