Police in San Francisco have a new entity, a type of watchdog/public eye, to contend with: The Bike Accident Tracker App. According to baycitizen.org-the creators of the app– police will write an accident report only if an ambulance is called. As you can imagine, a lot of reports go unwritten because many victims don’t have health insurance and can’t afford a trip in an ambulance. Some injured victims will resort to picking themselves off the pavement, getting the driver’s information themselves, and finding their own way to the emergency room. Then they will go to a police station to file a report, at which point the police may not write one and will only give a case number. In order to get a full picture of bike collisions, baycitizen.org has engineered the Bike Accident Tracker App to allow cyclists or motorists to submit their own crash data. Their hope is that this, combined with statistics from the police, will provide a better idea of where and why crashes are taking place.
Since launching the Bike Accident Tracker, they’ve received about 30 reports, and they’re adding them to the map. The self reported accidents are all different. For example, one woman got caught on the F-Line tracks while turning left onto Valencia Street form Market Street. In another incident, a man trying to cross Geary Boulevard was doored by the passenger of a car that decided to stop in the intersection. Just as in other cases, the police refused to take a report of these cyclists because they did not want to go the hospital. Since police reports are used for insurance purposes, they are key component in the filing a claim and the foundation of a demand for compensation. Here at the Brod Law Firm, we think all cyclists should be treated fairly after they are injured in an accident and that no cyclist should have to choose between having a report written and taking their injured selves to the emergency room. For over 10 years we have been fighting for the cyclists from all bay area cities. Whether you suffered an injury here in San Francisco or in Walnut Creek, we have the ability and experience to help you get the compensation you deserve.