Increase in Bicycle Accidents in Orange County

There’s hardly been a worse time to bicycle in Orange County. This year alone, according to California Highway Patrol data, bicycle accidents have increased by about 40% in Orange County. That isn’t the only statistic that concerns California bicycle accident lawyers. In Los Angeles County, the number of accidents involving bicycles has increased by a staggering 90% since 2002.

In Orange County in 2011, there were approximately 1,400 bicycle accident-related injuries. According to VoiceofOC.org, some of the highest at-risk bicycle accident magnets are Main Street in Santa Ana, and downtown Anaheim. In many of these in neighborhoods, bicycle accident victims happen to be Latino immigrants, whose deaths very rarely make the headlines. These bicycle accidents are never reported in the media.

According to statistics, many bicycle accident fatalities recently have involved young Latinos. Bicycling has taken off in the Latin American community in Southern California, with this segment of the population accounting for some of the highest increases in bicyclists across California. Many undocumented immigrants, who lose their licenses at drunk driving checkpoints, are bicycling to work, and school. That means more numbers of bicyclists competing for space on roads that are simply not designed for bicyclists.

There are signs that the situation could soon change. The Orange County Transportation Authority recently approved approximately 9 million dollars in grants for bicycle infrastructure projects. Hopefully, the money will be used to develop and improve the inadequate current bicycle infrastructure in Southern California, including the construction of more bicycle lanes. OC law enforcement also needs to be more active about educating motorists about bicyclist rights, and increasing safe biking practices among bicycle commuters.

YouTube Video Shows Shocking Bicycle Accident in Los Angeles

California bicycle accident lawyers and bicyclists are very aware of the typical circumstances surrounding these accidents. It isn’t often however that the public gets to see an actual bicycle accident, especially one that clearly indicated how little respect motorcyclists and motorists sometimes have for bicyclist rights. A motorist recently managed to capture footage of a bicycle accident, and posted the video on YouTube.

The accident took place just outside Los Angeles, on a stretch of Mulholland Highway, and the video was taken by a motorcycle enthusiast and videographer. The stretch of Mulholland Highway has traditionally been very popular with motorcyclists, and recently, many bicyclists have also started using the stretch of highway. The videographer was capturing video footage of motorcyclists using the highway, including some of his friends, and managed to capture the accident footage by chance.

Accidents on this two-lane stretch of highway are not exactly unheard of, and very often, these are the results of motorcyclists pushing themselves beyond their limits, because the highway is basically empty, except for the motorcyclists. For the most part, there have been few bicycle accidents here because there are few bicyclists on this highway.

The video clearly shows the motorcyclist riding at a safe speed, and then hitting the two bicyclists. The footage clearly shows both the bicyclists minding their own business and following the laws of the road, riding on the very edge of the highway. Both of the bicyclists were thrown off their bicycles, and sustained injuries. The bicyclist who was hit first was dragged for quite a few feet, and sustained more serious injuries.