In our prior post we discussed the need to keep our eyes on the road and watch out for motorcycles. The vehicles may be smaller and harder to spot, but a good driver paying attention should still see them coming.

The failure to see one of the smaller vehicles caused a motorcycle accident that resulted in a young man's life being drastically altered, a personal injury lawsuit and a jury verdict for the victim of the crash.

The accident occurred on Aug. 30, 2007 when a young man was riding down a California roadway. At the same time that he began to drive past an intersection road, the driver of a shuttle bus failed to look for oncoming traffic before attempting to make a left turn onto the same roadway that the motorcyclist was on.

When the two vehicles collided, the motorcyclist was thrown forward across his bike. He impacted the handlebars and not only fractured his pubic ramus bone but injured his penis, decreasing the length by 1.5 inches. He suffered nerve and artery damage in the injury to his private parts that left him unlikely to be able to have children in the future.

The motorcycle victim later filed a lawsuit against those responsible for his injuries. On Dec. 16, 2012, he was awarded a multi-million dollar verdict by a jury that agreed with his claim of negligent driving.

The man's injuries have been splayed across the media in an almost comedic fashion, but there is nothing funny about the pain and suffering the accident caused. The young man was a 23-year-old newlywed naval noncommissioned officer at the time of the crash. The injury to his genitals not only forced him to retire from the Navy, but it caused his marriage to end short. He and his new wife divorced not long after the accident.

When you are injured in at the hands of a negligent driver, you deserve compensation for the trauma and pain caused in the crash. Every injury -- no matter how unusual -- is one that should be taken seriously.

Source: U-T San Diego, "Jury awards man with penis injury $7.5 million," Greg Moran, Jan. 13, 2012