Articles Posted in Motorcycle Accidents

Motorcycle accident collisions often result in the most serious or catastrophic injuries, sometimes even wrongful death as occurred at about 3:20 pm, Monday, October 12, 2020, when motorcyclist Arthur Maloles was involved in a collision with a SUV in Torrance California.

On Tuesday, authorities from the Coroner’s office and the Torrance Police Department identified the deceased motorcyclist as Arthur Maloles, age 44, of Winnetka, California.  Mr. Maloles apparently died at the scene of the collision, located at Hawthorne and Lomita Boulevards, in Torrance.

It was reported that Mr. Maloles was travelling on a motorcycle northbound on Hawthorne Boulevard, near Lomita Boulevard, when a Ford Escape vehicle, allegedly traveling southbound on Hawthorne Boulevard made a left turn in front of Mr. Maloles, causing Mr. Maloles and the motorcycle he was operating to collide with the Ford Escape vehicle, according to Sgt. Alexander Martinez of the Torrance Police Department.

According to the Los Angeles Times, a 22-year-old motorcyclist died after he was hit by a Lyft driver in Costa Mesa. The police responded to the scene of the crash, which occurred around 8:50 p.m., and found the motorcyclist unresponsive.  The accident occurred as the motorcyclist was traveling north on Fairview Road. The Lyft driver was traveling west and made a left turn, causing the collision. “The Lyft driver had just completed a trip to the Mesa del Mar neighborhood and had no passengers at the time of the collision.”

Ride sharing apps like Lyft and Uber are now a part of life, especially in busy areas like Los Angeles. For some time, it was unclear if Lyft and Uber could be held responsible for injuries and deaths caused by their drivers. Now, they offer insurance coverage for their drivers, however, how much liability they have depends on if or how the driver was using the app at the time of the accident. For example, in this motorcycle/Lyft accident it makes a difference that the Lyft driver had completed a trip and did not have a passenger in the car.

According to the Uber and Lyft websites, their insurance coverage for drivers is categorized to how the driver is using their car:

On Monday January 7, 2019, around 12:08 p.m., a collision at the intersection of Lakewood Boulevard and Willow Street in Long Beach caused the death of 25-year-old Corey Haggerty of Lakewood. The motorcyclist and a driver of a 2018 Ford Explorer made contact as the motorcycle changed lanes to make a left turn onto Willow Street. The Ford Explorer had just exited the 405 freeway.

The Press Telegram reports that Long Beach firefighters responded to the scene, but were unable to save Haggerty, who was thrown from his 2012 Honda CBR 600 to the southbound lane. Haggerty was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Ford Explorer driver, a 49-year-old woman from Torrance, stopped at the scene and cooperated with officers. She and her fellow passenger were uninjured. At this point, “Detectives do not believe the driver of the SUV was under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of the collision.” The collision and investigation closed the southbound and northbound ramps to the freeway for about 4 hours. Officers will continue investigating the incident to determine the cause.

A 22-year-old young man from San Jacinto, Thomas Llamas, was recently killed in a Perris motorcycle accident. According to The Press-Enterprise, the Perris accident occurred at the intersection of Rider Street and Wilson Avenue, when a sedan made a left turn as Llamas was traveling straight through the intersection.

Llamas struck the passenger side of the vehicle. He was immediately taken to the Riverside University Medical Center in Moreno Valley, but passed away shortly after his arrival. The driver of the sedan was not injured in the accident and was not arrested. The police are still trying to determine what caused the accident, but drugs or alcohol do not appear to have been involved.

Unfortunately, fatalities from motorcycle accidents nationwide have more than doubled over the past 15 years. Motorcycles can be an especially appealing mode of transportation in Southern California due to the beautiful weather and heavily trafficked roads, but this can mean there is even more danger for motorcyclists. A report from earlier this year showed that in 2016, “566 motorcyclists were killed in California — an 11 percent increase from 494 deaths in 2015…that doesn’t include the 14,400 motorcyclists injured.” California also ranks in the top 15 of the 50 states for motorcycle fatalities.

25-year-old Granada Hills resident, Matthew Fielding, was killed Sunday morning, September 16, 2018 in a Los Angeles motorcycle accident. This motorcycle accident occurred in the Newhall Pass on the southbound side of the 5 freeway, around 11:10 a.m. According to the Los Angeles Daily News, the motorcycle and a 2002 BMW collided on the freeway.

As a result of the crash, “Fielding was ejected from his motorcycle and landed on the southbound truck lanes,” police reported. The driver and passenger in the BMW were uninjured. Due to the motorcycle accident fatality, the investigating officers closed the southbound truck lanes on the 5 freeway for four hours. Continue Reading

According to ABC 7 News, just before 4 a.m. on June 28, 2018, on the 5 Freeway in Santa Ana, a driver of a Jaguar sedan crashed head-on into a motorcyclist. The Santa Ana motorcycle accident killed both the Jaguar driver and the motorcyclist on impact.

The Jaguar driver, who caused the collision, was driving in the wrong direction on the freeway—travelling southbound while in the northbound carpool lane. Officers reported that the vehicles immediately burst into flames. The accident mangled the motorcyclist’s body, making it “one of the worst [accidents] in a while.” The northbound freeway was closed for hours.

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