Birmingham is a good riding town. There’s the twisty climb up Shades Crest Road, the run out US-280 toward the lakes, Saturday rides that end at a barbecue joint and the crowds that come for events at Barber Motorsports Park east of town. There are also a lot of drivers who don’t look for motorcycles. When those two things meet, riders tend to get hurt badly, and the claims that follow have some Alabama-specific twists.
The helmet law
Alabama has a universal helmet law. Ala. Code § 32-5A-245 requires every person operating or riding on a motorcycle to wear protective headgear meeting the state’s standards, and it also requires shoes. There are narrow exceptions, like riders in an enclosed cab and autocycle operators.
So what happens if you weren’t wearing a helmet and got hurt? Expect the other driver’s insurer to bring it up. The argument usually isn’t that skipping the helmet caused the crash, because it almost never does. It’s that it made a head injury worse. How Alabama courts treat that argument depends on the facts and the injuries, and it’s a good question to raise with a lawyer early. Wearing a helmet keeps that whole argument off the table.
Why contributory negligence hits riders hard
Alabama is one of the few places that still uses contributory negligence. If a rider is found even slightly at fault for a crash, an ordinary negligence claim can fail. Insurers know juries sometimes carry assumptions about motorcyclists, so they lean on arguments like these.
- The rider was speeding.
- The rider was lane splitting or filtering between cars.
- The rider was hard to see because of dark clothing or no headlight.
- The rider braked or swerved improperly.
Good evidence is the answer. Helmet cameras are common now, and footage can settle a speed argument quickly. Skid marks, the final resting place of the bike and the damage to the car all help reconstruct what happened.
The classic left-turn crash
The most common serious motorcycle crash is still the car turning left in front of an oncoming bike, often with the driver saying “I never saw him.” You’ll find these at intersections all over the metro, on Highway 31 in Vestavia Hills, on Lakeshore Drive and at countless neighborhood corners. Alabama law generally requires a left-turning driver to yield to oncoming traffic. Not seeing a motorcycle isn’t a defense on its own. The driver’s insurer will try to argue that the rider was going too fast to be seen in time, which is why speed evidence matters so much.
Injuries and treatment
Motorcycle crashes often mean broken bones, road rash, spinal injuries and head trauma. Treatment can last months. Keep a folder for everything, including bills, therapy notes and photos of injuries as they heal. Road rash and scarring in particular are hard to describe later and easy to show in photos taken at the time.
UAB Hospital’s trauma center serves much of central Alabama and treats many serious motorcycle injuries. Ask the hospital for an itemized bill and your discharge paperwork before you leave if you can.
The bike and your gear
Property damage for a motorcycle includes more than the bike. Helmets, jackets, gloves, boots and other gear damaged in the crash are part of the loss. Keep the damaged helmet. Many manufacturers say a helmet should be replaced after any impact, and the helmet itself can be evidence of how hard you hit.
Insurance gaps
Alabama’s minimum liability limit is $25,000 for each person, which doesn’t stretch far after a serious motorcycle injury. Your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage can be critical. Check whether your motorcycle policy includes it, because coverage on a car policy doesn’t always extend to a bike. Our UM and UIM guide explains the basics.
Getting the report
Crashes on city streets in Birmingham are usually worked by BPD, which charges $10 for an accident report. Interstate and highway crashes are often worked by ALEA troopers, who charge $15. Rides through suburbs or county roads may involve local police or the sheriff. See our crash report guide.
Deadlines
The general deadline for an injury lawsuit in Alabama is two years from the crash, and six months for notice to a city if a city vehicle or road was involved. If a rider was killed, the family has two years from the date of death and the claim follows Alabama’s punitive-only wrongful death rule. See our wrongful death guide.
The operator’s written report, and how UM stacking is capped
Separate from the officer’s crash report, Ala. Code § 32-7-5 requires the operator of a vehicle involved in an injury crash, or a crash with more than $250 in property damage to any one person, to report the matter in writing to the director within 30 days. If the operator is physically incapable of doing so, the owner has 10 days after learning of the crash. Riders often miss this because they are still in the hospital.
If you later claim under your own uninsured motorist coverage, Ala. Code § 32-7-23 limits recovery under any one contract to the primary coverage plus coverage on additional vehicles, but not more than two additional coverages in that contract. Confirm those limits on the motorcycle policy itself, not only on a car policy in the same household.
This is general information, not legal advice. If you’d like to talk with someone who regularly handles motorcycle crashes in central Alabama, you can browse motorcycle accident attorneys.