Hog Rock River Rally motorcycle accident kills two, injures four more

Two motorcyclists were killed and four more were injured as they traveled to the Hog Rock River Rally near Cave-in-Rock when they were rear-ended by a pick up truck.  The pick up truck struck three motorcycles, causing the six riders to be thrown from the bikes.  Two were declared dead at the scene.  Of the other four riders, two had to be airlifted to the hospital by helicopter while the other two were taken away by ambulance.

The one thing about this Illinois motorcycle accident that caught my attention was that it is a rear-end accident.  If you read some of my earlier blog posts on motorcycle accidents, you will see that one of the most common causes of motorcycle accidents is the failure of a car driver to see the motorcyclist and as a result either make a left hand turn in front of the rider or pull out of a driveway or side street in front of the rider. 

However, this was a rear-end accident, and apparently not just one where the driver misjudged stopping distance.  He hit three motorcycles, and given the usual practice of motorcyclists to travel in a staggered formation, the pick up truck driver had to drive through the first motorcycle he hit to reach the third one he hit with the pick up truck. 

Further, the tendency of motorcycles is to make engine noise which is clearly heard to the rear of the bike.  The noise from the three bikes should have alerted the driver of the pick up truck that he was closing on the formation of motorcycles.  There is no real reason why he should not have been aware that he was coming up on the motorcycles, much less coming up on them so quickly that he would knock one out of the way like a bowling pin on his way to hitting the the third motorcycle.

The people involved in this wrongful death accident should hire an experienced Illinois personal lawyer.  There are a number of reasons to do so: (1) there are unexplained reasons (at least for now) as to why the pick up driver did not see or stop for these motorcycles, (2) there are serious injuries and deaths involved in this accident and probably insufficient auto liability insurance coverage, giving rise to potential underinsured motorist claims, and (3) given the likely insufficiency of the coverage, each person involved in the accident will need a separate personal injury lawyer to ensure that their interests are adequately protected in securing funds from the at fault driver's insurance coverage.

I have an article in the library section of my site which spells out why underinsured motorist coverage is important in car accidents with multiple victims.

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