Top Austin Motorcycle Accident Lawyer Expert Legal Help for Riders
Down on an Austin road? Here is what you are about to run into: the other driver’s insurer will start from the assumption that you were going too fast, riding too aggressively, or came out of nowhere. It is rarely true, and it is almost always where the fight begins. We ride that fight for you. SMB Law, PC has handled Texas injury claims since 2010, we take motorcycle injury cases on contingency, and the case review costs nothing. Call (512) 561-5003.
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Written and legally reviewed by Shane M. Boasberg, founding attorney at SMB Law, PC, licensed in Texas since 2002. Last updated August 26, 2026.
A rider has no crumple zone, no airbag, and no steel cage. The same intersection collision that leaves two drivers exchanging insurance cards puts a motorcyclist in an ambulance. That is why motorcycle claims are worth more, get fought harder, and go wrong faster than car claims.
The legal reality is a second problem. Adjusters and jurors carry an assumption about riders that they do not carry about drivers, and the other side will lean on it from day one. Our job is to take that assumption apart with evidence — the sight lines, the skid, the vehicle damage, the witness who saw the driver turn across your lane without ever looking.
We handle motorcycle cases as part of a full Austin personal injury practice, and we also keep a set of plain-English accident resources for riders who just want to understand what happens next before they call anybody.
Key Takeaways
- The left-turn crash is the one that puts most riders in the hospital, and TxDOT data shows 40% of Texas motorcycle fatalities happen at or near intersections.
- Adjusters and jurors start from the assumption that the rider was at fault. Beating that assumption with physical evidence is most of the work in a motorcycle case.
- Not wearing a helmet does not bar your claim in Texas. It gives the insurer a comparative fault argument, and only where the missing helmet actually affected the injury you are claiming.
- Texas gives you two years to file, the 51% bar wipes out recovery entirely if more than half the blame lands on you, and you pay us nothing unless we win.
How We Handle Your Motorcycle Accident Case
From the day you hire us, three things run at once. We lock down the evidence while it still exists. We take over every call from the adjusters so nothing you say gets turned against you. And we build the medical record that shows what this crash actually cost you, not just what the ER billed on night one.
You will not be chasing the body shop, the records department, or the insurance company between appointments. We call you when a decision is genuinely yours to make, and whether to accept an offer is always yours. If the crash took someone in your family, it becomes an Austin wrongful death case, with its own rules about who can bring the claim and what the family can recover.
Want a rough number before you call? Run your medical bills and lost income through our free settlement calculator for a starting range in about a minute.
The first two weeks matter more in a motorcycle case than in almost any other kind of claim. Camera footage from businesses along the road gets overwritten. The bike gets hauled to a salvage yard and crushed. Gouge marks and fluid stains on the pavement wash away in the first hard rain. Witnesses who stopped at the scene stop answering their phones.
So we move on the physical evidence first: photographs of the bike before it is destroyed, the vehicle’s damage pattern, the sight lines at the intersection, the crash report and any supplement, and the helmet and gear themselves, which often tell the story of the impact better than anything else in the file. On serious cases we bring in a reconstructionist to put speed and geometry on paper, because physics does not get flustered on cross-examination the way a witness does.
What you should do in the meantime is short. Do not give the other driver’s insurer a recorded statement. Do not sign a blanket medical authorization. Do not post about the crash, the bike, or your recovery anywhere public. Send us what you already have and let us carry it from there.
Recent Results
No lawyer can promise you an outcome, and you should be skeptical of one who tries. What we can show you is what this work has been worth to the people who hired us. These are recent injury results across the firm, not motorcycle cases specifically:
- $1,000,000 — truck accident collision. Multiple injuries. Full policy limits recovered. (2026)
- $100,000 — rear-end collision. Herniated disc. Full policy limits recovered. (2026)
- $100,000 — Uber collision. Back injury. Full policy limits recovered. (2026)
In each of those the available coverage was paid in full, which is the point worth carrying into a motorcycle claim: the ceiling on a recovery is very often the size of the policy rather than the size of the injury. Finding every policy is part of the work.
Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any future case. Every case turns on its own facts, the injuries involved, and the insurance coverage available.
What Actually Causes Austin Motorcycle Crashes
Most of the motorcycle cases that come through our door are not close calls on fault. They follow a handful of patterns, and the pattern usually tells us where to look first.
- The left-turn crash. A driver turns left across a rider’s lane at an intersection or a driveway, either never seeing the bike or badly misjudging how fast it was closing. This is the single most common serious motorcycle collision, and it is almost always the driver’s fault.
- The lane-change blind spot. A motorcycle disappears into the blind spot of a car or SUV, and the driver changes lanes into a rider they never checked for. Common on I-35, Mopac, and US-183 in heavy traffic.
- Following too closely. A rider brakes for stopped traffic and gets hit from behind. Rear-ending a motorcycle at even modest speed can put a rider on the pavement.
- Opening a door. Downtown and around the Rainey Street and Sixth Street corridors, a parked driver swings a door into a moving rider.
- Impaired driving. The late-night crashes are the severe ones, and they are the cases most likely to support exemplary damages.
- Road hazards. Loose gravel through a construction zone, an unmarked drop-off between lanes, a pothole, spilled diesel. What a car rolls over can put a bike down, and sometimes the responsible party is a contractor rather than a driver.
Austin has been under construction for a decade, and the lane shifts on US-183 and Ben White catch out riders and drivers alike. If you want a sense of where crashes concentrate citywide, we mapped it in our study of the 25 most dangerous intersections in Austin. Intersections matter more to riders than to anyone else on the road.
Who Is at Fault When a Driver Turns Into a Rider?
Fault in Texas comes down to four things: the other driver owed you a duty of care, they breached it, the breach caused the crash, and you were hurt as a result. In a left-turn or lane-change case the breach is usually a traffic rule someone broke — failure to yield, unsafe lane change, following too closely — which is a far cleaner argument to a jury than a general claim that somebody was careless.
The complication is Texas’s modified comparative fault rule. Under Section 33.001 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, your recovery drops by your percentage of the blame, and at 51% it disappears entirely. That rule is the whole reason the insurer works so hard, so early, to move fault onto the rider. Every point they shift is money off your claim, and past fifty it is the claim itself.
Fault is not always limited to the driver. A parts manufacturer can be on the hook when a tire or brake component fails. A contractor or a government entity can be responsible for a hazard left in a travel lane. A bar can face liability under the Texas dram shop act for over-serving a driver who then hits you. Finding every responsible party is often what separates a policy-limits recovery from a partial one.
What You Can Recover After a Motorcycle Crash in Texas
Texas sorts recovery into three categories, and in a serious motorcycle case all three usually matter.
Economic damages are the losses with a paper trail: the ambulance, the emergency room, surgeries, hardware, physical therapy, future medical care, the wages you lost while you were down, the earning capacity you lost if you cannot go back to the work you did, and the bike itself along with your helmet, jacket, and gear.
Non-economic damages cover what the crash did to your life: physical pain, mental anguish, physical impairment, disfigurement, and loss of enjoyment of life. Riders often have a strong case here and undersell it. Road rash leaves scarring. A shattered ankle ends the riding. Being unable to get back on a bike you have ridden for twenty years is a real loss, and it is compensable — but only if somebody puts it in the file in specific terms rather than adjectives.
Exemplary damages, which most people call punitive, come up when the conduct went past carelessness into gross negligence — a drunk driver, a street racer, a driver who left you in the road. Chapter 41 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code caps them and sets a higher standard of proof, but where the facts support them they change what a case is worth, and the evidence has to be gathered early.
What to Do After a Motorcycle Crash in Austin
Call 911 and stay down until someone checks you out. Riders routinely refuse transport because the adrenaline is doing its job, and then discover a fractured scapula three days later. Get transported if anyone suggests it.
If you are able, or if someone with you is: photograph the bike where it came to rest, the other vehicle, its damage and license plate, the intersection and its sight lines, the skid and gouge marks, the road surface, and your gear. Get names and numbers from witnesses before they drive off. In a motorcycle case witnesses matter more than usual, because the two drivers’ accounts will not agree and there is often nobody else to break the tie.
Then, in the days after:
- Get evaluated within 72 hours even if you walked away. A treatment gap is the first thing the defense points at.
- Keep the bike and the gear. Do not authorize repairs, do not let the insurer total and haul it off, and do not throw away a cracked helmet. That equipment is evidence.
- Say nothing recorded to the other driver’s insurer, and do not guess at speed or distance.
- Stay off social media about the crash, the bike, and your recovery.
- Keep everything — bills, explanations of benefits, pay stubs showing missed time, and a short daily log of what hurts and what you cannot do.
Beating the Bias Against Riders
Here is the part nobody tells riders. Before a single fact is discussed, a share of adjusters and jurors already believe the motorcycle was speeding, weaving, or showing off. Studies of jury attitudes have found this consistently, and defense lawyers know it. It is why a rider with a clean liability case still gets a lowball first offer.
You do not beat that with argument. You beat it with evidence. The damage pattern on the car shows the angle of impact. The absence of a long skid shows you were not flying. The sight lines at the intersection show what the driver could have seen if they had looked. The witness who says the driver turned without stopping does more for the case than any speech about rider safety.
We also build the other half of the picture deliberately: your license and endorsement, your training, your gear, your riding history. A rider who took the safety course, wore full gear, and has ridden the same commute for a decade is a very different figure to an adjuster than an anonymous motorcycle in a police report. That framing is where Austin motorcycle accident attorneys who ride these cases regularly pull ahead of a firm that takes one occasionally.
Motorcycle Injuries We See Most Often
Motorcycle injuries are different in kind, not just degree. The ones we see most often:
- Traumatic brain injury, including concussion with no loss of consciousness, which affects memory, mood, and the ability to hold a job long after the scans come back clean
- Spinal cord injuries, where the claim has to account for a lifetime of care
- Road rash and degloving, which sound minor to people who have never seen one and routinely mean skin grafts, infection risk, and permanent scarring
- Orthopedic trauma — the shattered ankle, tibia, wrist, and collarbone injuries riders get from going down, often needing plates, screws, and a second surgery to remove them
- Internal injuries, including organ damage and internal bleeding that does not announce itself at the scene
- Amputation, in the worst of them
Psychological injuries count too. Anxiety about riding, intrusive memories, and sleep problems after a serious wreck are compensable under Texas law and treatable. Tell your doctor, and tell us.
Tell every provider about every symptom, including the ones that feel too small to mention. Undocumented symptoms did not happen, as far as the claim is concerned.
How Insurers Treat Motorcycle Claims Differently
Motorcycle claims get handled differently from the moment the file opens, and it is worth knowing why.
The exposure is bigger, because the injuries are worse, so a serious file gets a more experienced adjuster and defense counsel involved sooner. The bias described above gives them a fault argument to work with from day one. And a lot of riders carry minimal coverage on the bike itself, which means the money has to come from the driver’s policy — and Texas only requires drivers to carry $30,000 per person. One helicopter ride and one orthopedic surgery clears that before anyone has discussed pain and suffering.
That makes coverage hunting a real part of the job: the driver’s policy, any umbrella policy, an employer’s policy if the driver was working, and your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, which many riders have and do not know about. Send us your declarations page and we will read it and tell you what you actually have.
One more thing: do not take the first offer because the bills are stacking up. Early offers arrive before anyone knows whether you need a second surgery, and a signed release cannot be undone.
Texas Helmet Law: What It Says and How Insurers Use It
Texas requires a helmet, with an exception most riders over 21 qualify for. Under Section 661.003 of the Transportation Code, a rider or passenger 21 or older is exempt if they have either completed an approved motorcycle operator training and safety course or are covered by a health insurance plan with medical benefits for collision injuries. Riders under 21 must wear one, no exceptions. The fine for the offense is between $10 and $50.
Two details worth knowing. A peace officer may not stop or detain you for the sole purpose of checking whether you completed the course or carry the insurance. And the statute does not say anything about civil cases — which brings us to the part that actually matters for your claim.
Not wearing a helmet does not bar your claim. What it does is hand the insurer a comparative fault argument, and that argument only holds where the missing helmet actually caused or worsened the specific injury you are claiming. A head injury opens the door to it. A shattered tibia does not, and we say so. Riders who were not wearing a helmet regularly assume they have no case and never call anybody. That assumption costs people real money.
What the Texas Crash Numbers Actually Show
The numbers explain why these cases get fought the way they do. According to the Texas Department of Transportation, 585 motorcyclists were killed on Texas roads in 2024, and 2,534 riders were seriously injured. Thirty-seven percent of the riders killed were not wearing a helmet.
The figure that matters most for the cases we handle: 40% of motorcycle fatalities in Texas happened at intersections or in intersection-related crashes. That is the left-turn collision, over and over. It is the crash where a driver looks straight at a motorcycle and pulls out anyway, and it is why so much of our early investigation goes into sight lines, signal timing, and what the driver could actually see.
Figures are from TxDOT’s 2024 crash data and its motorcycle safety fact sheet. Statewide numbers do not decide any individual case, but they do tell you what kind of crash keeps happening in Texas — and it is not the one the insurance company will describe.
How Long You Have to File a Motorcycle Accident Lawsuit
Two years from the date of the crash. That is the rule under Section 16.003 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, and courts apply it without sympathy. There are narrow exceptions — a rider who was a minor, someone incapacitated by the crash itself, an injury that could not reasonably have been discovered — but they are exceptions, not a plan. If a government vehicle or a government-owned road hazard is involved, the Texas Tort Claims Act requires written notice within six months, and some cities require it sooner. A wrongful death claim runs from the date of death.
Not sure where your dates fall? Run them through our Texas injury deadline calculator, then call us.
Most claims never become a motorcycle accident lawsuit. When one does, we file in the appropriate Travis, Williamson, or Hays County court, the defendant answers, and the case moves into discovery — written questions, documents, and depositions of the drivers, the witnesses, and the experts. Courts usually order mediation before trial, and a large share of filed cases resolve there. Before you file any personal injury claim, the full scope of your damages has to be known, which is another reason we do not rush a demand out the door.
No-Contact Crashes: When the Driver Never Touched You
You do not have to be hit to have a claim. A no-contact crash happens when a driver forces you to lay the bike down or run off the road to avoid them — a car drifts into your lane, pulls out of a driveway, brakes hard for a turn they signaled too late. The driver often keeps going without ever realizing what happened behind them.
Texas law does not require contact for liability. It requires negligence that caused your injuries. But these are the hardest motorcycle cases to prove, because there is no paint transfer, no crush damage, and frequently no identified driver. What wins them is what always wins them: witnesses found early, camera footage pulled before it cycles, and physical evidence at the scene documented while it still exists.
If the driver was never identified, this is where your own uninsured motorist coverage comes in — it can cover a phantom-vehicle claim, though Texas requires corroboration beyond your own account and your policy has notice deadlines you can miss without knowing it. Call somebody the same week.
Why Some Claims Settle in Months and Others Take Years
A straightforward claim can resolve within a few months of the day you finish treating. A motorcycle crash lawsuit with surgery or disputed fault usually takes a year or more.
The biggest factor is your medical treatment. We do not send a demand until your doctors can say where you are going to end up, because a settlement sent before that gets built on an incomplete picture — and you are the one who pays for the surgery nobody counted on. Disputed liability adds months. Multiple defendants add months. A trial setting adds a year, and sometimes earns several times the offer that was on the table.
Fast is not the goal. Right is the goal, and we will tell you plainly which offer is which.
The Austin Motorcycle Accident Attorney on Your Case
Riders looking for the best motorcycle accident lawyer in Austin should ask who actually works the file. Here it is Shane M. Boasberg, not a case manager you never meet. Shane has been licensed in Texas since 2002 and founded SMB Law, PC in 2010. Before private practice he worked in the Texas Legislature and the Office of the Texas Attorney General, which is a useful education in how institutions and their lawyers actually behave.
Among Austin motorcycle accident attorneys that record stands up: Texas Monthly named him a Rising Star, Elite Lawyer has recognized him, and he belongs to the State Bar of Texas, the Austin Bar Association, and the Capital Area Trial Lawyers Association. Motorcycle work sits inside a broader Austin injury practice, which matters more than it sounds — the same crash can involve an uninsured driver, a commercial vehicle, and a road-hazard claim at once, and they have to be worked together. If you want to see how we approach the negotiation itself, we wrote it up in our guide to personal injury settlement strategy.
If you have searched for a motorcycle accident lawyer near me, our law firm works from 1204 San Antonio Street in downtown Austin, a few blocks from the Travis County courthouse. Contingency fee, so you owe nothing unless we win. We represent riders across Travis, Williamson, and Hays counties, including Cedar Park, Georgetown, Leander, Kyle, Buda, Bee Cave, and Lakeway. If getting to us is hard right now, we come to you.
Talk to an Austin Motorcycle Accident Lawyer Today
The driver’s insurance company started building its version of your crash the day it happened, and that version starts with you at fault. You should have somebody building the other one.
Call SMB Law, PC at (512) 561-5003 or request a free case review. We will read the crash report, look at what coverage is out there, go through your injuries, and tell you plainly what we think the claim is worth and what it will take to get there. If we think you do not need an attorney, we will say that too.
No fee unless we win, and nothing at all for the conversation. And if you were not wearing a helmet, call anyway — that is not the end of your claim, whatever the adjuster implies.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What should I not say to the insurance adjuster after a motorcycle crash?
Do not guess, do not minimize, and do not agree to a recorded statement — you are not required to give one to the other driver’s insurer. Avoid saying you are fine, and be especially careful about estimating your speed or how far away the car was when it turned, because those two numbers are exactly what the fault argument gets built from. Give your name and the basic facts, then tell them your lawyer will follow up.
Can I still recover money if I was not wearing a helmet?
Yes. Texas has no law barring a claim because a rider was not wearing a helmet, and riders over 21 are often legally exempt anyway. What the insurer gets is a comparative fault argument — and it only carries weight where the lack of a helmet actually caused or worsened the specific injury being claimed. For a head injury it is a real fight. For a broken leg it is noise. Do not talk yourself out of calling.
How much is my motorcycle accident claim worth?
It comes down to your economic damages — medical bills, lost wages, lost earning capacity, and the bike and gear — plus non-economic damages for pain, impairment, disfigurement, and loss of enjoyment of life, which carry real weight in motorcycle cases. Two things then cap it in practice: how much insurance is actually available, and your share of the fault under Texas’s comparative fault rule. Run your numbers through the settlement calculator for a starting range, then call us for a real answer.
Do I need a lawyer if the insurance company already made me an offer?
Talk to a lawyer before you accept anything, especially an early offer. First offers arrive before anyone knows whether you need a second surgery, and once you sign the release the claim is closed for good — including for treatment you have not had yet. A free consultation costs you nothing and tells you whether the number in front of you is reasonable. If it is, we will tell you that.
What if the crash was partly my fault?
You can still recover as long as you are 50% or less responsible. Texas uses modified comparative fault under Section 33.001, so your recovery is reduced by your share of the blame and disappears entirely at 51%. Riders are routinely assigned more fault than the facts support, which is why what you say in the first few days matters so much — and why an early assessment of blame by an adjuster is an opening position, not a finding.
Motorcycle Accident Lawyers Serving Nearby Communities
SMB Law, PC represents clients across Central Texas. Choose your city for local court, filing, and case details: