Bicycle Accidents And Personal Injuries

Hello, this is Keith Shindler coming to you with another edition of Claim Your Justice Facebook Live. Personal injuries happen in many types of scenarios, some of which we’ve talked about throughout the weeks. My purpose in having these live sessions is to try and give you information.

I want to provide information to you so that if some tragedy befalls you or anyone you may know, and they’re injured as a result of someone else’s negligence, you will be prepared and know the proper course of action to take.  I’m teaching you how to Claim Your Justice.  Call  Claim Your Justice at 1-888-88 KEITH, that’s 1-888-885-3484 and one of our lawyers will professionally help you recover the proper amount of money for the particular injury and the scenario that may have occurred.

Summer Brings More Bicycles

Today we’re going to talk about bicycles. Summer is almost here, soon enough there are going to be lots of bicycles on the road, you are going to be out on a bicycle, your kids will be out on a bicycle, and your adult-grown parents will be out on bicycles.

Unfortunately, there are lots of injuries that happen when someone is out on their bike. The type of injuries that occur can vary greatly. In the worst-case scenario, you have a bike rider who’s run off the road, hits some type of cement pole or median, or falls into a ditch, and is seriously injured. Sometimes those accidents result in someone’s death. That’s rare, but it’s possible.

Frequently, you have someone who suffers an injury like a broken arm, a broken wrist, a broken leg, or head injuries where someone breaks the skull or the orbit around their eye, it’s called an orbital fracture, and you could have a combination of those injuries.

Bike Riders Have Rights

Regretfully, when you have a 20-pound bike versus a 2,000-pound car or a 30,000-pound tractor-trailer, the injuries can be massive. You have got to be careful out there. Bike riders have rights!

A simple fact pattern for when these types of accidents occur. You could be making a right turn at an upcoming street and a car behind you thinks that they can make their right turn before you’ll hit the intersection. They may speed around you and make that right turn, and either turn right into you. Or, in the middle of their turn, your momentum carries you right into the passenger side of their car.

They shouldn’t be doing that, of course, but everyone is in a rush these days as they want to get places fast and there is minimal regard for bike riders out there.

Another scenario you could have is where someone’s trying to make a left turn at an intersection, the bike rider is coming in the opposite direction.

Whether there’s a red light, green light, or no traffic control device at all, the car turns left in front of the bike rider, the bike rider again runs into the passenger side of the car. Or the bike rider comes through an intersection, and the driver makes their left turn smashing right into the bike rider. Drivers often can’t really evaluate how quickly a bike is approaching. It’s much easier to evaluate and guess the speed of an approaching car than it is to guesstimate the speed of a bicycle. The speeds vary up and down greatly with a bike as opposed to a vehicle.

Distracted Driver And Annoyed Driver Accidents

Those are two types of kinds of injuries. What else do we have? This is the worst…You have a distracted driver, who is texting, tuning the radio in their car, or doing something other than paying attention to the road. That distracted driver, as a result, is going to swerve, run into the bike, and run you off the road.

The law is on your side.

One other type of injury you could have is with the driver who’s just annoyed with you being a bike rider on the road. They think roads are meant for cars. You’re on a bike, stay on the sidewalk. Well, personally, I’m a road bike rider. I’m out on the road a lot. I see some of these drivers, they just think that you should not be there.

So, you could have an annoyed driver, and you’ve read some of the news articles about this possibility. Recently, in the past year or so a pickup truck ran into a group of bike riders killing at least a few of them. First of all, criminal, yes, for sure. From a damage perspective, that would be more of an intentional act.

In that particular scenario, we’d ask for what’s called punitive damages. Those damages are meant to punish the person who causes the accident. The law is on your side.

Of course, most of us have seen road signs that say “share the road” or for bike riders not to ride side by side as opposed to single file. I prefer the single file method. I think it’s safer. There are many bike riders out there that will go side by side.

Illinois State Law On Bicycles And Automobiles

There’s a state law in Illinois and at least two Chicago ordinances covering bicyclists. The State law is found in the Illinois Compiled Statutes and it provides that as a car driver when you’re passing a bike, you need to give at least three feet on the side before you pass the bike. Very rarely are there three feet to give. There is a law out there that protects you when you have a driver who hits a biker and didn’t give that three feet to pass. they violated not only traffic rules, but they were negligent as well.

When I’m driving and I see a biker I go as far as the other lane when passing them.  This assumes there is no oncoming traffic.

Personal Injury Compensation You Are Entitled To

Let’s talk about the damages you’re entitled to. You get your medical bills paid for sure. You are entitled to future medical bills paid as well. Pain and suffering. Plus, there could be a permanent disfigurement, someone fractures their hip as a result of being hit by a car. If you have someone who fractures their hip, they could have a limp. If this occurs, that person has permanent disfigurement, and that limp is a permanent disfigurement. Lost wages. Then sometimes bikes are a couple of hundred dollars. Well, when you have a road bike, some of these road bikes out there can cost thousands of dollars. You’re entitled to get your property damage compensated for in addition to these other damages.

What can a bike rider do to make their life safer out there? I’m not preaching to anybody, but I’m just telling you, as I do personally, wear a helmet. I try and wear a brighter color shirt. I want to make sure that people can see me out on the road. I have a front blinking light and a rear blinking light. I observe the rules of the road and try not to ride in the middle of the street. I see some bikers out there, that may be great bikers, but are kind of jerky where they’re right in the middle of the street. This can result in annoying somebody like we were talking about a little earlier.

I do have personal experience here. I was coming down a street in a suburb. I was going through the intersection and a woman, a young lady, maybe in her 30’s driving a minivan with a young kid in the car, paid no attention to me, ran right into my front tire, and knocked me off my bike. Thankfully not a serious injury. My bike was damaged. I did have some blood and cuts on my hands.  Worse and believe it or not she just kept going. She couldn’t care about the bike.

Contact Our Experienced Bicycle Accident Lawyer

So I’m very sensitive about this. I have a lot of emotion representing anyone injured while riding their bicycle, or groups of people injured at the same time.

If you’re injured in any type of work accident, car accident, trip-and-fall, medical malpractice, wrongful death, or for this topic of this today, a bike accident injury call Claim Your Justice. Call 847-434-3555 we’re here to help you Claim Your Justice. Have a great rest of your day.