Bergen County attorneys explain your right to sue or choose no-fault insurance coverage
When you are injured in an auto accident, the resulting medical bills, lost wages, permanent injuries, car damage and other losses can be overwhelming. Your first thought may be to turn to insurance companies for the compensation you need. However, more than likely you will not receive the full compensation you deserve in your car accident case from insurers.

At the Law Offices of Richard S. Greenberg, we help you understand your rights and options after an accident, including negligence laws, no-fault insurance and your right to sue. Our Bergen County lawyers understand the fright and pain you have experienced in a serious accident, and we are dedicated to providing you with the legal care, comfort and support you need.

What is no-fault insurance?
No-fault insurance covers your damages when you are in an accident, regardless of whether you or another driver or party is at fault under New Jersey’s negligence laws. In New Jersey, you can pick no-fault insurance or you can choose the “full tort” option in auto accident cases, which allows you to pursue a lawsuit for personal injury in court.

If you choose the no-fault insurance option, you may recover a variety of benefits under your plan, such as:

Bodily injury coverage for anyone injured in an accident
Personal injury protection coverage for medical bills and other losses, such as lost wages
However, the amount you can recover is limited by the policy, and many losses are not covered, including damage to your vehicle and other property. Moreover, in many cases an insurer may offer you a settlement of less than you deserve.

Why you need an attorney after any serious car accident
While you may think it wise to turn to insurance companies for the compensation you need, insurers are not on your side. Insurance providers are big businesses that have the goal of maximizing profits. They do so by finding ways to deny or undervalue your claim, paying you less than you deserve for your injuries and losses.

At the Law Offices of Richard S. Greenberg, we have decades of experience dealing with large insurers. Our results speak for themselves. We use our long history of practical experience and our professional reputation to negotiate a fair settlement for you and your loved ones. We can guide you through your options to help you choose when to opt in for no-fault insurance coverage and when to pursue a lawsuit. When you choose no-fault insurance, we are strong negotiators who do not settle for less than your claim is worth. When you choose to sue, our trial lawyers aggressively protect your rights in court.

Bergen County lawyers guide victims through claims for motorcycle injuries & fatalities
When motorcycle riders are involved in accidents, they can suffer seriously, and even deadly, harm. At the Law Offices of Richard S. Greenberg in Bergen County, we help you obtain the compensation you need for your injuries or the loss of a loved one after a severe accident. Through experience, we understand that motorcyclists are often unfairly blamed for accidents that are caused by the negligence of other drivers. We personally investigate crashes to gather evidence of the likely cause and guide you through each step of your claim to help protect your rights and interests.

What are the common causes of motorcycle accidents in New Jersey?
With 2,000 motorcycles involved in crashes each year in New Jersey, riding can be extremely dangerous. Nearly 27 percent of fatal accidents involve alcohol, 22 percent involve inexperienced riders without motorcycle endorsements on their driver’s licenses, 23 percent involve riders who have a previous license suspension or revocation, and 21 percent involve speeding. Other common causes of motorcycle accidents include:

Negligent or reckless drivers of cars, trucks and other vehicles
Manufacturing or design defects of motorcycles, motorbike parts or other vehicles
Dangers and defects in or on the roads
The negligence of other drivers poses a serious problem for motorcyclists. Many drivers fail to watch for motorcycles and seriously can harm relatively unprotected motorcyclists. More than half of all motorcycle crashes that involve other vehicles occur at intersections, and more than two-thirds of accidents occur when the driver of a larger vehicle does not see the motorcycle.

What types of injuries can you suffer in a motorcycle crash?
Accidents involving motorcycles can be extremely serious, involving broken limbs, severe spinal injuries, and traumatic brain injury. The most common nonfatal injuries are reported to include:

Leg or foot injuries
Neck or head injuries
Injuries to the upper trunk, including the chest or back
Arm or hand injuries
Lower trunk injuries, including the lower back or stomach
Other injuries
An estimated 1,222,000 people needed emergency treatment for nonfatal injuries, and more than 34,000 motorcyclists were killed between 2001 and 2008, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). While fatal accidents involving cars and light trucks reached a low in the United States in 2008, motorcycle fatalities reached a record high. If you were injured or have lost a loved one in a serious or fatal motorcycle accident caused by the negligence of another, our attorneys will help you seek the compensation you need through a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit.

What can you do to prevent serious motorcycle injuries?
With head injuries the second most common motorcycle injury, you should follow New Jersey law by wearing a protective helmet. You should also wear eye protection, jackets and pants resistant to tears and scrapes, protective footwear and gloves. In addition, make yourself visible and watch out for larger vehicles that have drivers who are distracted, reckless or just not watching out for you.

Bergen County attorneys help victims injured by dangerous road conditions
An auto accident is often the fault of a careless driver. However what happens when the road itself presents a danger? At the Law Offices of Richard S. Greenberg, we help victims of traffic crashes caused by dangerous or defective highway conditions. People often fail to consider that the road or highway may be dangerous or defective and cause an accident. We personally handle accident investigations to gather evidence and make sure important details are uncovered.

Who is responsible for highways that cause accidents?
Highways may be prone to cause auto accidents for a variety of reasons, including dangerous design or poor maintenance, including sinkholes and potholes, missing guardrails, broken or missing signals, signs or warnings, poor materials, debris in the roads and construction hazards. A public entity, such as a county or municipal agency, which is responsible for the defective condition may be held liable in a personal injury lawsuit only when you can prove certain elements, such as:

The highway or road was in dangerous condition at the time of the injury.
The injury was caused by the dangerous condition.
The dangerous condition created a reasonably foreseeable risk of that kind of injury.
You must also prove that a negligent or wrongful act by the public entity’s employee during employment created the dangerous condition or that the public entity knew of the dangerous condition and had time to correct it.

Roads in New Jersey prone to cause traffic accidents
In 2011, there were 64,568 total injury crashes on all road systems in New Jersey, 6,877 in Bergen County. There were also another 6,400 injury crashes in Essex County, 3,701 in Hudson County, 4,024 in Passaic County and 868 in Sussex County. Some of the most dangerous routes in New Jersey include Route 17, Interstate 80, the New Jersey Turnpike and the Palisades Interstate Parkway:

Route 17 — The annual average daily traffic (AADT) on Route 17 in Bergen County is more than 94,300 vehicles. This route is prone to auto accidents, with more than 520 occurring in 2011.
Interstate 80 — Interstate 80 has an AADT measure of 92,322, with some sections of the route seeing more than 158,500 vehicles. In 2011, there were 4,119 total crashes, 980 of which resulted in injuries and a dozen of which resulted in fatalities.
New Jersey Turnpike — This turnpike, Route 295, has an annual average daily traffic measure of 63,855 vehicles. In 2011, there were 2,059 crashes recorded, more than 530 of which resulted in injuries and a dozen of which were fatal accidents.
Palisades Interstate Parkway — This dangerous highway runs 11 miles from the George Washington Bridge into New York state. It is limited to passenger cars, motorcycles and permitted buses. Trucks, cars with trailers and commercial pickups are all prohibited. Despite this, accidents still occur regularly.