Short summary: A driver who seriously injured a motorcyclist during an improper U-turn removed his license plate and hid it in a backpack before troopers found him. The evidence tampering is the headline. The part that matters to riders is quieter: New York motorcyclists are generally left outside the no-fault system that covers everyone else.
Riders find this out in a hospital bed, which is the worst possible time.
What happened
Around 10:30 a.m. on a Thursday, a driver in a Ford Fusion traveling westbound on State Road 574 just east of Chastain Road in Hillsborough County, Florida, entered the north shoulder to make an improper U-turn and failed to see an oncoming Suzuki in a marked passing zone, troopers said. The 25-year-old rider was seriously injured and hospitalized.
The 45-year-old driver removed his vehicle's license plate and concealed it in a backpack. He faces multiple felony counts including leaving the scene of a crash with serious bodily injury, tampering with evidence, driving an unregistered vehicle and making an improper U-turn, as reported by Hoodline.
The New York angle riders need to know
New York's no-fault system pays medical bills and lost wages after a crash regardless of fault, and it covers drivers, passengers, pedestrians and cyclists. Motorcyclists are generally excluded from it.
That is not a technicality. It means a rider who is seriously hurt generally has no automatic source of immediate medical coverage from auto insurance, and has to rely on health insurance, on optional medical coverage purchased with the motorcycle policy, or on eventually recovering from the at-fault driver, which takes far longer than the bills do.
Why hiding a plate is worse than it looks
Concealing a plate is a criminal problem for the driver. For the rider's claim it is also evidence, because a jury is generally allowed to consider deliberate concealment as an indication of who believed they were at fault.
It also nearly created the hit-and-run scenario, where a rider with no no-fault coverage and no identified driver has to fall back on uninsured motorist coverage or, in New York, on MVAIC. That combination is the worst-case version of this crash, and we cover the mechanics in our hit-and-run and uninsured driver guide.
What New York riders should check this week
Pull your motorcycle policy and look for optional medical payments coverage and for uninsured and underinsured motorist limits, then compare those limits to what a single helicopter transport and a week in a trauma unit actually cost. Confirm your health plan covers motorcycle injuries. Keep a camera on the bike. And after any crash, get the police report and photograph the roadway markings, since passing-zone and turn cases are decided on paint. Our serious injury threshold guide explains what can be claimed beyond medical bills.
Questions New Yorkers ask us
Do motorcyclists really get nothing from no-fault in New York?
Generally, motorcyclists are excluded from the standard no-fault benefits that cover other road users, which is why optional medical coverage on a motorcycle policy matters far more than most riders realize.
Does the other driver's criminal case pay the rider's bills?
Generally no. Criminal penalties go to the state. Restitution is sometimes ordered and is usually far smaller than the actual losses, so the civil claim remains the route to real compensation.
Not sure where you stand after a crash? Get your free case review or call (888) 208-0529. A real person answers, 24/7.
Reporting: Hoodline.
