There's no steel cage around you on a motorcycle. When a car hits a rider, the rider's body absorbs the impact directly. Skin meets asphalt. Bone meets metal. The injuries in motorcycle accidents tend to be severe, and many of them follow the rider long after the bike is gone from the scene.
The numbers back this up. NHTSA reports that 6,228 motorcyclists were killed in 2024, making up 15 percent of all traffic deaths that year. It's one of the highest yearly totals since the agency started tracking the data in 1975. Per mile traveled, riders were 27 times more likely than people in cars to die in a crash. Virginia recorded 117 motorcycle fatalities in 2024, and the trend isn't moving in the right direction.
If a negligent driver hurt you or killed someone you love, the Norfolk motorcycle accident attorneys at Shapiro, Washburn & Sharp can help. A lawyer who actually handles these cases knows what the injuries involve, how insurance companies try to undervalue them, and how Virginia's harsh contributory negligence law can wreck an otherwise solid claim.
Common Motorcycle Accident Injuries
Burn Injuries
A motorcycle's engine and exhaust system aren't tucked under a hood. They're right there, inches from the rider's leg, running hot the entire ride. When a bike goes down, those components can pin the rider's skin or ignite spilled fuel. Burns from motorcycle crashes range from minor scalding to third-degree damage that requires skin grafts and months of wound care.
How bad it gets depends on which parts of the body touch, how hot the surface is, and how long the contact lasts. A rider trapped under a bike for even a short time can suffer burns serious enough to require surgery.
Avulsion Injuries
Road rash is the casual name. Avulsion is the medical term. Either way, it's what happens when a rider gets thrown off the bike and slides across pavement at speed. The asphalt acts like a belt sander, peeling off skin and sometimes the layers underneath it.
It hurts immediately and keeps hurting for weeks. Muscle, blood vessels, and nerves can end up exposed. Infections are common because the wounds are large, dirty, and hard to fully clean. Scarring is usually permanent. Riders who weren't wearing leather or proper riding gear come out of these crashes far worse than those who were, but even with full gear, road rash can be devastating at highway speeds.
Broken Bones
A motorcyclist hit by a car at 35 mph isn't just falling; they're being launched. The body twists, lands wrong, and stops suddenly against pavement or another vehicle. Wrists, collarbones, ribs, ankles, and femurs all break frequently in motorcycle crashes. Some heal with a cast and time. Compound fractures, where the bone breaks through the skin, often require surgery, hardware, and months of rehab.
Even a "simple" broken leg can keep someone out of work for weeks. For people whose jobs involve standing, lifting, or driving, that lost income adds up fast.
Spinal Cord Injuries
The spine is what tells the rest of the body what to do. Damage it, and the consequences can range from temporary nerve pain to permanent paralysis. Higher injuries on the spinal column generally mean worse outcomes, because everything below the injury point is affected.
Some spinal injuries don't show their full severity right away. A rider might walk away from the scene, only to develop weakness, numbness, or chronic pain in the days that follow. That's one of many reasons to see a doctor after any motorcycle crash, even one that seems minor at first.
Who's Actually at Fault
The stereotype says motorcyclists are reckless. The data says something different. Roughly two-thirds of multi-vehicle motorcycle crashes in Virginia involve the other driver violating the motorcyclist's right of way. The classic example is a car making a left turn directly into a motorcycle's path, either because the driver didn't see the bike or misjudged how fast it was coming.
The patterns that show up over and over include drivers checking phones at intersections, missing motorcycles in blind spots during lane changes, following too closely, pulling out of side streets without looking twice, and driving impaired. A car driver who messes up around another car usually causes a fender bender. A car driver who messes up around a motorcycle causes catastrophic injuries.
Were You Injured in a Motorcycle Accident?
If you were hurt in a crash, the motorcycle accident attorneys at Shapiro, Washburn & Sharp can help you start putting things back together. Our team has more than 70 combined years of experience working motorcycle injury claims, including the $1.85 million settlement we secured for the family of a rider who was killed by a negligent truck driver.
Founded in 1985, Shapiro, Washburn & Sharp has represented injured riders, drivers, and pedestrians across Virginia and North Carolina for four decades. Members of the firm have written articles, lectured on personal injury law, and been recognized by peer-review organizations for their work on behalf of crash victims.
If you or someone you love was hurt in a motorcycle crash that wasn't your fault, contact an experienced Norfolk motorcycle accident lawyer at Shapiro, Washburn & Sharp to find out what your options look like. Our attorneys have helped riders and families recover significant compensation, including the $1.85 million settlement we obtained for the family of a rider who was struck and killed by a negligent truck driver.
To schedule a free consultation about your motorcycle accident, call Shapiro, Washburn & Sharp at 833-997-1774 or fill out our contact form. Our firm has offices in Virginia Beach, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Hampton, Norfolk, and Chesapeake, and we're proud to serve injured riders across Hampton Roads.
