Advice on Avoiding The Most Common Bicycle Accidents

Although we are a law firm that represents those hurt in accidents, we certainly never want to see anyone get into an accident. Even if it would put us out of a job, no one should have to get hurt if they can avoid it. When it comes to bicycling accidents, many accidents come from drivers still learning how to share the road with an ever-growing number of cyclists. However, there are ways to stay safe on the road, especially when you know the most common cycling accidents.

The most common cycling accidents include:

• Getting Hit By a Car Turning Right
• Getting Hit While Being Passed By a Car
• Car Door Collisions

There is much advice on how to avoid all of the above that goes above and beyond just “staying safe” on the road. Hopefully, it can help prevent a devastating cycling accident.

Right Turn Accidents

The situation is very common for cyclists at intersections. Cars are accustomed to looking left and right before turning, but what they are not accustomed to is checking their right rearview mirror for cyclists. The car turns rights and hits the cyclist, or the cyclist hits the car because they cannot stop in time. The obvious piece of advice is to anticipate that any car at the intersection may turn right. However, in turn, it is always best to reduce speed at intersections and make yourself as visible as possible when waiting to go through.

Passing Car Accidents

Bicycles can move at a decent clip, but in many cases, you may not be able to go as fast as traffic. This urges cars to pass you. Unfortunately, they often do not give sufficient room when passing. This is what leads to these potentially catastrophic accidents. Cars are supposed to give three feet of clearance when passing, but that is not often the case, despite many new laws stating so. For cyclists, the best way to assure safe passage in traffic is to move into the lane if there is no bike path available. While cars can be lax with passing distance when a cyclist is riding on the shoulder, they still respect the traffic lane boundaries. This assures you get the safe distance you deserve.

Door Accidents

Many cities have taken to creating bicycle lanes for safer cycling. Unfortunately, too many have taken to sandwiching bicycle lanes between active traffic and parked cars. As car doors can swing into the bike lane, this creates painful door accidents. The key to preventing these accidents is more about training drivers to check their mirror before opening the door. For the cyclist, it may be prudent to keep left in these sort of situations as well as reduce speed. Unfortunately, until drivers have it ingrained in them to do the proper door check, cyclists trying to prevent this accident need to be overly cautious.

Need Help?

Unfortunately, many cycling accidents happen because cars don’t yet know how to share the road. Car drivers are woefully under-educated on how to share the road with cyclists, and that isn’t likely to change. Unfortunately, there are only small things that a cyclist can do to prevent accidents. The true prevention of accidents is the fostered understanding between car and cyclist drivers. Until that happens, these things will continue to happen. If you are a cyclist that has been in a bicycle accident, contact us today.

The Law Office of Freeman & Freeman is dedicated to getting justice and compensation for the victims of accidents. If you have been hurt and have medical bills to pay, we can help make sure you get the compensation you deserve.