Safety and Preventative Measures in Aurora Bicycle Accidents

There are many safety and preventative measures that an individual should take to help prevent a bicycle accident in Aurora. First and foremost, an individual must ride safely, not make erratic maneuvers, and be fully aware of their surroundings.

To better understand any further safety and preventative measures to take in Aurora to help avoid a bicycle accident, an individual should consult with an experienced attorney immediately. A knowledgeable Aurora bicycle accident attorney can help you legally navigate your case.

Important Safety Measures

It is difficult for people driving cars to see a person on a bicycle. If a bicyclist is in someone’s blind spot, they should assume the driver cannot see them. Riding on the right side of the road and giving cars as much room as possible is a good practice to employ. A cyclist is more vulnerable to injuries and needs to ride safely and cautiously.

There is a safety protocol in place concerning hand signals, as well. Traffic laws require that one hand is on the handlebar at all times. This affords bicyclists the opportunity to use one hand to signal a turn or a change of lanes.

Driver Precautions

Automobile drivers need to share the road and understand that bicyclists have the right to be on the road. If a person is operating a minivan, for example, it would not be a safe maneuver to skirt around a bicyclist. Rather, they should be patient and do the right thing.

It is not worth getting somewhere 30 seconds faster and injuring someone, possibly with permanent injuries. It is more important to just be patient and not engage in road rage. Using a horn at a cyclist can be very alarming as well.

Being aware of surroundings, paying attention, not being on the phone while driving, watching out for bicycles, and respecting designated bike lanes is an important safety measure to take to help prevent an Aurora bicycle accident. Bike lanes are made just for the bicyclists and do not take up space on the road.

Protective Measures

A crucial protective measure to take after an Aurora bicycle accident is to call the police and make sure that the accident is well documented. This can ensure that the person who caused the accident does not lie or tell a different story.

That is a protective measure in itself to protect the legality of it all. Most importantly, a person should seek medical treatment if they are injured, even if it is just one visit to get checked out. If an injured person does not seek medical treatment, their injuries can get worse.

Actions to Avoid

Bicyclists think that they have the right-of-way in every situation because they are so similar to a pedestrian. Therefore, they do not believe they have to follow traffic laws and should be given the right-of-way.

Bicyclists often fly through stop signs, stop lights, and intersections, which often end badly for the bicyclist. Those accidents could have been prevented had they known they had to follow the law. The same is true with turn signals. Had an individual known to make those gestures, accidents may have been avoided.

With a hand signal, the driver of a car would have then been prepared to slow down, knowing that the bicycle was going to make a turn. Bicycle accidents on sidewalks can be prevented. They usually occur with a bicyclist being at fault and running into pedestrians on a sidewalk.

Bicyclists do not understand that it is against the law to ride a bicycle drunk. They can receive a DUI for this. People have the misconception that if they ride a bicycle instead of drive a car when they are drinking they will not be stopped or ticketed. It is illegal to operate a bicycle drunk. A simple preventative measure to take to avoid such a bicycle accident in Aurora is to take a cab.

Impact of Bicycle Helmets on a Case

The most important measure of all of the safety and preventative measures in Aurora bicycle accidents is the helmet. If someone does not wear a bicycle helmet, they are leaving themselves more vulnerable.  It is more likely in the event of a bicycle accident that they are going to sustain a traumatic brain injury or a head injury because their head is not protected. The at-fault insurance company will try to assert some comparative negligence on a person who did not wear a bicycle helmet; it is kind of analogous to someone who is involved in a car accident that does not wear a seatbelt.

The difference is that wearing a seatbelt is the law; a requirement; whereas a bicycle helmet is not a requirement. It is an assertion by the defense to try to limit an injured person’s recovery, but it is not a legal requirement. The insurance company will claim that the traumatic brain injury would not have happened if the bicyclist had been wearing a helmet and the settlement recovery should reflect that.

Depending on the jury, that could be a successful argument. There is a huge benefit having a camera attached to the bike or the helmet. Of the safety and preventative measures in Aurora bicycle accidents, it is one of the most helpful and proactive things someone can do.