Tag: Bicycle Accident Lawyer

A bicyclist is pedaling along alone in the right lane of a city street. Suddenly, he is on the ground, screaming in pain from a twisted back and broken collarbone. There are no moving vehicles other than the bicyclist. What happened?

A motorist opened their door into traffic.

Most bicycle accidents involve a bike and a car. Often, drivers are at fault in accidents that involve right turns or failure to share a lane. “Dooring” is a term used to describe what occurs when a motorist opens their door into traffic without realizing that a bicyclist is present.

Although dooring does not involve a moving car, it can result in severe injuries or even death. According to a study conducted by the City of Chicago, dooring causes between 7% and 20% of all bicycle accidents.

According to the League of American Bicyclists, forty states have laws which specifically make it an offense to open a car door without verifying the absence of traffic. The presence of these laws gives the police a way of documenting that a motorist is at fault in a dooring-related accident. If a motorist causes an accident by opening a door into traffic, they may be financially liable for the harm caused. With the right lawyer, this can be treated in the same manner as if the motorist had caused an accident via a moving violation.

If you have been in a dooring accident or any type of bicycle accident, you probably have medical bills that must be paid and have experienced pain and suffering. If you need help recovering funds, please contact us.

As a cyclist, it’s easy to overlook the significance of being highly visible in daylight. However, that’s when most fatal bicycle accidents occur, according to the National Traffic Highway Administration, so daytime bicycle lights are an important safety feature. In fact, one group, Cycling PEI of Prince Edward Island, is pushing to make daytime running lights for cyclists mandatory, according to CBC News.

Cyclists who use busy streets, especially highways, are often at risk of being struck from behind, whether in a traffic lane or shoulder. In an era when motorists are constantly distracted by their mobile devices, cyclists need to create bigger distractions. Bright, erratically flashing lights help achieve that goal. Some daytime bicycle lights recently on the market are visible from more than a mile away, comparable with flashing lights on emergency vehicles.

Many bicycle shops carry a variety of head and tail lights that range in price and quality. The brightness, or lumens, will vary, of course. The cheapest options are often lights that are barely visible in dark conditions — often referred to as “be seen” lights — so it’s critical to select bright, quality lights specifically designed for daytime visibility.

Today, many USB-rechargeable head and tail lights provide excellent daytime visibility. Some offer hours of powerful illumination, different flashing and steady modes and are visible from more than a mile away in daylight. What’s more: Most of these lights don’t take long to recharge, roughly an hour. Of course, any of these daytime lights are a great option for nighttime riding, as well. Going a step further, some tail lights double as HD cameras. During an accident these devices record the last few seconds of a cyclist’s crash, which can help when disputing a claim or solving a hit and run.

Please contact us for more information about what to do if you have been in a daytime cycling accident.

A number of automakers, including Volvo, are experimenting with technology that would help reduce the risk of bicycle accidents. These vehicles would be equipped with technology that would recognize the back of another vehicle, including a bicycle.

Between 2008 and 2012, there were more than 3,300 bicycle accident fatalities in the United States. Approximately 74% of those fatalities involved the bicycle being struck from behind by another vehicle. In the most common scenario accounting for approximately 23% of the accidents, the vehicle was traveling in the same direction as the bicycle, and struck the bicycle from behind.

The second most common bicycle accident scenario that resulted in fatalities was a bicyclist crossing in front of the vehicle. This situation accounted for the second highest number of fatalities during this period of time, comprising 22% of all deaths.

Volvo has introduced technology that can help reduce the risk of bicycle accidents by helping motorists detect bicyclists in their path. That would greatly help reduce the number of bicyclists killed when they are hit by a car from behind.

It is becoming clear to California bicycle accident lawyers that maximum progress in keeping bicyclists safer in the future will be linked to more sensitive auto technology. Currently, most of the efforts to help prevent bicyclist accidents focus on infrastructure development, and motorist education. While those are two very important components of bicycle safety, the fact is also that most bicycle accidents involve another vehicle. If more vehicles come with technology that can help detect bicyclists in the path of the vehicle, it would go a long way in helping reduce these fatalities.

There is only so much that well-designed bicycle lanes can do to help keep bicyclists safer. The fact is that many motorists fail to look out for bicyclists in their path, and technology can help them do that. If you were injured in a bicycle accident, contact Gary Brustin today.

The federal administration has kickstarted an initiative aimed at helping reduce the steadily increasing rates of bicycle and pedestrian accident fatalities. Since 2009, those rates have been increasing at rates that are much higher than for motor vehicle accident fatalities.

The new safety initiative was announced earlier this year by Transportation Secretary Antony Fox. He made the announcement at the annual “Pro-Walk, Pro-Bike, Pro-Place” conference, which consisted of participants including transportation engineers, bicycle and pedestrian safety advocates, and city planners. According to the Department of Transportation, the campaign will run over 18 months, and will include road safety assessments across the country.

These assessments will specifically focus on walking and biking paths in every state, and resources will be developed to help build more numbers of safe streets. The campaign will also promote better walking and biking lane design, more behavioral safety, and better education and training initiatives that will help people walk and bike safety. It will also focus on the promotion of car crash avoidance technologies that are specifically designed to help protect bicyclists in pedestrian and accidents. For instance, a number of new crash avoidance technologies are aimed at helping reduce the risk of serious injuries to pedestrians during an accident.

Road design is another major factor that will be included as part of the assessment. For instance, studies have indicated to California bicycle accident attorneys that reducing traffic volumes and making more space for bicyclists and pedestrians can actually help reduce the risk of fatal accidents by as much as 29%. In fact, statistics show that when such design improvements were made in rural highways, there was a 50% drop in accidents. The initiative will specifically focus on making such improvements.

It is high time bicycle safety received the same kind of priority that auto and trucking safety does in this country, and this campaign seems to be a step in that direction.