Bike Accidents and Brain Injuries: Understanding How They Are Linked

Serious bicycle accidents often result in head trauma. Fortunately, the law provides a path forward to help victims receive fair compensation for their injuries.

Wearing a helmet is an essential safety measure for cyclists. Research published by Reuters shows that helmets reduce the odds of death after a collision by 44%, while reducing the odds of a traumatic brain injury by 52%.

Unfortunately, even the best helmet can’t always fully protect a rider. Some collisions are so violent they lead to death or serious brain injury regardless of safety measures.

Let’s take a closer look at the brain injury risks cyclists face, and how we can mitigate them.

Bicycling and Brain Injuries

Traumatic brain injuries typically occur when the human brain is deprived of oxygen or suffers a violent jolt related to high velocity impact. For example, a cyclist that collides with a car door that is opened in her path may be flung over the handlebars, striking her head on the pavement. This collision may result in her brain violently being shifted within her skull, a process that can lead to tearing or bruising of the brain. This may also result in the clotting or pooling of blood within or around the brain, an extremely dangerous and often fatal condition.

Collisions in general may involve anything from a mild concussion (though no brain injury is truly “mild”) to potentially severe and life-long disabilities. Symptoms of brain injuries often include:

• Headaches
• Light sensitivity
• Blurry vision
• Nausea
• Confusion
• Memory problems
• Emotional changes (such as inexplicable anger or impatience)

More serious brain damage may include cognitive impairment, loss of ability to work or function normally or even coma or death, in the worst cases.

In addition to brain injuries, victims of collisions may also suffer serious skull or facial fractures.

How Does the Court System Protect Cyclists?

Cyclists who have suffered a brain injury, whether relatively mild or severe, are protected by the legal system, an attorney can help ensure that victims are compensated for what they have suffered in terms of pain, loss of earning power and other variables.

Attorneys can also help level the playing field against insurance companies, who employ workers who are skilled negotiators and incentivized to get victims to settle for the lowest amount possible, regardless of their injuries.

It’s important, however, to work with an attorney that specializes in cycling litigation. Brain injury cases can be quite complex, and establishing liability and the injuries and losses the victim have suffered requires an experienced advocate.

Finding the Right Bicycle Accident Attorney

Gary Brustin is a lifelong cyclist and a specialist in bicycle accident law. In fact, these are the only types of cases he accepts. If you’ve been injured in a collision, we urge you to contact Gary for a complimentary consultation.