Kane County Motorcycle Accident Lawyer

Motorcycle injuries are severe, and motorcycle cases are defended differently — because insurers know that some jurors bring assumptions into the courtroom before a word of evidence is heard. Representing riders in Aurora and throughout Kane County.

The real defense is bias, not liability

In a great many motorcycle cases the liability facts are not seriously in dispute. A driver turned left across the rider’s path, or changed lanes into him, or followed too closely. What the defense is actually counting on is the juror who believes, without ever saying so, that anyone who rides a motorcycle accepted the risk of being hurt on one.

That belief has to be surfaced and addressed in jury selection, long before closing argument. A lawyer who has actually picked juries in Kane, Kendall, DuPage, Will, and Cook Counties knows how to ask the question that gets an honest answer, rather than hoping the attitude is not in the room.

Common causes

• Left‑turning drivers who fail to yield to an oncoming rider
• Lane‑change and blind‑spot collisions
• Drivers following too closely
• Road defects, gravel, and poorly marked construction zones
• Impaired and distracted drivers
• Doors opened into the path of a rider

Illinois requires that a vehicle “be driven as nearly as practicable entirely within a single lane,” and that it not be moved from that lane until the driver “has first ascertained that such movement can be made with safety.” 625 ILCS 5/11‑709(a). That provision is the backbone of most lane‑change motorcycle cases.

Helmets, eye protection, and what Illinois actually requires

Illinois is one of a small number of states with no motorcycle helmet requirement for any rider. The Illinois helmet statute enacted in the 1960s was held unconstitutional in People v. Fries, 42 Ill. 2d 446 (1969), and the General Assembly has never re‑enacted one. Nothing in the Illinois Vehicle Code obligates an adult or a minor to wear a helmet on a motorcycle.

Illinois does require eye protection. Under 625 ILCS 5/11‑1404(a), the operator and every passenger “shall be protected by glasses, goggles or a transparent shield.” Contact lenses do not satisfy the statute. 625 ILCS 5/11‑1404(c).

Comparative fault

Illinois follows modified comparative fault. A rider who is partly at fault still recovers, with damages reduced in proportion to that fault — but recovery is barred entirely if the rider’s contributory fault is more than 50% of the proximate cause of the injury. 735 ILCS 5/2‑1116. In practice the fight is often not whether the rider recovers, but what percentage a jury assigns. Which is another reason the bias question matters so much.

Lane splitting — riding between lanes of slower or stopped traffic — is not authorized anywhere in the Illinois Vehicle Code, and a rider who does it should expect the conduct to be raised on comparative fault. Illinois also restricts passing on the right by a two‑wheeled vehicle unless there is an unobstructed lane available for the maneuver. 625 ILCS 5/11‑703(c).

Damages in motorcycle cases

Because there is no vehicle structure between the rider and the road, injuries tend toward the catastrophic: traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, degloving and orthopedic trauma, and amputation. Elements of damages that may be recoverable in an Illinois injury case include pain and suffering, loss of a normal life, disability, disfigurement, past and future medical expenses, and lost wages and lost earning capacity.

Where the at‑fault driver carries only the Illinois minimum coverage, the next place to look is the rider’s own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage — and, sometimes, whether the insurer sold that coverage properly in the first place.

Questions we are asked

I wasn’t wearing a helmet. Do I still have a case?

Yes. Illinois has no helmet law, so there is no legal duty to have worn one. The insurer will still try to use it, and that argument has to be answered with the right authority rather than avoided.

The other driver says I was going too fast. What happens now?

Speed is the standard motorcycle defense, and it is frequently an estimate rather than a measurement. Scene evidence, vehicle damage, event data, and an accident reconstruction can test it. Even if a jury assigns you some fault, you still recover as long as your share is 50% or less. 735 ILCS 5/2‑1116.

How long do I have to bring a motorcycle accident claim in Illinois?

Two years is the general limitations period for personal injury. 735 ILCS 5/13‑202. Shorter deadlines apply in some cases — notably one year where a local governmental body is a defendant, 745 ILCS 10/8‑101, which matters in road‑defect cases. Have the deadline confirmed for your specific facts early.

What if the driver who hit me had no insurance?

Your own policy’s uninsured motorist coverage becomes the claim. It is worth having both the policy and the original application reviewed rather than accepting the first number the insurer gives you — we have recovered substantially more than the limits an insurer initially claimed applied.