Illinois Comparative Fault & Motorcycle Accidents

Last updated Tuesday, January 27th, 2026

After a motorcycle accident, one of the first questions that comes up is whether you can still recover compensation if you share some responsibility for what happened. In Illinois, the answer depends on how much fault is assigned to you.

The state follows what’s called a modified comparative negligence rule. Understanding how this works can make a real difference in whether you pursue a claim and how much you might recover.

How Illinois Comparative Negligence Works

Illinois law allows you to recover damages even if you were partially responsible for the accident, but there’s a threshold. If you’re found to be 50% or more at fault, you can’t recover anything. If your fault is less than 50%, you can still collect compensation, but your award gets reduced by your percentage of fault.

Here’s what that looks like in practice: Say you’re in an accident and a jury awards you $100,000 in damages. If you’re found 20% at fault, your recovery drops to $80,000. If you’re 30% at fault, you’d receive $70,000. But if the jury finds you 50% or more responsible, you walk away with nothing.

This is different from some states that use pure comparative negligence, where you can recover something even if you’re 99% at fault. Illinois draws a harder line.

What Determines Fault Percentage

Fault isn’t just a matter of opinion. Insurance adjusters, attorneys, and sometimes juries look at the specific facts of each accident to assign percentages. Several factors come into play:

Traffic violations carry weight. If you were speeding, ran a red light, or violated another traffic law at the time of the crash, that can increase your percentage of fault. But violating a law doesn’t automatically make you majority responsible. Context matters.

Road conditions and visibility also factor in. If you were riding in heavy rain or poor visibility and couldn’t stop in time, that might affect how fault is divided. The same goes for hazards like potholes or debris that contributed to the accident.

Witness statements can shift the balance. What bystanders saw, what the other driver says, and even dashcam or surveillance footage all help reconstruct what actually happened.

Lane position and maneuvering get scrutinized, too. Were you lane splitting? Did you signal before changing lanes? Were you in the other driver’s blind spot? These details matter when determining who had the opportunity to avoid the collision.

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Common Scenarios Where Fault Gets Split

Motorcycle accidents rarely fit into clean categories of blame. Here are a few situations where comparative fault often comes up:

Left-turn collisions: A car turns left in front of an oncoming motorcycle. The car may be primarily at fault for failing to yield, but if the motorcycle was speeding or had a non-functioning headlight, the rider could share some responsibility.

Lane change accidents: A vehicle merges into a motorcycle’s lane. If the car didn’t check its mirrors, that driver is likely mostly at fault. But if the motorcycle was riding in a blind spot or between lanes in a way that made it hard to see, fault might be divided.

Rear-end crashes: Motorcycles that get rear-ended are usually not at fault, but if the rider braked suddenly without cause or had broken taillights, some fault could shift to the rider.

Intersection accidents: Both parties may have had some duty to check for oncoming traffic. If a motorcycle enters an intersection on a yellow light just as it turns red, and a car jumps the green, fault percentages can get complicated.

Why Legal Representation Matters

Insurance companies know how comparative fault works, and they use it to their advantage. An adjuster may argue that you were 60% responsible just to avoid paying anything at all. Or they might inflate your fault percentage to reduce what they owe.

Having an attorney who understands Illinois law helps level that playing field. A lawyer can gather evidence that supports your version of events, challenge unfair fault assignments, and push back when an insurer tries to shift blame without justification.

Attorneys also know how to work with accident reconstruction experts who can analyze skid marks, vehicle damage, and other physical evidence to show what really happened. That kind of analysis can be the difference between a 40% fault finding and a 55% one, which in Illinois means the difference between recovering most of your damages and recovering nothing.

Don’t Admit Fault at the Scene

This is where many riders hurt their own cases before they even talk to a lawyer. After a crash, adrenaline is high, and people sometimes apologize or say things like “I didn’t see you” or “I should have braked sooner.” Those statements can be used against you later to establish fault.

You’re required to exchange information and cooperate with police, but you don’t have to narrate what you think went wrong. Stick to the facts: what you saw, where you were, what happened. Let the investigation determine fault.

Even saying “I’m sorry” can be interpreted as an admission of liability, even if you meant it as a general expression of concern. Save detailed discussions about what happened for your attorney.

Time Limits Still Apply

Comparative fault doesn’t change the statute of limitations for filing a claim in Illinois. You still have two years from the date of the accident to file a personal injury lawsuit. If you wait too long trying to sort out fault percentages on your own, you could lose your right to pursue compensation altogether.

The sooner you involve legal counsel, the sooner someone can start preserving evidence, interviewing witnesses, and building a case that accurately reflects what happened.

Examples of Fault Allocation

A few examples help clarify how these percentages play out:

Example 1: A car makes an unsafe lane change and hits a motorcycle. The car’s driver didn’t signal or check mirrors. The motorcyclist was going five miles over the speed limit. A jury might find the car driver 85% at fault and the motorcyclist 15% at fault. If damages total $200,000, the rider would recover $170,000.

Example 2: A motorcycle runs a stop sign and collides with a car that was also speeding through the intersection. The rider might be found 60% at fault for running the stop sign, while the car driver is 40% at fault for speeding. Because the rider is over 50%, they recover nothing under Illinois law.

Example 3: A driver opens a car door into traffic, striking a passing motorcycle. The rider was traveling in a bike lane but wasn’t wearing a helmet. The door-opening driver might be 95% at fault, the rider 5%. If the damages are $150,000, the rider would collect $142,500. (Note: Illinois doesn’t require motorcycle helmets, so not wearing one typically doesn’t create liability, but it could affect damages in rare cases, depending on injury type.)

What About Partial Settlements?

Sometimes more than one party shares fault. If there are multiple defendants, Illinois law allows you to pursue each one for their share of the damages. But once your own fault crosses that 50% line, your claim against anyone fails.

If there’s a settlement offer early on, make sure any agreement accounts for comparative fault fairly. Insurers sometimes offer quick settlements that assume a higher percentage of fault than you actually deserve, banking on the hope that you’ll accept rather than fight it out.

Moving Forward After an Accident

If you’ve been in a motorcycle crash and there’s any question about who was at fault, your best move is to consult with someone who knows how Illinois courts handle these cases. Comparative fault rules can feel abstract until they’re applied to your specific situation.

The law gives you a chance to recover even when you’re not blameless, but only if you’re on the right side of that 50% line. Getting there often requires careful investigation, solid evidence, and an advocate who won’t let an insurance company rewrite the story to save money.