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Two Reasons:
- You want your lawyer to be able to understand what you tell him.
- You want your lawyer to be able to competently explain it to your Jury.
Do you really want to deal with a lawyer that scratches his head and asks you, "Well, why didn't you just turn the handlebars more to the left if you wanted to tighten your turn?", or "Why didn't you just slam on the brakes in the turn when the car pulled out into your lane?"
Do you really want to look into blank or disbelieving eyes as you explain to your lawyer how your two-wheeled bike turns as a function of its lean and counter steering? Do you think you should have to explain to your lawyer what would happen if you slammed on your brakes in a turn?
A motorcycle rider starting at age 11, driving the neighbors nuts, cutting up the orange groves below Mt. Baldy, California.
A biker now at 46, a real biker, just like you.
Yeah, that's right, a real biker, just like you, and that is whether you ride one of those sport bikes that always leave Ray eating their dust when taking off from intersection stops, or a cruiser, or chopper, or touring bike, or moto cross, enduro, dual purpose bike or moped. Do you feel the loyalty for your two wheeled brethren? Well, so does Ray, which is why he considers himself a biker, and a real biker, just like you.
Ray Henke is a biker who has also known the feeling of the rear wheel slipping out from under him at 50 mph in a sharp heavily trafficked Tiajuana freeway turn as it encounters a patch of oil, and then climbing atop, sparks flying behind, rides that baby in, picking the bike up by its left bar, and limping with it to the hospital.
Ray is a biker who knows first hand what it is to take a direct hit from a car pulling out from a side street, finding himself airborne, and then running back to his bike, now a pile of twisted metal, the car's front license plate embedded in the bent back brake pedal, searching his split second memory, but unable to recall lifting his right foot from where the license plate lay.
You will be able to talk to Ray, the Biker, and count on being understood.
"IT'S ALL ABOUT UNDERSTANDING!"
That's what a Biker lawyer like Ray can do for you that an auto driving personal injury lawyer can't.
Ray will understand what you tell him in "biker physics," the language that only bikers really understand. Just consider exactly what it is that you do with your left grip when you go to tighten you left turn and ask, "How would I explain that to an auto driving personal injury lawyer."
Ray will understand the effect that sand or oil can have on bike traction, and what would happen if you tried to turn or brake a bike on a gravel road. Ray will understand that you cannot just "slam on your brakes" when someone pulls into your path in a sharp turn. Ray will understand what you mean when you say you attempted to "swerve" around an object, those two rapid fire consecutive "countersteers" that sometimes can get us out of trouble. You won't have to teach Ray the principles of motorcycle physics in order just to have your points understood.
Ray will also understand your anger, and he will be angry too. Auto drivers more commonly than not have little regard, if not conscious disregard for the lives and health of motorcyclists. Eight-six percent of motorcycle accidents are caused by negligent automobile drivers. They turn left in front of us. They change lanes without bothering to turn their heads to see if a motorcycle is in that ever present blind spot in their rear view mirrors. Motorcyclists don't pose a danger to auto drivers, so they don't make certain to avoid us like they might another car. It is reprehensible! It is shameful! Bringing that out in settlement negotiations or presenting it at trial thoughtfully, forcefully and persuasively, to make the jury see it from the biker's perspective, will be one part of yours and Ray's primary objectives in the prosecution of your lawsuit.
Ray will also understand your despair, and, if you feel regrets, Ray will understand those too. He will empathize, one biker to another. He will listen. And if you ask, he will share with you his realizations and those of others who have had to come to terms with the consequences of their life's decisions ~ such as the decision to ride ~ which in retrospect may at times seem to have been a decision less mindful of your future welfare than the transient thrill of the moment. But, you chose life, meaning to live life fully, and you made a positive life decision. Life dealt you a bad hand. Like it sometime deals a bad hand to an innocent child walking right smack in the center of the cross walk, just like his mother told him to. You cannot blame yourself. And you can count on getting no ignorant comments or questions from Ray about why you chose the life of an eagle in flight rather than that of a caged in parakeet.
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