How Is An Open Book Fracture Caused By A Motorcycle Accident In Virginia?

Key Highlights:

How Is An Open Book Fracture Caused By A Motorcycle Accident In Virginia

• A type of fracture known as an open book or pubic symphyseal separation occurs when a significant force is applied to the pelvis, resulting in a structural breakdown. This may lead to life-threatening internal bleeding (hemorrhage), damaging internal organs, and permanent disability within seconds of the injury occurring (open book fractures can be classified as life-altering injuries). 
• According to the Virginia DMV report in 2023, 1,719 motorcycle riders sustained injuries due to motorcycle accidents in Virginia, with 738 (approximately 10%) of all serious traffic-related crashes (traffic collisions) occurring in Virginia classified as serious injuries.
• The recorded mortality rate from severe open book pelvic injury Virginia is approximately 10.4%, with major pelvic blood vessels bleeding profusely (e.g., severe external bleeds) into the pelvis, and hemorrhaging (i.e., rapid loss of blood volume through blood vessel ruptures) occurring quickly and resulting in hemorrhagic shock (i.e., hypotension and cardiovascular collapse) within minutes of a victim being injured.
• After sustaining an open book fracture of the pelvis, many surrounding structures are also susceptible to life-threatening injury. The surrounding structures that are specific to the pelvis include the bladder, bowel, nerves, reproductive organs, and internal iliac arteries.
• In Virginia, the contributory negligence law states that if a rider has even 1% of the fault for the accident, then the rider cannot make any recoveries against the at-fault party or the party that caused the accident, so proving fault is critical when determining how a rider can recover damages.
• Open book fractures typically take at least 3-6 months to heal, and depending on associated complications, nerve damage, and additional surgeries that may be required as a result of the injury, complete functional recovery may take up to one year from the time a rider sustains the injury.
• The two-year statute of limitations for personal injury in Virginia is outlined in Va. Code § 8.01-243; however, the critical evidence, such as security footage and event data recorder data, goes missing much quicker than that.
• The Tatum & Atkinson Law Firm has recovered more than $100 million for people who have been harmed by others in Virginia. If you need to speak to an attorney about your case, call for a free consultation today. No recovery, no legal fee to you.

When someone is involved in a motorcycle accident, they can suffer from many different types of injuries. Motorcycles typically provide little to no protection from other vehicles, so many motorcycle riders sustain open-book fracture injuries when an outside force causes their pelvic bones to separate front to back at the pubic symphysis (the same type of injury you would see if you were to pull apart the two sides of a book). The force from an open book fracture often results in serious injury or death as it creates a structural failure of the pelvis, which can lead to life-threatening internal bleeds, damage to internal organs, and disabilities that may never completely heal.

Every day, motorcycle riders in Virginia face an increased likelihood of being involved in a serious motorcycle crash pelvic fracture. According to the Virginia DMV, there were a total of 1,719 motorcycle rider injuries from crashes in 2023. Of these 1,719 rider injuries, 738 were serious injuries (which is nearly 10% of all serious traffic-related injuries that occurred in Virginia in 2023). 18-19% of all fatal and serious injuries were suffered by motorcyclists in 2024 in the city of Norfolk alone. Most importantly, of all of the motorcycle crashes investigated by police, 37.7% did not contain any evidentiary proof that the motorcycle rider was acting in an unlawful manner before the crash.

I’m Robert Tatum, attorney at Tatum & Atkinson Law Firm, and my firm is a veteran-owned business with more than 65 years of experience when it comes to handling serious motorcycle accident injury cases, such as open book fractures in Virginia. We have the resources to thoroughly investigate your situation, interact with the insurance company, and advocate for your rights. You can trust us to take action and win on your behalf! 

What Exactly Is an Open Book Pelvic Fracture?

The pelvis connects the spine with the legs; it encircles and protects the major arteries, veins, and nerves running into the legs; and holds the bladder, bowel and female reproductive organs in place. The front half of the pelvis is joined to the back of the pelvis at a joint called the pubic symphysis. When the two halves of the pelvis do not separate (usually due to a fracture of the pubis), the pelvis will open up toward the outside due to the exit velocity of a force.

Medical professionals refer to these types of separate pelvis fractures as “open book fractures” because of how the two bones separate, similar to how the covers of an open book separate at their spine.

Per the Young-Burgess classification system, which is a classification system used by trauma surgeons to determine the severity of a pelvic ring fracture according to the mechanism of injury, open book fractures are in the Anteroposterior Compression (APC) classification. APC is classified by having a force from front-to-back or side-to-side due to the forces being directed into rotation (external) of the two halves of the pelvis. There are APC Type II and APC Type III injuries, which include below-average loss of posterior ligaments, destruction of the sacroiliac joint, as well as tears in the posterior vein plexus and branches of either the internal or external iliac arteries.

Simply put, when an open-book fracture occurs, there is tearing of the main arteries/veins, and this can result in massive internal bleeding, which can quickly lead to death.

The chance of dying from a severe pelvic fracture (i.e., open book dislocation) is roughly 10.4%, this should be thought of as you discuss your claim with an insurance adjuster who is attempting to get you to settle your claim for less than it is worth.

How Does a Motorcycle Crash Actually Cause This Injury?

Riders of a motorbike or motorcycle do not have the protection of a work frame. Riders do not wear seat belts or have an airbag to protect themselves. They cannot sit in the cabin area as a car passenger would. Therefore, when a motorcycle rider has a collision with something, their body gets impacted by that object, and they will be able to feel every bit of the impact. 

Side-Impact Collisions

Most, if not all, of the serious types of injury caused when a rider has a side-to-side collision with another vehicle have an acceleration-deceleration force that has driven through the side of the rider’s body to the pelvis.

Therefore, when having a collision that produces an influence from the front or rear of the existing vehicle (i.e., head-on), the pelvis will experience antero-posterior compressive force, which occurs any time an object (back bumper, truck door, guard rail) creates a force on the hip or lower body of the rider.

Any one of these items may cause what types of injuries are most commonly called an open book pelvic fracture, which often include an associated tear of the posterior venous plexus (the blood supply to the pelvic ring), and may risk the rider going into shock from blood loss due to the injury.

Ejection and Secondary Impact

Once the rider has been forcefully ejected from the motorcycle, he or she will have the opportunity for the pelvis to receive multiple impaction forces initially at collision with the original object but also by landing on the pavement, the curb, or another vehicle then a secondary collision with that vehicle, a secondary impact at the landing of the pelvis on the curb or another object or vehicular surface. The total of these forces increases the severity and will outweigh (in total force) any previous force that the pelvis has been subjected to in the past, as well as establishing the rotational instability that occurs with severe Young-Burgess APC injuries.

Crushing Force

In motorcycle accidents, when either the motorcyclist has fallen off onto himself or is trapped between two vehicles, there can be direct compression at the centre of the pelvis. The open book crack, along with the vertical shear fracture, are patterns common at densely populated areas in Virginia, such as I-95 through Northern Virginia, and although lesser so, Fredericksburg, or at busy intersections in Richmond and/or Hampton Roads.

The mix of roads and traffic in Virginia creates many ways to experience this pattern of injury. Sometimes, left-turning vehicles strike motorcyclists on U.S. Route 460 through Southside Virginia; at other times, it is due to distracted drivers in rural areas on I-81 in the Shenandoah Valley. Near the water, between Norfolk and Virginia Beach, commercial vehicles create heavy traffic at high speeds. In Southwest Virginia, motorcyclists will encounter mountain curves in Tazewell County or Cedar Bluff roads. In total, each of the road types creates different challenges and the potential for serious injuries from the side impact collision.

Why This Injury Is Immediately Life-Threatening

The pelvis is a ring structure. When the ring opens, what was in place becomes exposed to the outside world. This isn’t just a metaphor; it is truly anatomical.

Through open book fractures of the pelvis, fatal vascular, abdominal, and nerve injuries can occur. During an open book fracture, the main blood source for the pelvic organs, the internal iliac artery system, travels through the area of separation. If these vessels rupture, the body will bleed rapidly internally without any visual cue externally, and it is difficult, if not impossible, to control without surgical intervention.

In addition, high-impact motorcycle collision injuries may also include bladder rupture or urethral injuries, bowel trauma, nerve root injury resulting in motor/sensory loss in the legs or bladder dysfunction, disruption of the sacroiliac joint, and acetabular (hip bone) fractures that affect the mechanics of the hip for the remainder of the rider’s life. The pelvic injury is more than one injury. It is multiple injuries causing one overall condition.

What Emergency Treatment Looks Like

Pelvic binders should be used ASAP on patients after initial pelvic trauma to prevent bleeding by aligning broken bones and supporting an area of the body in which there are many broken bones. This is typically the first treatment given to patients at the scene or in the trauma bay upon arrival.

Following this initial treatment, the events that follow are based on a patient’s hemodynamic stability. If a patient is hemodynamically stable, he or she can go to surgery to obtain a definitive repair within 24 hours of injury. If a patient is physiologically compromised due to polytrauma, he or she cannot go to surgery until stabilized.

Definitive repair is almost always done through surgery. Generally, this will be through open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF); however, many times there are cases where the pelvis can be stabilized with an external fixator. plates, screws, and rods hold the pelvis together for normal healing to occur.

Additional treatments may include:

• Emergency blood transfusions for hemorrhagic shock
• Angiography and embolization to locate and stop arterial bleeding
• Bowel diversion surgery if the bowel has been injured
• Intensive care unit monitoring for other potential systemic complications.
• Transfer to a rehabilitation facility after the acute phase is resolved.

The hospital stay associated with severe open-book fractures can be from several days to potentially many months.

What Long-Term Life Looks Like After a Pelvic Fracture

The items will most likely not be enumerated on a first settlement offer, but they are very important. Chronic pelvic pain is a common complaint. Many people describe it as a deep, grinding type of pain. The level of this pain can vary with changes in weather, the position of sitting, and the level of activity.

After an initial injury has healed improperly or there is interference with the healing process due to improperly placed hardware, a person can develop stiffness in their hips and a change in the way they walk (gait). Surviving nerve damage at the time of the original injury may lead to weakness or numbness in the leg and, for some, urinary incontinence for extended periods of time, even after imaging shows that the bones have healed.

Hardware removal surgery, where plates and screws are removed once the bone has fully healed, but it still leaves the possibility of a second surgery or chronic pain to develop, is a common occurrence that is not considered in many first settlement offers. Sexual dysfunction after injury to the pubic symphysis and/or sacroiliac joint is a well-documented clinical fact and is not usually brought up in first settlement negotiations after an accident. Likewise, depression and anxiety after a traumatic event are not weaknesses; they are medically based results of a catastrophic injury and should be part of any serious fracture injury lawsuit Virginia for the corpus delicti.

Riders who have held physically demanding positions (i.e., construction workers in northern Virginia, warehouse workers in Richmond’s logistics corridor, nursing and healthcare workers throughout the Hampton Roads area, and agricultural workers in Southern Virginia) are concerned not only about whether they will be able to walk, but also whether they will be able to perform the work they used to provide for their families. Loss of wage-earning capacity is an actual loss and should also be included in assessing damages.

How Medical Specialists Document the Full Damage

Simply having a diagnosis of a broken pelvis accident claim is not enough. You also need evidence showing the costs associated with the injury in the hospital, rehabilitation, and for each year going forward that it continues to incur costs.

Some of the key experts that will be involved in supporting your claim include:

Orthopedic trauma surgeons

The orthopedic trauma surgeons are to document whether you have had hardware inserted for the repair of the fracture, weight-bearing restrictions, healing progress, surgical intervention, etc. A report from your surgeon will outline these and future steps for you.

Physiatrists (rehabilitation medicine physicians)

Physiatrists (rehabilitation medicine physicians) are to document the extent of functional limitation/disability, the extent of mobility restriction/limitation, expected return-to-work, and long-term care needed beyond the acute care phase.

Neurologists

Neurologists will evaluate if you sustained nerve damage, such as loss of sensation in the lower extremity and/or loss of bowel/bladder control, whether or not the nerve damage is permanent, even though your bone has healed.

Life-care planners

Life-care planners will develop a year-by-year document with estimated costs associated with each category of medical care required by you during your anticipated life span. This document is usually the most significant exhibit in a pelvic fracture motorcycle accident.

Vocational rehabilitation experts

The role of Vocational rehabilitation experts is to determine if the injured worker can return to their previous employment and what type of retraining or income reduction will occur as a result of a job change.

In the absence of these professionals, the insurance company’s experts become the decision makers in your case. They will make decisions about your ability to work and will not assist you in any way.

Why Insurance Companies Fight Severe Pelvic Fracture Claims Hard

Let’s be realistic about mathematics. Emergency surgeries, months of hospitalizations (with some requiring time spent in the ICU), months of rehabilitation, future removals of hardware, along with lost wages for physically demanding jobs, mean that damages in a claim arising from a catastrophic injury motorcycle accident could exceed either 6 or 7-figure values very quickly.

Insurance companies know this. Therefore, they work harder to investigate claims, deny them when they have the opportunity to do so, and limit their exposure.

An adjuster could use the following arguments to dispute your damages: “This rider went through the intersection at excessive speeds”; “This motorcycle was difficult to see”; “There was doubt about whether all the treatment provided was necessary”; or “A pre-existing injury to your hip or back contributed to the current injury”. Under Virginia’s contributory negligence statute, Section 8.01-58 of the Virginia Code, if the insurance company can prove that even a single percent of fault can be assigned to you as a rider, the company may be able to successfully deny any recovery attempts.

This is not speculation; it’s a common form of defense in Virginia cases involving motorcycle accident trauma injuries with such great potential liability.

Do not speak with any insurance company representative before contacting us. A single poorly articulated response regarding how fast you were traveling, or what lane you were in, could be taken out-of-context and subsequently used against you as a basis for contributory negligence. It can take seconds to say something that will take months to undo!

What Compensation May Be Available for a Virginia Pelvic Fracture Claim

A fair pelvic injury compensation Virginia considers all aspects of the accident, not just the initial bill from the hospital.

If an open book fracture motorcycle accident Virginia claim covers just the first stay in a hospital, then the injured person is likely to incur substantial out-of-pocket expenses for many years related to ongoing expenses.

What Evidence Can Protect a Virginia Motorcycle Pelvic Injury Claim

The evidence collected after a motorcycle accident trauma injuries should include all the information gathered before moving the bike (and other vehicles involved) off the roadway. The long-term impact of the crash on the injured person will be determined by the contents of that initial evidence before the road is cleared. 

In addition to adding to the determination of liability for the motorcycle crash (because of Virginia’s contributory negligence standard), the insurer will begin to create a fault argument as soon as they identify the exposure number.

Things that prove to be useful in determining the cause and subsequent damages in a motorcycle crash include:

• Photographs of the crash scene immediately after the crash
• The motorcycle’s pattern of damage (which also shows how the force created by the other vehicle travelled to the motorcyclist’s pelvis)
• Any damage to any other clothing or helmets worn by the motorcycle operator, the police report, and related citations issued
• Any dash camera footage or traffic camera footage
• Any business security camera footage located close to the crash
• Event data recorder information from the vehicle that caused the motorcycle crash
• Any statements from witnesses obtained promptly after the crash (before they forget)
• And accident reconstruction experts when there is a dispute regarding how the crash occurred.

Every detail helps. A drag mark on the street. A broken footpeg at a unique angle. A camera was placed at the top of a gas station canopy across the intersection from the crash scene. These are all examples of details that could transform a disputed claim into a clear and determined one.

According to Virginia law § 8.01-243, a victim of a personal injury has two years to bring forth a lawsuit against the defendant committing the personal injury. However, evidence has a much shorter shelf life; for example, security video footage on a property is typically overwritten on 30-day cycles, and event data recorders can be overwritten. Furthermore, the memory of eyewitnesses can fade quickly after a few short weeks.

An Open Book Fracture Demands a Serious Legal and Medical Response

The pelvic open-book fracture that occurred due to a motorcycle accident (as opposed to just causing soft tissue injury) is a significant problem. It’s primarily due to the total failure of the pelvis, which could result in a hemorrhagic emergency (an extreme risk of bleeding) and significantly affect a person’s ability to lie down, move (walk, etc.), perform their jobs independently, and enjoy their daily comfort levels for many years after the accident.

All aspects of the severe motorcycle accident injuries (including the emergency surgical procedure, recovery, future surgery, ongoing chronic pain issues, inability to work or find the type of employment you had previously, and how your life will be different from that point on) must be considered when developing an injury claim.

When negotiating the settlement of your claim, make sure the amount is equal to the actual damages that you incurred as a result of your accident. Not the first offer, but the actual damages incurred as a result of your accident.

Consult With Tatum & Atkinson Law Firm About Your Virginia Open Book Fracture Claim

If you sustained an open book fracture or other serious injury to your pelvis as a result of a motorcycle accident in Virginia, the attorneys at Tatum and Atkinson Law Firm will evaluate your situation, dispute the insurance company’s evaluation of your case, and help you create a claim based on the complete magnitude of your losses.

Schedule a free consultation by calling (800) 529-0804. We’re committed to providing you with sound advice when you need it the most and charge you no attorney fees if we don’t win your case.

FAQs: Open Book Fractures After Virginia Motorcycle Accidents!

Why is an open-book fracture considered a life-threatening injury? 

In some extreme circumstances, when a major artery in the pelvis ruptures as a result of trauma such as a motor vehicle accident (MVA), it can lead to rapid internal bleeding and have a documented death rate due to bleeding of 10.4%. In some cases, patients can develop hemorrhagic shock within minutes.

Can an open-book fracture occur even if the motorcyclist was wearing protective gear? 

Yes, helmets, jackets, and pants with armor can protect the rider, but none of those items can provide full protection against the lateral or compressive forces caused by high-energy trauma to the pelvic area.

How long does it typically take to recover from an open book fracture? 

For initial healing of injuries to the pelvic ring, the minimum estimated healing time is 3 months and could take longer based on the presence of complications, hardware failure, nerve injuries, and further surgical interventions. Full recovery can take up to 12 months or longer.

Can an open-book fracture lead to permanent mobility issues? 

Yes, there are documented long-term effects from pelvic ring injuries, including: chronic pain in the pelvic area, gait alterations, locked hips, nerve dysfunction and urinary dysfunction.

What makes motorcycle riders more susceptible to pelvic injuries than car occupants? 

Riders experience the direct force of impact on their bodies without the benefit of restrained systems found capable of absorbing that same force during a vehicular experience. When a rider is involved in an ejection or side collision, the forces that act on the pelvic area would otherwise be absorbed by the vehicle’s cabin or restraint system in traditional vehicular accidents.

About the Author

Robert Tatum

Robert Tatum is the founding attorney at Tatum & Atkinson. He is licensed to practice in all North Carolina state and federal courts and before the U.S. Supreme Court. He earned his J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law in 2002 and his B.S. from the University of Virginia in 1999. His practice focuses on personal injury law. Connect with him on LinkedIn.