Fault in an Arizona motorcycle crash is rarely a single yes-or-no answer. It's a percentage, and understanding how that percentage gets assigned is the key to understanding a rider's case.
Arizona's pure comparative fault rule
Arizona uses pure comparative fault. Each party involved in a crash can be assigned a share of responsibility, expressed as a percentage, and an injured person's compensation is reduced by their own share. Even a rider found partly at fault can still recover — reduced by their percentage, but not barred.
The "rider assumption"
Riders often face an unspoken assumption after a crash: that speed, lane position, or risk-taking must have played a part. That assumption is not evidence, and Arizona's system runs on evidence — scene documentation, vehicle damage, witness accounts, and physical reconstruction. Many rider crashes begin with a driver turning across the rider's path who says they never saw the motorcycle; the evidence, not the assumption, is what establishes what actually happened.
What decides the percentage
Because the number is built from evidence, the firm's evidence plan is what matters. Photographs of vehicle positions, the motorcycle's damage before repairs, and independent witnesses all feed the fault analysis. Where lane position is disputed, the rules in is lane splitting legal in Arizona become part of the picture. Where a head injury is involved, helmet questions can enter on severity — covered in Arizona's motorcycle helmet law.
If you've been hurt riding and fault is being disputed, a free consultation is available any hour, in English or Spanish: (602) 217-0000.
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