Articles Posted in Bike Accident

Electric bikes, or e-bikes for short, have become extremely popular in Southern California. As a report from NBC 7 San Diego points out, the cities of Carlsbad and Encinitas recently declared states of emergency due to deaths in e-bike crashes. Both adults and children alike are suffering serious and fatal injuries in collisions involving these forms of transportation, and while they remain popular and accessible, state legislators in California want to change the rules concerning their legality. In short, a new bill that remains before the state legislature “would prohibit kids under 12 from riding e-bikes and require an online test and license.” 

As the report underscores, the new bill is designed to “tighten e-bike rules” and to make it more difficult for riders to use e-bikes without any kind of safety training or knowledge. Our San Clemente personal injury attorneys can tell you more. 

Learning More About E-Bikes and Injury Risks in San Diego County

The City of San Marcos, California, emphasizes that electric bicycles, or e-bikes for short, have become “more popular than ever and allow people of many ages and abilities to enjoy cycling with assistance from an electric motor.” Indeed, e-bikes have become so popular that many Southern California cities have instituted specific rules concerning e-bikes, including where and how they can be used. Yet as e-bikes gain in popularity throughout California and the country, emergency departments are also seeing increasingly more injuries from e-bike accidents. 

While many Californians and visitors to the state have been reading about potential e-bike dangers for a few years now, are e-bikes actually much more dangerous than we thought? According to an article in Fortune, trauma specialists are concerned that “we’re on the front edge of a new order of danger on both bike paths and roadways.” What do you need to know about recent assessments of e-bike safety risks? Our San Marcos injury attorneys can say more.

E-Bike Injuries Increase Alongside Rise in Sales

Bicyclists in Poway and throughout Southern California are often at risk of serious and deadly injuries in collisions involving negligent motorists. While San Diego County and Los Angeles County, for example, have taken some steps to address the high rate of bicycle injuries and deaths, such as adding new bike lanes, cyclists in Southern California continue to get hurt in avoidable crashes that result from careless or reckless drivers who engage in distracted driving, aggressive driving, and intoxicated driver. According to a recent report from ABC News, “the state of the bike and pedestrian infrastructure” is still not what it could be, and cyclists continue to be involved in deadly crashes.

Learning More About Bicycle Accident Injuries and Deaths in Southern California

As that ABC News report underscores, “between 2018 and 2022” in the Los Angeles area alone, “an average of 35 bicyclists died and more than 2,500 were injured.” The majority of those crashes had four things in common: They occurred on roads with higher speed limits (of 35 miles per hour or higher), on roads that had three or more lanes going in either direction, at nighttime, and on roads without dedicated bike lanes. Approximately 50% of deadly bicycle collisions in Southern California, based on data from an ABC7 analysis, happen between 6:00 pm and 6:00 am, and nearly 80% of all deadly collisions occur on roads where there are no dedicated bike lanes or other forms of “bike infrastructure.”

Bicycling in Valley Center and throughout Southern California is a popular activity and mode of transportation, but it can also be extremely dangerous. Whether you only ride a bicycle occasionally or you are on a bike several days a week, it is essential to understand how bike crashes happen, who is often liable, and what you can do in order to seek compensation. According to a recent study from BikeLA reported in KTLA news, a “vast majority of deadly collisions involving cyclists happened on roads that don’t have dedicated bike lanes.” In other words, bike lanes could be essential in the goal of preventing bike accidents and injuries in Southern California. What else should you know about the study? Our Valley Center personal injury attorneys can provide you with more information.

Getting the Facts About Bicycle Injuries and Lack of Bike Lanes

Are bike lanes the answer to preventing a majority of bicycle injuries in Southern California? According to the BikeLA study, in assessing bicycle accident deaths from 2022, “the most regular contributing factor . . . was a lack of dedicated infrastructure for cyclists.” Indeed, about 85% of bike accident fatalities occur on roads that do not have dedicated bike lanes.

Do bicycle helmets actually prevent serious brain injuries when bike accidents happen in Poway or elsewhere in Southern California? In other words, do bike helmet laws make cycling safer? And do laws requiring bicycle helmets actually have their intended effect, or are there unintended consequences, too? A recent article in Slate discusses the “cult” of bike helmets and the ways in which this “modern safety obsession” might actually cause more harm than good. What should you know about biking safety, bike helmets, and injuries in Southern California? Our Poway bicycle accident lawyers want to discuss the Slate article and provide you with more information about filing a bicycle injury claim. 

Benefits Versus Harms of Bike Helmet Laws

As you may know, California law requires minors (those under the age of 18) to wear a helmet if they are riding a bicycle, but adults aged 18 and older are not required by law to wear a helmet while bicycling in California. Bicycle helmet laws are set by states, which means they vary from state to state. What are the pros and cons of bike helmet laws? 

Since the start of the pandemic, more California residents have been spending time outside walking and bicycling. At the same time, more people are choosing to travel by car than ever before instead of taking forms of mass transit. As more people use bicycles and more motor vehicles are on the roads, there are increased accident and injury risks. According to a report from U.S. News & World Report, the rate of deadly bicycle accidents in California hit a 25-year high in 2020, and both accident and injury rates persist throughout the state. While overall bicycle injury and death rates have risen across the country, they have been markedly high in California. When a bicycle accident happens in Vista, who is liable? Consider some of the following information from our Vista bicycle accident lawyers.

Negligent Motorists are Often Liable for Bike Collisions

When a bicyclist is injured in a collision with a motor vehicle, the driver of the motor vehicle is often at fault and liable for injuries. There are many different ways in which driver error can cause collisions with bicyclists, including distracted driving, intoxicated driving, and aggressive driving.

More residents of Southern California are purchasing bicycles, and much of the increased demand for bikes has been driven by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a study from the Pew Charitable Trusts, as a result of the pandemic, many people decided to spend more time outside and bought bicycles for recreation and travel. Given the combination of an increased number of cyclists on the road and motorists who have proven to be more aggressive than in years before the pandemic struck, bicycle fatalities have risen, and most of those deaths involve collisions with bicycles and automobiles. Indeed, urban fatalities have risen by nearly 50%, and bicycle accident death rates have also increased in suburbs across America.

If you have recently begun cycling, or if you are a seasoned bicyclist but recently suffered injuries in a crash involving a car or truck, what should you know about bicycle accidents and safety?

Common Causes of Bicycle Collisions Involving Motorists

Is e-biking in Encinitas and throughout San Diego County actually a safe activity, or are cyclists at risk of serious injury when using pedal-assisted electric bikes? A recent deadly e-bike accident in California highlights the serious risks associated with e-bikes and the need to consider safety issues, as well as liability, in the aftermath of a crash. Our experienced Encinitas personal injury attorneys can evaluate your bike accident case today and help you to determine your eligibility for filing a claim for financial compensation. 

Details of the Recent E-Bike Accident in California

For many California residents and visitors to the state, riding an e-bike can be a good way to enjoy the outdoors and to get some exercise, yet e-bikes are also extremely dangerous. According to a recent article in People Magazine, a mother recently sustained deadly injuries in an e-bike accident, and her two sons were injured. The accident occurred in San Juan Capistrano on the San Juan Creek Trail on a recent Saturday evening.

Bicycle accidents can involve people of any age, but children can be particularly susceptible to serious and fatal injuries in bicycle accidents in Poway and throughout Southern California. A recent article in People Magazine told the story of a 12-year-old girl who sustained traumatic brain injuries in a bicycle accident in the Los Angeles area and later died from the injuries. She had been riding her bike downhill with a friend when the accident happened. Despite wearing a helmet, her brain injuries proved fatal. The tragic accident underscores the serious risk of injury that kids can face in bicycle accidents and emphasizes the need for parents and guardians to learn more about safety precautions. 

Learning More About Child Bicycle Accidents and Injuries

Child injuries in bicycle accidents are much too common. The following are some statistics from Stanford Children’s Health, Nationwide Children’s, and Safe Kids Worldwide:

Is bicycling becoming more dangerous in Valley Center and throughout San Diego County? Bicyclists in San Diego have been voicing concerns for quite some time about serious and deadly bike accident injuries in Southern California, and many safety groups have pushed for the creation or renovation of bike lanes. Yet according to a recent article in CaliforniaHealthline.org, bicycle accidents continue to result in life-threatening and fatal injuries in the state. Indeed, as the article points out, as of late January 2020, the overall rate of bike accident deaths in California had reached a 25-year high. 

Rise in California Bike Accident Deaths

According to the article, between 2016-2018, California had the highest rate of fatal bicycle accidents “for any three-year period since the mid-1990s.” During that period, the average death rate for bicycle accidents reached its highest point since the early 2000s. This information comes as cities across California expand bike share programs and more residents invest in bicycling.

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