Bicycle Accident lawyers - san francisco

San Francisco Injury Lawyers > Bicycle Accidents

Each year, almost a thousand bicyclists are killed on U.S. roads, 90% of them in traffic accidents. About 540,000 bicyclists visit emergency rooms with injuries every year. Of those, 67,000 have head injuries, and 27,000 have injuries serious enough to be hospitalized. 43,000 bicyclists are injured in traffic accidents.

The main causes of traffic-related injuries and death to bicyclists are the failure of the motor vehicle driver to see and/or yield the right-of-way to a bicyclist when making a turn at an intersection or onto a side street or into a private driveway; swinging open the door of a car parked on the street without looking back to see whether any bicyclists are coming; the failure of the driver to give the bicyclist enough room on the right side of the street; reckless or speeding car drivers; jaywalking pedestrians who force the bicyclist to turn sharply and lose control of their bikes; and unsafe streets and roads.

Collisions between a car or truck and a bicycle in an intersection are the most common type of bicycle-motor vehicle collisions. The driver may be making a right turn and fail to see the bicyclist crossing in the crosswalk. Or the driver may be trying to beat a yellow light, speeds up, and enters the intersection on a red light, while the bicyclist has started to cross the street.

According to the rules of the road, bicyclists are required to ride as far to the right as is "practicable." It may not be practicable for a bicyclist to ride on the extreme right when cars are parked on the right-hand side of the road, where cars are passing too closely, or when the bicyclist is in a heavy traffic area with numerous side streets, parking lots, or driveways ahead on the right. On wide roadways with slow traffic and few intersections and driveways, the bicyclist should ride further to the right. But on fast roadways with lots of traffic and intersections, it may be better for the bicyclist to drive farther to the left.

In a collision between a motor vehicle and a bicycle, the bicyclist is often seriously injured, even if he or she was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident. Broken bones, internal injuries, and head trauma - including brain damage - are common injuries in auto-bike collisions. Indeed, many bicyclists involved in accidents with motor vehicles die from their injuries notwithstanding the fact they were wearing a helmet at the time.

If you or a loved one has been injured or killed in a bicycle accident, you should promptly seek the services of an experienced personal injury law firm. The sooner you retain a lawyer, the sooner the lawyer is able to gather information and check out the accident site. This is especially important when the accident is due to a defect in the road that caused the accident or caused the cyclist to veer to the left into traffic to avoid the defect, such as a pothole. Be aware that if the cause of the accident is due to a defect in the roadway, or the driver who hit you was a public employee, a claim for damages must be filed with the appropriate city, county, or state department within six months of the accident.

San Francisco Injury Lawyers > Bicycle Accidents

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Bicycle Accident lawyers - san francisco