As experienced road traffic accident solicitors we deal with motorcycle accidents day in, day out and we know what is in the forefront of the riders' mind when accidents, as they do, occur. Yes, when you come off your bike for any reason, you're likely to be injured. That stands to reason.

And often you're in so much pain that at that moment nothing else really matters. But if you are able to focus at this time there are some essential pieces of information that you will need to make sure that you can successfully pursue your claim against the driver who hit you and caused all this grief in the first place.

It goes without saying but the most important thing you need to do is make sure you've got the registration number of the other driver and his name, address, telephone number and insurance company details.

We deal with cases all the time where drivers have to be chased for their insurance details. Even if the Police have been called to the scene of an accident and have taken statements, it can take a while to get information from the Police about the other driver's insurance, so if you can get details on day one, it can save a lot of messing about later. The second important things to think about following an accident are WITNESSES. You can't always assume that the driver is going to hold his hands up and admit to his imperfect driving. In fact, in our experience, quite the opposite normally happens. The other driver's story can sometimes change and if you have not obtained the names of the witnesses at the scene then you might have difficulty proving your case later on. Always check around to see if anyone saw what happened and get their names, addresses and telephone numbers.

Finally, in our experience it's always a good idea to contact the police. Even if they are often not interested, at least you've made the call. Ask them to record the accident.

For any of you who travel to Europe, the loophole that allowed speeders to avoid fines if you were caught speeding abroad has been closed by another new EU Law passed on the 24th February 2005.

If you are given a fine or penalty notice for any amount over £50.00 in another EU country, British officials will be obliged to collect the money owing when you get home to Blighty. This new rule will be implemented in 2007.

The only exemption will be if fines are under £50.00, if the paperwork is not in order, or if the alleged offender is under the age of criminal responsibility in their own country.

One point - those collecting the fines are now allowed to keep the fine money in their country rather then send it back to the country where the offence was committed.

It may not surprise you to know that insurance companies consider insuring motorbikes to be a high risk area of insurance. They take the view that it is extremely easy to get on the road, a full car licence entitling you to ride a learner bike and moped and the CBT only takes one day to complete.

Their statistics suggest that nearly 15% of riders have 'come off their bike' in the last 2 years. 5% of one leading insurer's customers had their bike stolen in a 3 year period and 4% had the bike vandalised. In Britain alone 33,000 bikes worth £55 million are stolen per year, on average one every 16 minutes. 86% are never recovered and 75% are stolen from their owners' homes. The theft rate is so high because it is very easy to steal a motorbike. It is common for bikes to be stolen, dismantled and for the parts to be sold.

The more secure the bike, the lower the premium. Discounts are available for alarm systems with ignition immobilisers and small discounts for mechanical security. New forms of security include ultraviolet marking to protect parts and tracking systems, data tags introduced in the 90's and built in security systems in the newer machines.

ore and more people are turning to 2 wheels. There has been a sudden boom in sales of stylish scooters and mopeds thanks to the likes of Jamie Oliver and Liam Gallagher. The hope is that the more two wheelers there are on the road, the more recognition they will get, and that the government will do more to integrate them into the transport strategy and maker it safer for them to be on the road.

What can you expect: this carries a non-endoreseable fine of up to £1000.00. Your insurance company may say that as you did not have an MOT, your insurance is invalid.

Your insurance company would have to meet any third party claim made against you depending on the wording in your policy document, but be warned - they can come after you for you payment direct.

It is best to remember to have the MOT carried out.

When defending claims, Defendant insurance companies are particularly hot on protective clothing. If there is any suggestion that a biker was not wearing the correct protective clothing they will undoubtedly try to reduce any compensation to take this into account.

The need for protective clothing to be worn is emphasised again and again, in particular the use of helmets, which have been compulsory since 1970.

A protective helmet has to provide both a mechanical barrier to impact and also absorb as much of the impact energy as possible. Head protection for the vulnerable road user is therefore a priority item.

However it must be said that head injuries can still be sustained even when the motorcyclist was wearing a helmet at the point of impact, for example where the helmet has either come off immediately following impact or where the helmet has not absorbed the force of the impact. Ejection following frontal impacts is also likely to give rise to head and trunk injuries.

In cases where the victim is a pedal cyclist, the question of whether the cyclist was wearing a protective helmet is a pertinent and critical issue in the case, albeit that helmets do not necessarily prevent injuries. The wearing of helmets for pedal cycles is not yet a legal requirement.

If somebody has a near miss or minor bump it can cause nervousness and fear which is short-lived and does not typically disrupt their lives.

However, if in an accident there is real fear for your life or fear of serious injury, it can lead to significant psychological symptoms whether or not any physical injury remains.

Typical examples may be as follows:

motorcycle. your using avoiding perhaps riding, of anticipation the or riding by caused fear persistent and excessive an as itself presents which motorbike Phobia.

Adjustment disorder is similar but less severe and often associated with pain when travelling.

Where the accident involved a real threat of death or serious injury, riders may respond with intense horror and re-experience the accident through thoughts, nightmares and flashbacks.

Even if these symptoms are not severe, they may be diagnosed as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Three of the most significant features of persistent travel anxiety are avoidance of riding or riding as a pillion, compulsive passenger behaviour eg hanging on, and the perception that all drivers are idiots.

Most people who develop anxieties will, with practice or re-exposure to travel, find their nervousness gradually decreases without treatment.

A small number, especially those with PTSD, need specialist treatment normally in the form of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.

The affected person's partner is very important in the process of encouraging the biker back to riding.

This offence carries a fixed penalty of £60.00, but if you go in front of the magistrates you could be fined as much as £2500.00 and you could even be disqualified.

Defective tyres can mean anything from unsuitable tyres, under inflated, mixed cross ply, cord showing, racing slicks or “nobblies”.

There must be at least a 3“ depth of tyre throughout. If you have dodgy front and back tyres, this will mean two offences!

In law, we cannot disregard the speed limit and it is likely to become an important issue in an accident claim if there is any suggestion that a motorcyclist is exceeding the speed limit.

On single carriageways, the speed limit for cars and motorcycles is 60 mph, although they can travel on dual carriageways and motorways at 70. There may be specific speed restricions in areas of roadworks.

Most motorcyclists know the handling capabilities of their bikes and drive within their limitations. Motorcyclists are taught to accelerate out of danger in certain circumstances.

Evidence of speed can become important in RTA cases. But what constitutes evidence of speed? The sound of the bike is not a good indicator although we often find that where a motorcycle is involved there is almost always an assumption that speed is involved. The best evidence in these situations is eyewitness evidence, someone who can confirm that the biker was not travelling too fast. Another indicator of speed may be skid marks.

If a motorcyclist, say on a main road, is found to be exceeding the speed limit, the likely scenario is that the biker will go down for some contributory negligence, ie that the Court will find the biker partially to blame for the accident.

There are plenty of “Bar Room Lawyers” out there who are all too willing to tell everybody about their own personal injury case and how much they got for their injuries. We know of one example where a client was told by a friend that he had received £15,000 in compensation for a fractured rib. On looking at the matter more closely (because it transpired that we had also acted for the friend) it became clear that he had only received £2,250 for his injury. The rest was for his bike, clothing and loss of earnings! A case of chinese whispers if ever there was one.

The moral of the story is obvious - always take professional advice. Take everything else with a large pinch of salt!

As biking solicitors were disappointed but not surprised by the results of the recent police pilot of scheme using automatic number plate recognition cameras to catch uninsured drivers.

In the one day pilot in the west midlands west Yorkshire greater Manchester and Merseyside police took 417 vehicles off the road for failing to demonstrate that they had up to date cover in place.

The success of the pilot does serve to suggest that the scheme may have a significant impact in the battle against uninsured drivers but it also shows what an enormous problem the issue of uninsured vehicles is in the country.

Every day we are dealing with hundreds of claims involving uninsured drivers and often clients are left bemused by the perception that uninsured motorists are simply allowed to get way with it.

The number of cases where the uninsured driver is pursued is minimal compared to the number of uninsured vehicles in the road. It is no wonder that a culture of 'why do I need insurance' has developed.

Bikelegal welcomes anything that will make it easier for claimants to recover their full entitlement to compensation and punish those who deliberately flout the law.

This scheme is a step in the right direction.

Long awaited it may have been but Compensation Bill has clearly received a mixed reaction, being reportedly described by shadow attorney general Dominic Grieve as being 'not worth a pin.'

At least now we have some idea of where claims management companies will be regulated, something that we sure most practitioners welcome, even if we don't know yet who's going to be doing the regulating.

Our understanding is that CMC's will have to carry professional indemnity insurance and will have to ensure transparency in respect of charging.

Competency to provide the services will also be implicit requiring companies to pass a strict competency test to achieve authorisation.

All of these measures will clearly be a move in the right direction and will inevitably mean some CMC's going out of the market.

But a firm decision needs to be made however on how the system is to be regulated. Clearly without proper regulation, there is scope for the whole thing to fail before it's started.