Coates Law Office, PLLC, is a Nashua, NH motorcycle accident law firm representing injured riders across New Hampshire. Attorney Bradford H. Coates built his early career as a criminal prosecutor before shifting to injury law, and he brings that same attention to detail to motorcycle claims, where the physical evidence and the assumptions riders face in the claims process often shape the outcome from the start.
New Hampshire draws riders from across the country every summer, from the Kancamagus Highway’s mountain curves to the crowds that fill Weirs Beach for Laconia Motorcycle Week, one of the longest-running motorcycle rallies in the country. That volume of riders on the road means our firm sees the full range of motorcycle crashes, from a distracted driver missing a rider at an intersection to a multi-vehicle pileup during a summer rally weekend.
Riders face a different set of challenges than car accident victims when it comes to fault, injury severity, and how insurance companies approach a claim. A motorcycle accident lawyer NH riders trust understands those differences and builds a case that counters an adjuster’s assumptions. Whether you are searching for a Nashua motorcycle accident attorney after a local crash or a New Hampshire motorcycle accident lawyer following a highway collision farther from home, our approach stays the same.
What Should I Do Immediately After a Motorcycle Accident in NH?
Get medical attention right away, even if your injuries seem minor, because a delay between the crash and your first medical visit gives an insurer an opening to argue your injuries came from somewhere else. Once you are safe, call the police to document the scene, photograph the vehicles and roadway, and get contact information from any witnesses before they leave.
Avoid discussing fault with the other driver or their insurance company at the scene or in the days that follow. Riders often start from a position of doubt in the claims process, and an early statement can be read differently later than you meant it at the time.
Preserve your gear and your motorcycle exactly as they were right after the crash, since damage patterns on a helmet, jacket, or the bike itself can become important evidence. Do not repair or discard anything until an attorney has had a chance to review it.
Why Motorcycle Crashes Happen on New Hampshire Roads
Most motorcycle crashes trace back to a driver who simply did not see the rider in time. A motorcycle’s narrow profile disappears easily into a car’s blind spot, and left turns across oncoming traffic remain one of the most common ways a driver pulls directly into a rider’s path.
Impaired and distracted driving compounds the visibility problem significantly. A driver glancing at a phone or drifting after a few drinks needs more time to register a hazard, and a motorcycle simply does not give them that time, the way a full-sized vehicle would. Tailgating creates similar danger, since a following driver who cannot stop in time for a rider braking suddenly often causes a crash that would have been a minor fender bender between two cars.
Road conditions add another layer specific to riders. Potholes, loose gravel, and poorly maintained shoulders that a car absorbs without incident can throw a motorcycle off balance entirely, and New Hampshire’s frost-heaved back roads present this risk every spring. Seasonal tourist traffic around events like Laconia Motorcycle Week brings its own pattern of crashes, as out-of-state drivers unfamiliar with sharing the road with large groups of riders make sudden lane changes or misjudge following distances in heavy rally traffic.
Establishing Liability After a New Hampshire Motorcycle Crash
Every driver on a New Hampshire road owes other motorists, including riders, a duty to operate their vehicle safely. When a driver breaches that duty through careless, reckless, or distracted behavior and causes a crash, they become legally responsible for the resulting harm.
Riders face a specific challenge that car accident victims usually do not: a common assumption that a motorcyclist was speeding or riding recklessly simply because they were on a bike. That assumption can surface anywhere in a claim, from the initial evaluation through trial. Countering that assumption requires solid evidence from the start, including the police report, witness statements, skid mark analysis, and, where available, dashcam or traffic camera footage that shows what actually happened.
Some crashes trace back to causes beyond the other driver entirely. A road defect like an unmarked pothole or a poorly designed intersection can create liability against a government entity, though these claims carry much shorter notice deadlines than a typical injury case and require prompt legal attention. Sorting out which parties may be responsible is part of the early review in any crash where the other driver’s conduct does not fully explain what happened.
Multi-vehicle crashes add another layer of complexity specific to riders. A driver who fails to notice a motorcycle stopped in traffic and rear-ends it can push the rider into a car ahead, creating a chain of liability that requires careful reconstruction to sort out fairly.
What Compensation Can I Claim for a Motorcycle Accident in New Hampshire?
You can pursue both economic and non-economic damages after a motorcycle crash, covering everything from medical bills to the disruption the injury causes in your daily life. Economic damages include your medical costs from the first bill through any ongoing care, lost wages, and the cost of repairing or replacing your motorcycle and gear.
Non-economic damages address losses that do not come with a receipt, including pain and suffering, emotional distress, and the loss of enjoyment that comes from being unable to ride, work, or spend time with family the way you did before the crash. Motorcycle injuries also tend to bring higher property damage claims than car accidents, since riding gear like a helmet, jacket, and boots often needs full replacement after any impact, regardless of how minor the crash appeared.
Families who lose a loved one in a fatal motorcycle crash may also pursue wrongful death damages, including funeral costs, lost financial support, and loss of companionship. Calculating the full value of a serious injury claim usually requires input from treating physicians and, in cases involving long-term disability, vocational analysts, meaning professionals who assess what work you can still do and what income you have lost going forward, rather than relying only on bills that have already arrived.
How Does Comparative Fault Affect My Motorcycle Accident Claim in NH?
New Hampshire follows a modified comparative fault rule under RSA 507:7-d, meaning you can still recover damages even if you share some responsibility for the crash, as long as your percentage of fault does not exceed the other driver’s. If a jury awarded $200,000 but found you 20 percent at fault, your recovery would drop to $160,000 rather than being eliminated.
This rule matters more for riders than for most drivers, since fault percentages assigned to riders are often built on lane position, speed, or visibility arguments that a thorough investigation can disprove. Cross the halfway mark of fault, though, and New Hampshire law bars recovery entirely, which is exactly why a strong factual record matters so much in these cases specifically.
Do You Have to Wear a Helmet in New Hampshire?
No, New Hampshire does not require riders 18 and older to wear a helmet under RSA 265:122, though riders under 18 must wear approved protective headgear at all times. This unusual freedom does not change your right to recover compensation if you get hurt.
A rider’s choice not to wear a helmet often comes up during negotiations, framed as a reason the claim is worth less. New Hampshire law does not automatically reduce your damages simply because you exercised a legal choice, though an insurer may still attempt to argue that a helmet would have lessened your specific injuries. An attorney familiar with these arguments can push back on that theory using the actual medical evidence in your case, including a treating physician’s analysis of your specific injuries, rather than letting an adjuster’s blanket assumption go unchallenged.
New Hampshire’s Insurance Rules for Motorcycle Riders
New Hampshire does not require most drivers or riders to carry liability insurance, and drivers instead demonstrate financial responsibility under the framework in RSA Chapter 264. Riders who purchase coverage voluntarily, or who must carry it under certain circumstances, such as a prior DWI conviction, are held to the state minimum limits.
Separately, any auto policy issued in New Hampshire must include uninsured and hit-and-run motorist coverage under RSA 264:15. That matters for riders, because it means coverage may exist on your own policy even when the driver who hit you carried none.
That unusual framework means confirming what coverage the at-fault driver actually carries becomes an important early step in nearly every motorcycle claim. If the driver who hit you had no insurance or insufficient limits for your injuries, your own uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage may fill that gap, assuming you carry it on your own policy or a household vehicle’s policy that extends coverage to you as a rider, which is worth confirming before assuming no path to compensation exists.
How Long Do You Have to File a Motorcycle Accident Claim in New Hampshire?
New Hampshire generally allows three years from the date of the crash to file a lawsuit under RSA 508:4. Exceptions extend this deadline for injured minors, and the clock can pause if the injured person was legally incapacitated at the time of the crash or if the at-fault driver left the state before a lawsuit could be filed.
Claims involving a government entity, such as those arising from a road defect, carry far shorter notice windows that can run out in a matter of months rather than years. Waiting even a few weeks to speak with an attorney can put both types of deadlines at risk, along with the physical evidence that tends to disappear quickly after nearly any serious motorcycle crash.
Why Work With Bradford Coates on Your Motorcycle Claim
Bradford Coates stays personally involved in every case his firm takes on, rather than handing riders off to a rotating team of case managers. That direct access matters most in the early weeks after a crash, when decisions about medical treatment and insurance communication can shape the outcome months down the road.
His background as a former prosecutor shapes how he counters the bias riders often face from insurance companies and, occasionally, juries. He builds cases around solid evidence rather than assumptions, working with accident reconstruction engineers when fault is disputed and answering fault arguments that rest on a rider’s choices rather than on what the other driver did.
We handle motorcycle accident claims on contingency, meaning you owe nothing upfront and pay fees only if we recover compensation on your behalf. Whether your crash involved a rear-end impact, a passenger vehicle, or multiple vehicles, the review starts the same way, with the facts of what happened on the road.
Call our office to talk through your crash with a New Hampshire motorcycle accident lawyer and find out what your claim involves.
FAQs: Motorcycle Accident Lawyer NH
These come up most often from riders in the first weeks after a New Hampshire crash.
Do I need a lawyer for a motorcycle accident in NH?
Not every minor incident requires legal representation, but motorcycle crashes tend to involve more serious injuries and a stronger bias from insurance adjusters than typical car accidents. Once medical treatment, missed work, or a disputed fault determination enters the picture, an attorney’s involvement often changes how seriously an adjuster negotiates.
What is the average motorcycle accident settlement in NH?
There is no set average, since settlement value depends heavily on injury severity, the length of recovery, and how clearly fault gets established. A minor injury with a short recovery settles very differently from a case involving spinal injury, brain injury, or long-term disability.
Can I still recover damages if I was not wearing a helmet?
Yes, New Hampshire does not require riders 18 and older to wear a helmet, and choosing not to does not bar you from recovering compensation. An insurance company may still try to argue it affected your specific injuries, which is exactly the kind of argument an attorney can push back on using medical evidence.
Can I still recover if the at-fault driver claims they never saw me?
Yes, a driver’s failure to see a motorcyclist does not excuse the crash, since every driver has a duty to watch carefully for all traffic, including motorcycles, before turning or changing lanes. This defense actually tends to support a rider’s claim, since it often points directly to a driver’s own inattention rather than anything the rider did wrong.
What if the crash happened during Laconia Motorcycle Week or another rally?
Crashes during high-traffic rally periods often involve additional witnesses and sometimes traffic camera footage from event organizers, both of which can strengthen a claim. The surge of unfamiliar drivers during these events also tends to make distracted or careless driving a more common factor worth investigating closely.
Does lane splitting affect my claim in New Hampshire?
New Hampshire law prohibits driving a motorcycle between lanes under RSA 265:121, so if lane splitting contributed to your crash, it could affect the comparative fault analysis. An attorney can review the circumstances to determine how much, if any, this affects your right to recover.
How much does it cost to hire a motorcycle accident attorney?
Coates Law Office handles motorcycle injury cases on a contingency fee basis, meaning you pay nothing up front and our fee comes only from a percentage of what we actually recover on your behalf. This structure removes the financial barrier that keeps many injured riders from calling a lawyer after a serious crash.
Talk to a Motorcycle Accident Lawyer Today
Bradford H.
Coates, Motorcycle Accident Attorney
If a crash left you dealing with serious injuries and a claim where the assumptions are running against you, Bradford H. Coates and the team at Coates Law Office, PLLC, are ready to review what happened. The consultation costs nothing, and you decide afterward whether hiring our firm makes sense for your situation.
Evidence in motorcycle cases tends to disappear quickly, from skid marks that fade within days to witnesses who move on and become harder to reach. Insurers also move fast, often reaching out within days, sometimes before the full extent of an injury is clear. Schedule your free case evaluation with Bradford Coates today to find out where your claim actually stands.
Nashua Office
400 Amherst Street, Suite 102
Nashua, NH 03063
(603) 262-5766