A supersport motorcycle is one that has been built on a racing platform, but modified for the highway and sold to the general public. Supersports motorcycles are especially popular with riders under the age of 30. They typically have more horsepower per pound than other types of vehicles on the road. Their low profile makes them particularly harder to see on the road than traditional motorcycles, which themselves are often difficult for the driver of another vehicle to detect while driving.  California motorcycle accident lawyers discuss the various types of accidents involving these high-powered vehicles.

Sport and unclad sport motorcycles have more upright riding positions than supersport motorcycles, and have more legroom between the seat and the foot pegs. Unlike supersport motorcycles, sport and unclad sport motorcycles have lower power-to-weight ratios and can be equipped with a rear trunk or side bags. Unclad motorcycles are modeled after sport and supersport motorcycles in design and performance, but do not have the full body panels, fairing covering, or windscreens typically found on sport and supersport motorcycles.

According to the Highway Loss Data Institute, supersport motorcycles are among the highest type of motorcycle involved in accidents, more than six times higher than cruiser motorcycles and almost four times higher than touring motorcycles. (Supersport biks are also the most frequently stolen type of motorcycle.) Figures released by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reveal that, while supersport motorcycles account for less than 10 percent of all registered motorcycles, over 25 percent of motorcyclist deaths can be attributed to supersport motorcycles. 57 percent of supersport motorcycle fatalities are due to speed and driver error. Speed and driver error were significant factors in fatal sport and unclad sport motorcycle accidents (46 percent), while they were factors in only 27 percent of fatal cruiser and “regular” motorcycle accidents, and only 22 percent of fatal accidents involving touring motorcycles.

Because supersport motorcycles are built for speed and performance and are slung low to the ground making them harder to see, and because drivers of this kind of motorcycle tend to be young and a bit of risk-takers, they are involved in a significant number of accidents with other vehicles. Even where the driver of the other vehicle is to blame for the accident, juries are often put off by the reputation of supersport motorcyclists for speeding, driving in and out of traffic, and general disregard for other vehicles on the road and recklessness.

In a motorcycle case in which the riders of a supersport bike are injured because of another driver’s carelessness (“negligence”), juries tend to assess a percentage of the fault for the accident to the driver of the supersport motorcycle. This is known in law as the doctrine of “comparative negligence,” in which each driver was partially to blame for the accident. For instance, in a collision involving a supersport motorcyclist, the jury is often likely to find that the supersport bike’s driver was, say, 25 percent at fault for the accident. This means the driver of the supersport bike would be entitled to recover only 75 percent of his or her medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, and other injuries and damages.

If you have been seriously injured or a loved one has been killed while riding a supersport motorcycle, you should contact an experienced motorcycle law firm such as ours to determine what rights you have. The accident may have been the other driver’s fault or the accident could have happened because of a defect in the bike itself.

Many drivers of supersport motorcycles do not have a license to drive a motorcycle and/or do not have insurance. In California, when the injured driver does not have liability insurance, he or she is entitled to recover only so-called “economic” damages, such as medical expenses and lost wages; the driver is not entitled to recover “non-economic” damages such as pain and suffering, inconvenience, physical impairment, disfigurement, or other “nonpecuniary”  damages. Non-economic often make up a significant portion of the damages recoverable in the typical personal injury case. An injured motorcyclist is also barred from recovering non-economic damages if he or she was convicted of driving while under the influence (unless the driver of the other vehicle was convicted of such offense as well).

Note that, if there was a passenger on the motorcycle who was injured or killed, the amount of damages he or she (or the family if the passenger died as a result of the crash) could recover generally would not be reduced under the comparative negligence doctrine unless the other party could prove that the motorcycle passenger did something to cause the accident. Also, the injured passenger (or the survivors of a passenger killed in a motorcycle accident) is not barred from recovering non-economic damages for his or her pain and suffering, etc.

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