Bicycle Clearance Laws

Many states have laws requiring motorists to keep a safe distance when passing bicycles on the road. Where these laws exist, the distance is usually three feet. Some places require more. There’s no doubt that keeping a reasonable distance is necessary for safety. The question is how much these bicycle clearance laws help.

Inadequate clearance is a factor in a relatively small proportion of bicycle accidents. Visibility problems and reckless disregard for cyclists are bigger factors. Lack of clearance can be a cause of rear-end collisions, which are especially likely to cause serious injury. Fortunately, this type of accident isn’t very common.

Enforcement is another difficulty. How often will a police officer notice that a car is passing a bike too closely? If the officer does notice, how likely is the incident to result in a ticket? The law is most likely to come into play when there is an accident. Failure to maintain required clearance can help establish that a motorist is at fault.

What is sufficient clearance?

Intuitively, the distance required for safety should increase as the speed limit goes up. However, country roads with lower speeds can be the most dangerous. They often have poorly maintained shoulders, and a cyclist may need to swerve to avoid a pothole. If a car is passing too closely, this could have deadly consequences.

Cyclists shouldn’t cling to the very edge of the road to maximize clearance. Doing that gives them nowhere to go if they encounter a bad spot in the pavement. They’re actually safer if they have some buffer space toward the edge, even if they’re closer to vehicles.

As with many situations, laws by themselves aren’t enough to make people safer. Motorists need to be aware of bicycles in the road and give them a safe berth. Cyclists need to stay as visible as possible and avoid unpredictable behavior. Clearance laws serve as a reminder, but they may not do much more than that.

If you’ve been involved in an accident while on a bicycle, contact Mr. Brustin to find out what your options are.

 

Is Your City Bikeable?

If you ride in your city, you may think it has pretty decent bikeability. After all, you get around alright. However, not every city that people ride their bike in is considered bikeable. In fact, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has a checklist for local riders to access the bikeability of their town.

This checklist covers items like whether or not lights register for bikes, if drivers behave appropriately around bikes, and even the basics of whether or not there are bike paths to ride on. This can help riders access the true bikeability of any local area. Furthermore, it also works to point out problems that we might not have really taken stock in, such as a lack of really safe places to secure a bike or too many scary dogs that harass riders.

Making Your City More Bikeable

Unfortunately, your local area, like many, will probably score pretty low. The good news is that the checklist can be a good way for local cyclists to identify and address problems. The checklist even adds on ways that you can foster healthy change in your community.

Yet, even by knowing what you need to change, it can be difficult to foster healthy change, especially by yourself. If you are an avid bike rider in your town, you may want to find, or even start, a group of like-minded individuals that can help show your local government that, yes, there are cyclists in your city and they want a safe and friendly place to ride.

Unfortunately, even if you are able to make a positive change in your community, change often comes slowly. Until less bikeable cities become better, they pose a risk for those that do ride the roads. If you have been injured while riding, contact us today. The Law Office of Gary Brustin is dedicated to representing the rights of injured riders, and we want to help you get the compensation that you deserve.

Should You Wear Headphones While Cycling?

Headphones While Cycling

There is no question as to the legality of wearing headphones while driving a car – you can’t. However, the legality of wearing headphones while cycling is a little more grey. There may be a few local ordinances that prevent it, but for the most part, it is perfectly legal to do so. The question remains, however. Is it safe to do so?

Bicycle Safety

The issue of cycling while wearing headphones is one that has always divided the cycling community. There are two camps of thought. One may feel that wearing headphones and listening to music makes a cyclist less responsive or even aware of dangers. Some others feel that wearing headphones helps dampen the cacophony of sounds that can create a sensory overload. In this respect, it is believed that by drowning it out everything else, the cyclist has a clearer head to address potential issues.

In reality, headphones are probably not the issue. If a car comes from behind and clips a cyclist, being able to hear their approach probably would not have prevented the accident. In fact, in challenging environments, being able to hear is not actually necessary. A car driver requires the unimpeded use of their ears primarily so they can hear emergency response vehicles and clear a lane. Cyclists, often not using actual car lanes, are of no particular responsibly to do anything. Often the use of your ears doesn’t do much, certainly, they do less than educating drivers on how to share the road.

Bicycle Law

So, if your city lacks specific laws against headphones and cycling, it is well within your legal right to use them. Even if you aren’t listening to music, sometimes dampening the noise around you can be a major help, making them worthwhile to use.

If you have gotten in a cycling accident and someone is trying to put the blame on you for wearing headphones, contact us today to see how we can help.

Texting and Cycling: Can You Use Your Cell Phone While Riding?

Texting Laws

By now, everyone should be fully informed of the dangers that come with texting and driving. So much so, that many states have now made it illegal to drive a car and use your cell phone. However, does that law extend to cycling? Surprisingly, not always.

While some states have put in place laws that make cell phone use on bicycles illegal, it isn’t so in California. There are no laws against it. So technically, if you wanted to, you could use your cell phone while riding. However, the real truth is that you probably shouldn’t. The issue with using a phone while driving a car is that you take your eyes off the road, and when going at a decent speed, this is dangerous.

Texting and Cycling

However, cell phone use on a bicycle is dangerous for a different reason. Not only does it distract your eyes from the road, but it takes up one of your hands as well. You need both hands for steering, and if you need to make a split-second maneuver, you will likely spend that split-second deciding to drop the phone or grab the handlebars.

A large part of the share the road laws that cyclists fight for in order to make their rides safer comes from a desire to truly share the road. If you are on your cell phone, you aren’t being fair to motorists or anyone else on or near the road. It is one matter if you use a hands-free device and a phone holder for your bike, but if you dare to use the phone the traditional way, you are asking for an accident.

If you have been in a cycling accident due to the negligence of another, contact us today to see what the Law Office of Gary Brustin can do for you.

Do Law Enforcement Have a Biased in Cycling Accidents?

Cycling Accidents

Everyone likes to think that when an officer arrives on the scene of an accident, they look at the whole situation with an objective eye to best gather the facts of an accident. While there are certainly some officers that do this, when it comes to cycling accidents, it is no secret that there is a certain level of bias against the cyclist by law enforcement officers.

What’s the Difference?

This bias comes from the same place that cycling accidents often come from – a lack of information. When it comes to car accidents, the whole scene is a familiar one for law enforcement officers. However, like other motorists, many law enforcement officers aren’t exactly well-versed in the laws, common practices, or even the behavior of cyclists. To some, cyclists on the road are an unknown factor that makes them uncomfortable. It is easier for a law enforcement officer to believe a cyclist caused an accident over a motorist that has a clear-cut sort of behavior on the road.

Unfortunately, what this means for the cyclist is a poorly documented crash scene. Law Enforcement will state the facts as best they can, but lacking the knowledge of cyclist behavior, sometimes they don’t capture the whole picture. This can make receiving compensation for an accident difficult for the cyclist. It is something that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later as more cyclists take to the road and laws are constantly constructed to protect them. However, until then, the cyclist will need to be responsible for documenting their own accidents if possible.

Legal Help

If you have been in a cycling accident and need legal representation that understands, contact us today. As a cyclist himself, Gary Brustin and his law office understand what cyclists go through. If you were badly hurt, let him help you recover the compensation that you require.

When Do You Need to Legally Use a Bicycle Light?

Bicycle Law

Many states, California included, have laws that state certain rules for cyclists riding after dark. One of the most important rules is the use of a bicycle light. Not only does a bicycle light help allow you to be seen, but it is also crucial to see the road in front of you. However, when exactly is a bicycle light required?

Knowing when you need a bicycle light also requires you to know when the sun rises and sets. For example, California requires the use of a bicycle light up to a half hour before sunrise and a half hour after sunset. Of course, this means the specifics of that law literally changes by the day. If the sun sets at 9 pm in July, then that bicycle light needs to be on at 9:30. If the sun sets a 5 pm in December, then the bicycle light needs to be on at 5:30.

Bicycle Citations and Accidents

However, what happens if you do not have a bicycle light on after dark? In California, you might face a citation, particularly if riding on highways. However, the most important thing to remember is if you get into an accident after dark without a bicycle light, suddenly you will find yourself with the fault in the accident. Even if a car veers straight for you, if you did not have a light on after dark, you will have fault in the accident and thus will not be able to recover as much compensation. This is why it is so important to be well-versed in the unique laws for cyclists. Your safety is the most important thing, but if the worst should happen, you will also want full coverage.

If you have been in a bicycle accident, contact us to see what the Law Office of Gary Brustin can do to help you.

Cycling Safety Laws: How a Simple Bicycle Turn Becomes Illegal

Cycling Safety Laws

While many state governments have taken steps to create laws specifically to keep cyclists safe, thanks to some very careful wording, you will find that laws can still find a way to wedge cyclists in if they should happen to do something wrong.

Turning Laws

A prime case of this is when it comes to illegal turns. The law states that a turn becomes illegal when a vehicle does so without reasonable safety. Due to the specific mention of a vehicle and not a motor vehicle, this means it is for cyclists too. Furthermore, the law covers the act of changing lanes as well as turning.

Cycling Law

The real issue with this law is that turning left on a bicycle can be notoriously difficult. The cyclist can sit uncomfortably in the left turn lane with the cars waiting to turn left or they can walk their bicycle across the crosswalks as a pedestrian in a longer, but much safer feeling maneuver.

However, where law enforcement can punish cyclist unnecessarily is for a lack of signaling. The law states that you need to signal at least 100 feet prior to the turn, and obviously for the cyclist using hand signals, that might not be very feasible. However, because that is specifically the law, this is how turning on a bicycle can quickly become an illegal act.

Accidents

Unfortunately, with all the effort that has been put into other cycling safety laws, the matter of turns is still widely neglected. Even worse, a majority of cycling accidents happen in a turning situation even when the cyclist is actively signaling. Most drivers don’t know how to handle the situation and they often end up making poor decisions. However, if you have been injured in a cycling accident, contact us today. The Law Office of Gary Brustin is dedicated to making sure injured cyclists get the compensation they deserve.

Colorado Adds Opt-In Rolling Stop Cycling Law

Rolling Stop Law

The “Idaho stop” or rolling stop law for cyclists has been pervasively spreading across the United States over the past year. However, while this is great news for cyclists, it doesn’t leave a lot of room for local governments with perhaps different cycling laws to have a voice. This is just what Colorado was concerned with when the rolling stop rolled on up to the doors of state government.

However, unlike other states that have allowed it, Colorado took a more cautious route. They approved the rolling stop for cyclists but ultimately left setting restrictions on speed and implementation up to the local communities in the state.

Colorado is already quite friendly to cyclists, and in that regard, a number of cities already have their own cycling laws on the rolling stop. Furthermore, the state government recognizes that not every intersection is right for it.

Local Communities

This new law allows for communities to opt-in to adopt the Idaho stop for their community as well as regulate what is considered a “reasonable speed” to roll on through. This comes after a failed bill from 2017 that had addressed the same issue but ultimately failed due to conflicts with cyclist laws that had already been put into place in popular Colorado cycling cities.

Around the Country

This sets a great precedent for other states considering the issue of rolling stops for cyclists. It shows that this issue can be shot down if it conflicts with other community laws, but by offering it as a more opt-in affair, it can be adapted for the whole state.

Unfortunately, while this makes it safer for many cyclists, accidents will still happen. If you have been in a cycling accident and need a lawyer to represent you who understand your pain, contact us today. Let Gary Brustin, a fellow cyclist, and his law office come to your aid.

Can You or Can’t You? – The Difficult Situation of Sidewalk Cycling

Sidewalk Cycling

Like so many other cycling laws, as to whether or not you can actually ride your bicycle on the sidewalk can be a difficult thing to answer. The law on the subject is not covered by any federal guidelines and not every state law covers them either. Instead, the law tends to be specific to local municipalities. Which means if you want to know if you can in your area, then you need to check city law if there is nothing in the state law.

However, even if there is no explicit law regarding sidewalk cycling in your area, you will always find people who think there is. For some reason, riding your bicycle on the sidewalk even without laws against it is frowned upon by pedestrians. But why? Most cyclists have more problems with other motorists than they have with pedestrians. When they ride responsible on sidewalks, everyone is safer.

Are There Cycling Laws?

Of course, if there are no laws, then all the dirty looks in the world can’t stop you from doing it. However, always remember that if there is a bicycle lane available, you should be using it. So many people rally against bicycle lanes because it takes away driver parking and they claim cyclists don’t use them. This is why when a city makes preparations for cyclists, they should be using them, even though the closer you are to cars occasionally means the closer you are to danger. However, if no cyclists choose bicycle lanes over sidewalks, the motorist will never learn to share the road and bike lanes will stop being built.

As for the legality of sidewalk cycling, it is explicitly banned in very few cities, but cyclists should only use it when necessary. When roads are too narrow or bike lanes are not available, you should be able to go to the sidewalk if you can. For more information on cycling laws and safety, contact us today.

Do You Have to Ride Single File When Cycling?

Single File Cycling

Cycling is good for both the body and the mind as well as an environmentally friendly way to travel. However, it is also better with a friend. If you travel the same scenery every day, having someone to talk to can help keep things fresh. Yet while cycling, can you ride next to them as you travel or do you need to keep things single file where you mind as well be cycling alone?

State to State Laws

The answer, like many things, will vary by the state. There are currently 39 states that explicitly allow the cyclist to ride two abreast, but many of those states have specific conditions. It is best to look up the particular rules for your state before heading out on a group ride, but the general best rule of thumb to consider is to only ride two abreast when there is room to do so.

For example, when room in the bike lane allows, traveling two abreast is fine. Yet, many states only allow two-deep travel on roads if you are riding along the shoulder and if there is room while others recommend filing out if a car needs to pass. So usually, the thing to be considerate of is “if there is room.” Unfortunately, in many cases, since roads were built for cars, there is the room to ride next to your friend.

The Takeaway

While you may not be sure if you can ride two-by-two with other cyclists, since some states do not have rules either way as well, it is always best to use your best judgment. If you are not impeding traffic, most law enforcement officers won’t even give you a glance for doing so even in states where not allowed. It is always recommended to ride safely regardless of the rules. For more safety tips on cycling and law regarding cyclists, contact us today.

Drinking and Cycling

Drinking and Cycling

By this point, everyone should know better than to drink and drive. A car can cause a lot of damage even at a low speed, and thus, should only be driven when in a sober state of mind. However, the law in most states is a touch fuzzier when it comes to the issue of bicycling while drunk. The good news is that in many states, you might be arrested for drinking and cycling if acting obviously intoxicated, but you may not face punishments.

The key issue in drunk driving law is that many still use the term “motor” vehicles. This means cars, boats, and even your lawnmower shouldn’t be used while intoxicated. Yet, a bicycle doesn’t have a motor. In states where the statutes still specify motor vehicles, it makes it easy for the right defense attorney to argue that you weren’t driving a motor vehicle. Furthermore, as bicycles often do minimal damage to others, though can do much damage to your own person, courts will generally look more favorably on a drunk cyclist as opposed to a drunk motorist.

State to State

However, if you live in a state the specifically specifies “vehicles” instead of “motor vehicles” then they have probably already taken into consideration the event of drunk cyclists. However, since you do not need to hold a license in order to cycle, the punishments will be less severe in nature. If you hold a driver’s license, unfortunately, there may be punishments against that, but the courts can’t technically stop you from cycling.

While cycling under the influence charges usually come with the minimal punishments, you still don’t want to face them or have them on your record. If you have been arrested for biking under the influence and need help, contact us today to see what we can do to help you out.

Bicycle Law: Michigan Passes 3-Foot Passing Law for Cars Passing Cyclists

Uncontested Votes Passes New Bicycle Law

After a near uncontested vote, motorists throughout Michigan will now, by law, have to take greater care when passing cyclists on the road. Under this newly passed bicycle law, motorists will now be required to give at least a 3-foot clearance when passing a cyclist on the road unless it is “impractical” to do so. Also included in this legislation is a bill that would make it so teenage drivers in Michigan will have to learn safety laws pertaining to “vulnerable” roadway users, a term which includes cyclists before they receive their license to drive.

This new bicycle law comes after staggering statistics that state that 38 cyclists were killed on the roadways of Michigan in 2016, a number that was more than double the previous year, and 2,000 reported cyclist injuries from tangles with motor vehicles. This pressed Michigan, one of only 11 other states with no passing laws for cyclists, to put this new law under consideration.

Future Steps

Michigan, like almost every other state, has seen a rise of cyclists on the roadways and like every other citizen traveling around Michigan, they have a right to be protected. However, now that the law has been passed, the real test comes with enforcing it. For many drivers, they may not even realize they are now required by law to give a 3-foot passing distance, and it is up to law enforcement and drivers to decipher what “impractical” truly means.

However, until the law goes into effect state-wide, cyclists are still in danger. Yet, many local communities have passed 5-foot passing ordinances that keep their local biking communities safe.

Contact the Law Office of Gary Brustin Today

Have you been hurt in a cycling accident? Then you need someone in your corner who can help. If you are a cyclist who has been in an accident with a motor vehicle or otherwise in an accident that was the fault of another, contact us today. Let us help you get the compensation that you need.