Common Causes of Motorcycle Accidents in New Jersey

Almost every rider who walks into my office asks some version of the same question after a crash: how did this happen to me. In most cases, the answer traces back to one of a small handful of recurring causes that show up again and again in police reports and insurance files. Some of these causes come from other drivers, some come from the road itself, and a few come from the rider.

Understanding which one applies to your case matters, because it usually determines who is at fault, how New Jersey's comparative negligence rule applies, and what your claim is actually worth. Below is a plain explanation of the causes I see most often, along with what New Jersey law says about each one.

Left Turn Collisions

A driver turning left across an intersection or into a driveway is the single most common cause of serious motorcycle crashes I see. The pattern is almost always the same: a car waiting to turn left misjudges the motorcycle's speed or distance, or simply does not register the motorcycle at all, and turns directly into its path. Officers and drivers often describe this as the driver looking right at the rider without ever seeing them, since a driver's brain is scanning for the shape and size of a car rather than a much smaller motorcycle.

These crashes tend to be severe because the motorcycle strikes the side of the turning vehicle directly, with little to no time for the rider to brake or swerve. A driver who fails to yield while turning left is generally at fault under New Jersey traffic law, though an insurer will look closely at the rider's speed and lane position before accepting that conclusion.

Distracted Driving

Phones, food, navigation screens, and general inattention behind the wheel are a major factor in crashes involving any type of vehicle, but the consequences fall hardest on motorcyclists. A driver glancing down for even a second or two can miss a motorcycle entirely, especially in traffic, at an intersection, or when merging. Because a rider has so little protection compared to someone in a car, a distracted driving crash that might cause a fender bender between two cars can cause catastrophic injury to a motorcyclist.

Attorney insight

‍Cell phone records, dashcam footage, and traffic camera video are often the strongest evidence in a distracted driving case, and they can disappear or get overwritten quickly. Sending a preservation letter to the other driver's insurer soon after a crash is one of the first things I do.

Speeding

Speed changes the outcome of a crash in two ways. First, it makes a collision more likely, since a speeding vehicle, whether a car or a motorcycle, has less time to react to a hazard and a longer distance to stop. Second, it makes any collision that does happen far more severe. A rider going even 10 or 15 miles per hour over a safe speed for the road, the weather, or the traffic around them faces a meaningfully higher risk of serious injury if something goes wrong.

Speed is not always the rider's own speed either. A car traveling well above the limit, tailgating, or weaving through traffic near a motorcyclist creates a hazard the rider often cannot see coming and cannot avoid regardless of how carefully they are riding.

Alcohol and Drug Use

Riding a motorcycle is a physical skill that depends on balance, quick reflexes, and constant judgment calls about following distance, lane position, and hazards. Alcohol and many drugs, including some prescription and over the counter medications, dull exactly those abilities. A rider does not need to be legally intoxicated to be impaired enough to make a crash more likely, and impairment on the part of the other driver is just as dangerous to a motorcyclist as impairment behind the handlebars.

New Jersey treats driving while intoxicated, N.J.S.A. 39:4-50, seriously for exactly this reason, and a crash involving an impaired driver often supports a much stronger claim for the injured rider, including the possibility of punitive damages in the most serious cases.

Lane Splitting

Lane splitting means riding between two lanes of stopped or slow moving traffic. It is illegal in New Jersey. State law requires a motorcycle to be operated entirely within a single lane, so a rider who is lane splitting at the time of a crash is very likely to be found at least partially at fault, regardless of what the other driver did.

Why this matters

‍Because lane splitting is against the law here, an insurance company will use it aggressively to argue for a higher share of comparative fault against the rider, even in a crash that was substantially the other driver's doing. If you were lane splitting when you were hit, that fact needs to be addressed directly and honestly rather than ignored.

Open Car Doors

A parked car door swinging open directly into a rider's path is a particularly unfair kind of crash, since a motorcyclist often has no realistic way to avoid it. This happens most often on streets with parking directly alongside a travel lane, where a driver or passenger opens a door without checking for approaching traffic. New Jersey does not have a specific statute naming this scenario, but ordinary negligence principles still apply. A person opening a car door owes a duty of reasonable care to check for oncoming riders, cyclists, and vehicles before doing so, and a failure to do that can support a claim against them.

Road Hazards and Poor Roadway Conditions

A pothole, a patch of loose gravel, faded lane markings, an uneven utility cut, or a poorly designed intersection can be a minor annoyance to a car and a serious hazard to a motorcycle. Because a motorcycle balances on two narrow contact points instead of four, road defects that a car simply rolls over can cause a rider to lose control entirely.

• Potholes and pavement defects, especially ones that appear suddenly after winter freeze and thaw cycles
• Gravel, sand, or debris, often left behind after construction or a prior accident
• Faded or missing lane markings, which make it harder for a rider to judge lane position at night or in poor weather
• Uneven pavement seams and bridge joints, which can unsettle a motorcycle's front wheel without warning
• Poorly designed or poorly lit intersections, which reduce the time a rider and other drivers have to see and react to each other

When a road hazard is on a roadway owned by a county, municipality, or the state, the claim works differently than an ordinary crash between two vehicles. New Jersey's Tort Claims Act requires a formal notice of claim to be filed within 90 days of the crash, and missing that deadline can end an otherwise valid case before it starts. If a hazard is on a federally owned road or property, a separate federal notice process applies instead. Because these deadlines run quickly and do not extend for a rider who is still recovering from surgery, I encourage anyone hurt by a road defect to speak with an attorney as soon as possible.

Weather and Seasonal Hazards

Weather affects motorcycles differently than it affects cars, and the risk changes with the season. Wet leaves in the fall, road salt and sand left over from winter, and oil or fluid residue that builds up during a dry stretch and then gets slick in the season's first rain can all reduce a motorcycle's traction dramatically. Rain itself brings reduced visibility for the rider and for the drivers around them, along with a longer stopping distance. None of these conditions excuse a driver from operating safely, and a crash caused by a driver going too fast for the weather still supports a negligence claim.

Rider Inexperience and Lack of Training

New riders face a higher risk of being involved in a crash simply because judgment calls about following distance, cornering, and hazard recognition take time and practice to develop. This does not mean a new rider is automatically at fault in a crash. It does mean that when fault is contested, an insurer may look at a rider's licensing history and experience level as one factor in how the crash is evaluated. New Jersey requires a valid motorcycle endorsement to legally operate a motorcycle on public roads, and riding without one can complicate a claim even when the crash itself was caused by another driver.

Mechanical Failure

Worn tires, failing brakes, a broken mirror, or a chain and sprocket past their service life can all contribute to a crash, and in some cases the failure traces back to a defective part rather than lack of maintenance. When a mechanical failure is caused by a manufacturing or design defect, a claim may exist against the manufacturer separate from any claim against another driver. Preserving the motorcycle itself after a crash, rather than having it repaired or scrapped right away, is often important evidence in these cases.

How Fault and Comparative Negligence Apply

New Jersey follows a modified comparative negligence rule under N.J.S.A. 2A:15-5.1. A rider can recover damages as long as their own share of fault is 50 percent or less, and their compensation is reduced by whatever percentage of fault a jury or insurer assigns to them. A rider who is found 51 percent or more at fault recovers nothing. This is exactly why the cause of a crash matters so much. A left turn collision where the rider was riding normally supports a strong claim with little or no reduction. A crash where the rider was lane splitting, speeding, or riding without a helmet gives the insurance company an argument for a higher percentage of fault, even when the other driver was substantially responsible for what happened.

What to Do If You Were Hurt

Identifying the actual cause of a crash, rather than accepting an insurance company's first explanation, is often the difference between a fair settlement and a lowball one. That means getting the police report, photographing the scene and the road surface itself, tracking down any nearby video, and getting a mechanical inspection of the motorcycle when a defect is suspected. I also look immediately at whether a governmental entity may be responsible, since that 90 day notice window under the Tort Claims Act does not wait for anyone to feel ready to deal with it.

The Bottom Line

Most motorcycle accidents come down to a small number of recurring causes, and the specific cause behind your crash shapes both who is at fault and what New Jersey's comparative negligence rule means for your case. Left turns, distracted driving, speeding, and impaired driving account for the large majority of the serious crashes I handle, with road hazards, weather, and mechanical failure making up most of the rest.

If you or someone you love was hurt in a motorcycle accident anywhere in Passaic, Bergen, Essex, or Morris County, I would be glad to look at what happened and give you a straight answer about what caused it and what your case may be worth.