Motorcycle Accident Lawyers
in Belleville, IL
A motorcycle offers none of the protection of a car, so when a driver fails to look twice the injuries are often severe. You do not have to face the insurers alone. We investigate, deal with the adjusters, and fight for the full compensation you are owed.
Riding through the Metro East means trusting that the drivers around you will look twice and share the road. When someone does not, a motorcyclist has no crumple zone and no airbag, and an ordinary collision becomes a life-changing one.
A Belleville motorcycle accident lawyer can protect your rights, push back on the bias riders so often face, and deal with the insurance companies while you heal. You do not have to do it alone.
The personal injury attorneys at Nelson & Nelson have spent more than 40 years representing seriously injured people across Illinois and Missouri. We handle the investigation, the paperwork, and the negotiation so you can focus on getting better.
What to Do After a Motorcycle Crash
Your health comes first. A motorcycle crash can cause injuries that are not obvious at the scene, so focus on getting safe and getting help, then protect your rights. A few steps now can protect both your recovery and your claim.
Check yourself and anyone else involved. If anyone is hurt, call 911 immediately. Adrenaline masks pain that can surface hours later, so err on the side of getting help on the way, even if you feel fine.
Unless there is immediate danger such as fire, do not remove an injured rider's helmet and do not move them. A neck or spinal injury can be made permanent by well-meaning bystanders. Wait for trained EMS and let them use C-spine precautions.
If you can do so safely, get out of the lane of traffic and turn on hazards or set out cones. Always get a police report, even for a minor crash, and ask for the report number. Exchange insurance and contact information and get details from every witness. Do not admit fault, and do not give a recorded statement to any insurer before talking to an attorney. Photograph everything: both vehicles, your gear, the road surface, signs, skid marks, and your injuries. You cannot recreate the scene later.
See a doctor even if you think you are not badly hurt. Road rash, soft tissue injuries, and concussions can worsen or surface days later, and a gap in treatment is something insurers use against riders. Follow the treatment plan and keep your appointments.
Do this before you talk to any insurer. Riders face a bias that other crash victims do not, and it hardens into the adjuster's file fast. A good attorney takes the investigation, the insurance calls, and the paperwork off your plate and pushes back on that bias from day one. Consultations are free and there is no fee unless we recover money for you. The sooner you call, the better job we can do.
Save everything: the police report number, medical bills and receipts, records of missed work, photos of your injuries and your gear, the repair estimate on the bike, and every letter or email from an insurer. Start a folder the first week. If you are unsure whether something matters, keep it.
Motorcycle cases are won or lost on evidence, and it disappears fast. We file FOIA requests, pull the vehicles' data, track down traffic and business surveillance video, and photograph the scene before conditions change. The rider is rarely the one at fault, and we work to prove it.
We also take the insurers off your back. We tell the adjusters to stop calling you directly, organize the medical and wage documentation, and work to reduce what gets paid back out of your recovery so more stays in your pocket.
How Our Motorcycle Accident Attorneys Can Help
Riders face a bias that other crash victims do not. Insurers, and sometimes even other drivers, assume the motorcyclist must have been speeding or weaving, when the data shows most riders in crashes were simply going straight ahead. Left on your own, that bias can cost you.
Our attorneys start by investigating the crash and locking down the evidence: pulling the vehicles' data, filing FOIA requests for the crash report, securing traffic and business surveillance video before it is erased, and interviewing witnesses while memories are fresh. We then document your injuries and their long-term effects so the full picture of your recovery is clear.
When it is time to deal with the insurers, we handle the calls and demand the full value of your claim, not the number the adjuster wants you to accept. If they will not be fair, we are prepared to file suit and try your case. Nelson & Nelson attorneys have tried cases to verdict in Illinois and Missouri, and insurers know it.
Common Causes of Motorcycle Accidents
Most motorcycle crashes are not caused by the rider. They happen because another driver did not see the motorcycle or failed to yield. Proving that failure, and connecting it to your injuries, is the heart of a motorcycle injury claim.
Left Turns Across Traffic
The classic motorcycle crash: a driver turns left across an intersection into an oncoming rider, then claims they never saw the motorcycle. These failure-to-yield collisions are among the deadliest for riders.
Failure to See the Rider
A motorcycle's narrow profile hides easily in blind spots and behind pillars. Drivers who change lanes or pull out without looking twice cause a large share of rider injuries. In 2024, 62% of motorcyclists in crashes were simply going straight ahead.
Distracted Driving
A driver glancing at a phone is far less likely to pick a motorcycle out of traffic. At speed, a few seconds of inattention is all it takes to miss a rider entirely.
Speeding & Following Too Closely
Speed shortens the time a driver has to react to a motorcycle and lengthens stopping distance. A rider who slows or stops in traffic can be rear-ended by a driver following too closely.
Impaired Driving
Alcohol and drugs slow reaction time and judgment. When an impaired driver causes a crash, that conduct can support a claim for additional damages.
Road Hazards
Gravel, potholes, debris, and uneven pavement that a car would shrug off can put a motorcycle down. When a road is poorly maintained or a work zone is unsafe, a government body or contractor may share liability.
The Scale of Crashes in Illinois (2024)
2024 Illinois crash data
Motorcycles make up just 1.1% of crashes but 12.2% of all traffic deaths
2024 Illinois crash data
Rider Maneuver at the Time of Crash
2024 Illinois crash data
62.4% of motorcyclists involved in crashes were simply going straight ahead, suggesting that many crashes are caused by other drivers failing to see or yield to riders.
View the full 2024 Illinois Motorcycle Accident Statistics →
Common Motorcycle Accident Injuries
Without the protection of a vehicle's frame, riders absorb the force of a crash directly. Because some injuries take time to surface, prompt evaluation and consistent treatment matter for both your recovery and your claim.
Road Rash & Soft Tissue
Sliding across pavement tears through gear and skin, causing painful abrasions, lacerations, and infection risk. Severe road rash can require skin grafts and leave permanent scarring.
Head & Brain
Because Illinois does not require helmets, head injuries are especially common. A concussion or traumatic brain injury can follow even a low-speed fall and disrupt memory, mood, and daily life.
Broken Bones & Biker's Arm
Riders instinctively extend an arm in a fall, causing the nerve damage known as biker's arm, along with fractured legs, wrists, and shoulders that can leave lasting limitations.
Spinal & Neck
Herniated discs, nerve damage, and spinal cord injuries can cause chronic pain, limited mobility, and in severe cases paralysis. This is why an injured rider should never be moved without care.
Internal & Chest
Broken ribs are the most common chest injury in motorcycle crashes and can puncture organs. Internal bleeding is not always visible or immediately painful, so prompt evaluation is critical.
Illinois Motorcycle Law, in Plain English
A few legal rules shape almost every Illinois motorcycle claim, and some are specific to riders. This is general information, not legal advice, and deadlines can be shorter in certain cases, so confirm the details with an attorney early.
You Have a Deadline
In Illinois you generally have two years from the crash to file a personal injury lawsuit. In Missouri it is generally five years. If a city, county, or other local government or one of its employees caused the crash, or a road hazard the government should have fixed put you down, Illinois gives you one year, not two. Different rules apply to minors.
Those dates are the last day you can file, not the day to start. Rider cases turn on evidence that goes away fast: skid marks, debris fields, intersection camera footage, the other driver's phone records. The earlier you call, the better job we can do. We can lock that evidence down, talk to witnesses while they still remember, push back on the rider bias before it hardens into the insurer's file, and get your claim in before other people draw down a limited policy.
The sooner you call, the better job we can do.
Illinois Does Not Require Helmets
Illinois is one of only three states with no motorcycle helmet requirement for any rider, though eye protection is required (625 ILCS 5/11-1404). Because there is no legal duty to wear a helmet, not wearing one is not negligence and generally cannot be used to reduce your recovery. Insurers still try, so it helps to have a lawyer who knows the rule.
Partly at Fault? Still Recover
Illinois follows modified comparative negligence. You can recover as long as you were not more than 50% at fault, with your award reduced by your share. Missouri uses pure comparative fault. Insurers try to pin extra blame on riders precisely because it lowers what they owe.
Coverage Often Matters Most
Illinois requires only $25,000 per person, $50,000 per accident, and $20,000 property damage in liability coverage, plus UM coverage of 25/50. When a serious rider injury exceeds the at-fault driver's policy, your own uninsured and underinsured (UM/UIM) coverage can become the most important policy in the case.
What Is My Case Worth?
Motorcycle crashes tend to cause more serious injuries than other collisions, so value turns on the severity and permanence of your injuries, your past and future medical care, lost income and earning ability, the strength of the liability evidence, and the coverage available. Anyone who promises a number before reviewing your case is not being straight with you.
Our Motorcycle Accident Case Results
Our own case results. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. Every case is different.
View All ResultsCategories of Compensation
Motorcycle Accidents in the Metro East
The same roads that make the Metro East a great place to ride also put motorcyclists in constant contact with heavy commuter and commercial traffic on I-64, I-255, I-55/70, and the busy stretches of Route 15 and Route 159. Our firm is based in Belleville, and our attorneys have recovered seven-figure results for riders hurt in Edwardsville and across Madison and St. Clair counties, so we know these roads, the local courts, and the adjusters who handle Metro East claims.
Our Motorcycle Accident Results
Examples of results our attorneys have secured for motorcyclists injured by negligent drivers in the Metro East.
Reed Nelson secured the maximum policy limit for a motorcyclist struck by a semi that ran a stop sign, after the driver denied fault. He moved fast to preserve crash video and uncover the driver's prior history.
Reed Nelson recovered a confidential multi-million-dollar settlement for a motorcyclist rear-ended by a work truck and airlifted from the scene, after liability was denied.
Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. Every case is different.
Why Choose Nelson & Nelson
The People in Your Corner
Reed C. Nelson
Managing PartnerReed limits his practice to representing seriously injured people and has recovered six- and seven-figure results for motorcycle, car, and trucking crash victims. Licensed in Illinois and Missouri, he is known for moving fast to preserve evidence like crash video. A former motorcycle rider who once held his own license, Reed brings firsthand knowledge of how a crash actually unfolds on two wheels — insight he has used to push back when insurers try to blame the rider.
Dane C. Nelson
PartnerDane has secured a series of six-figure policy-limit recoveries in motor vehicle crash cases, and routinely works to reduce clients' medical bills so more of the recovery stays in their pocket.
David C. Nelson
PartnerA trial lawyer licensed in Illinois and Missouri, David handles catastrophic motor-vehicle injury cases and has tried cases to verdict in state and federal court.
Nathan C. Lanter
PartnerNathan represents people catastrophically hurt in motor-vehicle collisions and has won jury trials and multimillion-dollar recoveries across Illinois and Missouri.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long do I have to file a motorcycle accident claim in Illinois?
I was not wearing a helmet. Can I still recover?
What if the crash was partly my fault?
Is lane splitting legal in Illinois?
The driver who hit me had no insurance or not enough. Can I still recover?
How much does a motorcycle accident lawyer cost?
Should I give the other driver's insurance company a statement?
My injuries did not show up right away. Does that hurt my case?
Will my motorcycle accident case go to trial?
Focus on your recovery. We'll take on the insurers.
Free consultation. No fee unless we recover money for you. Phones answered 24/7.