Back

How Motorcycle Insurance Coverage Effects a Passenger | Denver Car Accidents

Jeff Kelley | 662 Views | 01/29/2015

Motorcycle Passenger Safety and Litigation

This is prime motorcycle riding season and we hope you’re paying close attention to all those riders on two wheels. If you’re a rider, there are some things you can do to make sure that you’re really safe when you ride. Jeff Kelly, an attorney with Harding and Associates is here the first Friday of every month. He’s an avid motorcyclist who’s been riding for 30 years. Yes. 30 years. Wow. You have a lot of experience. And you’ve been practicing law for 25. Okay. We are talking to female passengers today. So all females out there who ever get on the back of a motorcycle, you want to listen up today because this is really interesting. You get a lot of phone calls come Monday morning. Yes. Why? Tell me why. Well, because people have been out riding motorcycles, and oftentimes it’s the passenger that’s calling me. They’re home, they’re unfortunately recovering from some kind of a collision. And they’re saying, “What do I do? What insurance do I go? Who do I contact?” Yeah. What do I– because I think, as females, we say, “Oh, motorcycle ride. Let’s get on.” It’s very last minute.

You’re not really thinking a lot about what could happen, and so a lot of these accidents do happen and you don’t have coverage. That’s right. What happens is someone’s invited, say, “Hey, I’m going to go to the store. I’m going to go somewhere. Would you like to go with me on my bike?” And the passenger, oftentimes a female, says, “Sure. I’ll go.” But they don’t know really what they’re getting into when they’re throwing their leg over that back seat and what may lie ahead there for them if there’s a collision. Okay.

You brought your helmet today. How can you miss this? It’s very neon. I remember saying no to the helmet when I was a young 20-year-old because I didn’t want to ruin my hair [laughter]. A lot of women do that. That is so common with– it’s hot. It might be 95 degrees out. I brought this several times because I want to really establish through repetition that this is the type of thing that could really save you from an accident.

Clothing, last time I brought a jacket that was the same color and that’s what I wear. This is what I wear. I want to make sure that I can be seen. You can’t miss it. Absolutely. Okay. We’re going to talk about protecting yourself if you’re a passenger, specifically. Most passengers are females. Why don’t we get into that. Right. Let’s get right down to that. Obviously, you might have health insurance. That’s great. That could be there as sometimes almost a last resort. But primarily, what you’re not going to know as a passenger, you’re not going to know what kind of insurance that motorcycle has. So if it’s a friend or even someone that you just met, and you’re getting on the motorcycle, that person only has to have $25,000 of liability protection. So if the driver of that motorcycle commits an error, drives recklessly, too fast, crashes the bike, the passenger is going to have only $25,000, the minimum limit, if they have that. Perhaps they have no insurance. So you brought a printout today. Obviously, we’re not going to be able to see this one. But you say– there’s your printout. You say that women should actually ask the person who’s driving to bring this out, really? Any passenger needs to know this. This is the bare essentials. Right on the top. Motorcycle Liability Insurance – $500,000. That’s like carrying– They need to have that. Well, it’d be good to know because your injuries could well exceed $500,000. And this is bodily injury coverage. This is what the driver of the motorcycle has to cover the passenger if they driver of the motorcycle’s at fault.

Now, dropping down there to Motorcycle Medical Payments, that’s $10,000 in MedPay. That is the most that I could actually get under this particular policy. That would set off any insurance coverage that one might have with health insurance. You have to pay health insurance back from a recovery from a third party. Medical payment coverage would reduce the amount that you have to pay back.

So you need to make sure there’s MedPay? Yes. In addition– Ideally. –to that top one? Okay. And then, as I’ve talked about on prior shows, the uninsured motorist protection down below, you see $500,000. That applies when the driver of the motorcycle would not have maybe done anything incorrectly, or not at fault for the accident and another vehicle caused the accident, or perhaps either another vehicle or a vehicle that didn’t stop. So it would be uninsured or under-insured. A vehicle that didn’t stop to say what insurance they had, or the one that did cause the accident had again maybe that minimum $25,000.

So you have to have those three? Yeah. I have to say, when I used to ride around with my boyfriend, this wasn’t even on my mind. And if it would’ve been, I would’ve been a little embarrassed to ask, Can I check your insurance? But you say you have to be smart about it, right? Well, it is a trap for the unweary. And we, as attorneys at Harding and Associates, we have to go back in time and try to assemble what’s available and look for the coverage.

As a passenger, the passenger has a unique set of challenges when there’s an injury because the driver of the other vehicle, possibly a car, may blame the driver of the motorcycle. Going too fast, too fast for conditions, sliding out on sand, around a curve. The passenger’s basically going to be the victim. As a last resort, the passenger hopefully will have some uninsured or under-insured coverage on their vehicle sitting in the driveway at their house. That’s the only thing a passenger can do is verify what coverage they have on their own vehicles. And some of that insurance coverage that you have on your, let’s say, four-wheel vehicle may exclude an accident that happened on a vehicle with less than four wheels.

So the moral of the story is, females, as passengers, we need to be smart about it. And we want people to know that you and Phil Harding are available to look over people’s coverage and let them know if they have enough, right? Absolutely. They could send it in anytime. We’ll talk to them, go over that coverage. Great. All right. If you have any legal questions for Jeff or his colleague, Phil Harding, as we mentioned, they would love to hear from you. Just log on to coloradosbest.tv, look for Phil’s photo, and click right there. They take the time to answer each question personally. And to contact Harding and Associates directly, their number is 303-762-9500 or online at hlaw.org.

By: Jeff Kelley

How Motorcycle Insurance Coverage Effects a Passenger | Denver Car Accidents

Motorcycle Passenger Safety and Litigation

This is prime motorcycle riding season and we hope you’re paying close attention to all those riders on two wheels. If you’re a rider, there are some things you can do to make sure that you’re really safe when you ride. Jeff Kelly, an attorney with Harding and Associates is here the first Friday of every month. He’s an avid motorcyclist who’s been riding for 30 years. Yes. 30 years. Wow. You have a lot of experience. And you’ve been practicing law for 25. Okay. We are talking to female passengers today. So all females out there who ever get on the back of a motorcycle, you want to listen up today because this is really interesting. You get a lot of phone calls come Monday morning. Yes. Why? Tell me why. Well, because people have been out riding motorcycles, and oftentimes it’s the passenger that’s calling me. They’re home, they’re unfortunately recovering from some kind of a collision. And they’re saying, “What do I do? What insurance do I go? Who do I contact?” Yeah. What do I– because I think, as females, we say, “Oh, motorcycle ride. Let’s get on.” It’s very last minute.

You’re not really thinking a lot about what could happen, and so a lot of these accidents do happen and you don’t have coverage. That’s right. What happens is someone’s invited, say, “Hey, I’m going to go to the store. I’m going to go somewhere. Would you like to go with me on my bike?” And the passenger, oftentimes a female, says, “Sure. I’ll go.” But they don’t know really what they’re getting into when they’re throwing their leg over that back seat and what may lie ahead there for them if there’s a collision. Okay.

You brought your helmet today. How can you miss this? It’s very neon. I remember saying no to the helmet when I was a young 20-year-old because I didn’t want to ruin my hair [laughter]. A lot of women do that. That is so common with– it’s hot. It might be 95 degrees out. I brought this several times because I want to really establish through repetition that this is the type of thing that could really save you from an accident.

Clothing, last time I brought a jacket that was the same color and that’s what I wear. This is what I wear. I want to make sure that I can be seen. You can’t miss it. Absolutely. Okay. We’re going to talk about protecting yourself if you’re a passenger, specifically. Most passengers are females. Why don’t we get into that. Right. Let’s get right down to that. Obviously, you might have health insurance. That’s great. That could be there as sometimes almost a last resort. But primarily, what you’re not going to know as a passenger, you’re not going to know what kind of insurance that motorcycle has. So if it’s a friend or even someone that you just met, and you’re getting on the motorcycle, that person only has to have $25,000 of liability protection. So if the driver of that motorcycle commits an error, drives recklessly, too fast, crashes the bike, the passenger is going to have only $25,000, the minimum limit, if they have that. Perhaps they have no insurance. So you brought a printout today. Obviously, we’re not going to be able to see this one. But you say– there’s your printout. You say that women should actually ask the person who’s driving to bring this out, really? Any passenger needs to know this. This is the bare essentials. Right on the top. Motorcycle Liability Insurance – $500,000. That’s like carrying– They need to have that. Well, it’d be good to know because your injuries could well exceed $500,000. And this is bodily injury coverage. This is what the driver of the motorcycle has to cover the passenger if they driver of the motorcycle’s at fault.

Now, dropping down there to Motorcycle Medical Payments, that’s $10,000 in MedPay. That is the most that I could actually get under this particular policy. That would set off any insurance coverage that one might have with health insurance. You have to pay health insurance back from a recovery from a third party. Medical payment coverage would reduce the amount that you have to pay back.

So you need to make sure there’s MedPay? Yes. In addition– Ideally. –to that top one? Okay. And then, as I’ve talked about on prior shows, the uninsured motorist protection down below, you see $500,000. That applies when the driver of the motorcycle would not have maybe done anything incorrectly, or not at fault for the accident and another vehicle caused the accident, or perhaps either another vehicle or a vehicle that didn’t stop. So it would be uninsured or under-insured. A vehicle that didn’t stop to say what insurance they had, or the one that did cause the accident had again maybe that minimum $25,000.

So you have to have those three? Yeah. I have to say, when I used to ride around with my boyfriend, this wasn’t even on my mind. And if it would’ve been, I would’ve been a little embarrassed to ask, Can I check your insurance? But you say you have to be smart about it, right? Well, it is a trap for the unweary. And we, as attorneys at Harding and Associates, we have to go back in time and try to assemble what’s available and look for the coverage.

As a passenger, the passenger has a unique set of challenges when there’s an injury because the driver of the other vehicle, possibly a car, may blame the driver of the motorcycle. Going too fast, too fast for conditions, sliding out on sand, around a curve. The passenger’s basically going to be the victim. As a last resort, the passenger hopefully will have some uninsured or under-insured coverage on their vehicle sitting in the driveway at their house. That’s the only thing a passenger can do is verify what coverage they have on their own vehicles. And some of that insurance coverage that you have on your, let’s say, four-wheel vehicle may exclude an accident that happened on a vehicle with less than four wheels.

So the moral of the story is, females, as passengers, we need to be smart about it. And we want people to know that you and Phil Harding are available to look over people’s coverage and let them know if they have enough, right? Absolutely. They could send it in anytime. We’ll talk to them, go over that coverage. Great. All right. If you have any legal questions for Jeff or his colleague, Phil Harding, as we mentioned, they would love to hear from you. Just log on to coloradosbest.tv, look for Phil’s photo, and click right there. They take the time to answer each question personally. And to contact Harding and Associates directly, their number is 303-762-9500 or online at hlaw.org.

By: Jeff Kelley