Attorney Matthew R. Arnold answering the question: “The insurance company wants to send me to their own doctor for a second opinion. Do I have to go?”
In an episode that highlights just how dangerous motorcycle riding can be, a freshman at North Carolina A&T was killed late last month after his bike collided with a stopped vehicle. The force of the accident threw the motorcyclist into oncoming traffic, causing severe injuries that led to his death.
According to police, Xavier Watkins died while riding his 2012 Yamaha motorcycle sometime after 10:30 p.m. Police say Watkins was traveling around 50 miles per hour when he collided with a vehicle that had stopped at a stop sign.
Authorities say that the impact with a stopped car caused Watkins to be thrown from his bike and fly more than 97 feet in the air before landing in oncoming traffic. Emergency responders say Watkins was taken to Moses Cone Hospital with multiple broken bones and a variety of other severe injuries. Sadly, Watkins died several days later from his injuries.
According to public safety experts, the kinds of injuries caused by motorcycle accidents can be incredibly severe and wide ranging, depending a lot on the circumstances of the accident itself. Concussion and brain damage are common results of accidents where drivers are thrown from their bikes given the force with which the riders hit the pavement. Wearing a helmet reduces your risk of death by 37 percent, though by no means ensures your survival. Other common injuries in motorcycle accidents where a rider has been thrown from a bike incudes broken arms, legs, shoulders, hips, knees and wrists. Arms and legs are most vulnerable to breakage given a person’s natural instinct to use them to break their fall.