Articles Posted in Bicycle Accidents

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Due to the recent bicycle fatality on Masonic Avenue, the pedestrian fatality last month at 19th and Folsom, and all the other numerous dangers pedestrians and cyclists face, pedestrian advocates and city health professionals are urging city leaders to develop a comprehensive action plan for the streets of San Francisco. Just today, a driver coming down a hill in San Francisco’s Visitacion Valley neighborhood Tuesday, lost power and her SUV careened out of control, striking five pedestrians near a Muni bus stop. Currently the SFMTA doesn’t have a concrete target for reducing pedestrian collisions, nor a comprehensive plan to reach a target; however, the Sustainable Streets division is dedicated to making San Francisco streets safer for all modes of transportation to co-exist. It has developed a comprehensive action plan, whereby it conducts corridor and program-specific studies and tries to mitigate problem areas like Market and Octavia streets. The agency’s signal re-timing and other engineering work on Valencia Street are a success story. Even though these changes are benefitial, San Francisco needs to push to make it easier to implement changes that benefit both pedestrians and cyclists. Right now, most state departments of transportation, including Caltrans, make it extremely difficult to implement “design exemptions” like slower speed zones, traffic calming, and separated bicycle tracks. Despite the good news, city and state agencies responsible for making the roads safer haven’t implemented serious engineering solutions such as putting in traffic circles or more bulb outs at intersections. San Francisco needs to get serious about pedestrian safety and develop a plan and start by targeting the areas with the highest incidences of injury collisions.
According to missionlocal.org, Chris Cochran, a spokesman for the California Office of Traffic Safety, said San Francisco has had a chronic problem with pedestrian safety for years. He said that every year the traffic safety office suggests California cities apply for its pedestrian safety grants and that they usually don’t need to tell San Francisco to apply-San Francisco knows it has a problem. San Francisco ranks first in pedestrian fatalities statewide, with the highest number of deaths each year since 2003, and it’s currently fourth on the national level, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Roughly 48 percent of all fatal collisions in the city involve pedestrians, which is four times higher than the national average of 11.3 percent. At a recent Board of Supervisors meeting the board accepted a $200,000 grant awarded by state traffic safety office to the city health department for citywide pedestrian safety research. The grant will be used to evaluate streets and intersections that are dangerous for pedestrians. The health department will research and develop a list of recommended improvements for pedestrian safety between October 2010 and June 2011. The funds won’t be used to make any physical changes to improve safety in the city, but rather to study key safety improvements to be added to the city’s general plan by September 2011. If you or a loved one has been injured as pedestrian or cyclist, please contact our office. We have the experience to win you the compensation you deserve.

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With so many people in the Bay Area commuting to and from jobs in every part of the area, there is really no longer any typical or even “reverse” commute. Many people commute via car, however in some places, including the City of San Francisco, people commute on bicycle, scooter, motorcycle, and even skateboard. Hazards for drivers, particularly in San Francisco, are plenty, as there are several devices that can power people at a relatively high speed without the visibility of the mass of another vehicle. This is one of many reasons why it’s so important to drive, ride, or walk defensively. In most instances, one really needs to expect a driver who is not paying attention, particularly with cell phones, text messaging, and other distractions. Keep aware and keep safe.

At the Brod Law Firm, we have been advocating on behalf of injured cyclists for over ten years, and have helped clients who have suffered minor injuries to catastrophic injuries. If you or a loved one has been injured by the fault of someone else, please contact us for a free consultation.

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In a recent article in the NYT about double parked cars on Sundays in San Francisco, the ongoing conflict between cars and cyclists is paid some attention. According the article, cyclists are angered by the police and the Department of Parking and Traffic policy of ignoring, and neglecting to enforce, ordinances against double parking during weekend church services. The article also points out that the number of new cyclists has increased strongly here in San Francisco. Sadly, however, some new cyclists are all over the road (a point not mentioned in the article) and don’t know the rules–giving the seasoned, well-behaved, law abiding cyclist a bad name. That said, we no longer need anti-car this or anti-bike that banter-we just need proper legislation. Thankfully we have the politically savvy people at the San Francisco Bike Coalition working tirelessly to help with that.

Speaking of the need for proper legislation and people tirelessly working to bring about change, the practice of allowing double parking on Sunday’s is a slap in the face to the city’s Transit-First policy and the new Civil Grand Jury investigative report that has made recommendations for easing the tensions between drivers and cyclists. The report, titled Sharing the Roadway: From Confrontation to Conversation, states that its purpose is to focus city attention on identified barriers to the successful implementation of the San Francisco Bicycle Plan: serious mistrust, conflict and misunderstandings among city stakeholders including motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians. Also in the report, the Jury states its desire to move towards everyone seeing him/her self as part of the community sharing the roadway. In addition, enforcement of traffic codes is recommended and seen as the key to keeping roads safe and encouraging new and prospective cyclist to begin cycling in the city. And, in its summary, it states that education can bridge the mistrust, misunderstanding, and misperception motorists and cyclists have of each other, and shift (society) toward a more unified cultural perspective and coexistence.

Here at the Brod Law Firm, we couldn’t agree more with the recommendations of the report. During our years of fighting for people who have been injured on the road, due to road rage or driver inattention, and listening to all the stories of near misses, we sometimes feel that we, as a society, are living in the dark ages, psychologically. I mean how come some people don’t know how to share the road? And, why is that when a person is cut off by another on the road, they take it personally and feel as if something was stolen from them. Or, seen from another point of view, why are those people, those people who are cutting off the other people, either not paying attention or doing it intentionally? Is it really so hard for us to share the road? Will people in the future look back at us and laugh, or will they feel sorry for us? We have been on this planet such a long time; one would think our psyches would have evolved and adapted to sharing by now. I guess, considering that the automobile is a comparatively new invention and that evolutionary adaptations don’t happen overnight, we may need to wait decades before we see progress in the area of sharing.

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There are multiple California Vehicle Code sections that impose responsibilities on drivers of automobiles with respect to bicyclists. For example, California Vehicle Code § 22107 states: “No person shall turn a vehicle from a direct course or move right or left upon a roadway until such movement can be made with reasonable safety and then only after the giving of an appropriate signal in the manner provided in this chapter in the event any other vehicle may be affected by the movement.” In addition, California Vehicle Code § 21801(a) states: “The driver of a vehicle intending to turn to the left or to complete a U-turn upon a highway, or to turn left into public or private property, or an alley, shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles approaching from the opposite direction (emphasis added) which are close enough to constitute a hazard at any time during the turning movement, and shall continue to yield the right-of-way to the approaching vehicles until the left turn or U-turn can be made with reasonable safety.” Finally, though persons riding bicycles are not defined as “pedestrians” under the Vehicle Code, Vehicle Code § 21950(a) requires a driver of a vehicle to yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian crossing the roadway within any marked or unmarked crosswalk.

While the laws designed to protect cyclists may govern the fault and responsibility of a driver of a car or truck after an accident, they cannot, however, protect you as a cyclist. That’s why it is important to be as aware of the cars and trucks around you as possible, and to ride defensively. Assume that drivers do not see you, and always wear a helmet. In the event you’re involved in an accident with a car or truck, or even doored, ensure the local police are called so they can document what happened, take witness statements, and get the insurance information of the driver. The most important thing to do after an accident with a car or truck is to monitor your body and seek proper medical treatment for anything that’s bothering you. You should consult an attorney prior to speaking with the insurance company of the driver involved in your accident, though your health, not your legal case or claim for damages, is the most important thing.

At the Brod Law Firm, we have been advocating on behalf of injured cyclists for over ten years, and have helped clients who have suffered minor injuries to catastrophic injuries. If you or a loved one has been injured by the fault of someone else, please contact us for a free consultation.

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The streets of San Francisco are filled with cars, motorcycles, pedestrians, baby strollers, skateboarders, and cyclists. The concept of “Sharing the Road” is important from a social standpoint, but more importantly it is a safety issue that everyone should keep in mind, particularly in a densely-populated area. Bicyclist should ride defensively, as best as possible, and pedestrians need to ensure that oncoming traffic is slowing down before crossing the street. This advice may sound simple, but it’s better to try to avoid getting injured, even if it would be someone else’s fault. What happened a few days ago on the streets in San Francisco, however, was shockingly, no accident. A driver of an SUV apparently went on a hit and run rampage, hitting four victims, who were riding bicycles. Mayor Gavin Newsom issued a statement, reiterating his position that San Francisco is one of the nation’s bike-friendly cities. While this may be true, and the City certainly has no control over the intentional act of a lunatic, San Francisco still has a long way to go to ensure its cyclists have ample bike lanes in which to travel, and to continue to get the message out to all those who make their way across the streets of San Francisco every day: Share the Road.

At the Brod Law Firm, we have been advocating on behalf of injured cyclists for over ten years, and have helped clients who have suffered minor injuries to catastrophic injuries. If you or a loved one has been injured by the fault of someone else, please contact us for a free consultation.

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Yesterday a man struck four cyclists with his car in the Potrero Hill area, one after the other, within six minutes, and police are treating it as aggravated assault. The first crash happened at 9:43p.m. in the 2700 block of Harrison Street, the second at the 2800 block of Harrison Street, the third at the intersection of 23rd and Pennsylvania streets, and the fourth at 17th and Missouri streets at 9:49 p.m. According to missionlocal.org, three of the victims had non-life threatening injuries and were taken to SF General Hospital. The fourth victim was treated at the scene. After the vehicle struck the fourth victim, the driver crashed the vehicle into a pole and fled on foot.

If you know the area of Potrero hill, you know that it is like no man’s land out there at night. During the day it is a vibrant place to walk, but it is isolated by the freeway and large sections of industrial space. Notwithstanding the busy restaurants and clubs, it feels deserted at night– as most of the streets are not well lit, and the only people you really see are in cars. I have never recommended anyone walk or ride their bike out there alone at night. With that said, some people have no other choice but to ride or walk in that area, considering all the service cuts to public transportation. And in no way, am I suggesting that these cyclists could have avoided this situation. Clearly, the man who hit them was on a rampage and is responsible.

Here at the Brod Law Firm, we wonder about people who commit aggravated assault. What could possibly have gotten into this man? Is he simply insane or severely maladjusted? Did he have a bad childhood or does he have a chemical imbalance? Did he wake up feeling powerless and decide to act out his frustration by running over four cyclists with his car. And, since the theory behind road rage is that automobiles are obedient and give the driver a false sense of power, do we just classify this story as a road rage incident and leave it at that?

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Last month, Google–the most popular internet search company in the world-started offering cycling-specific information, as they finally saw it as good for business (and shares definitely went up as a result). Google said that the new feature has been the a popular request over the last couple years. As it turns out, an organization called Google Maps Bike There collected more than 50,000 signatures to endorse the addition of bicycle routes. You no longer need to go on line and search different resources to find maps of different areas, such as those provided by various bike coalitions that track bicycle infrastructure.

This new service offers a step by step, or should I say pedal by pedal, guide for cyclists and also calculates mileage. The biking directions provide time estimates for routes, the number of hills, fatigue over time, and other variables. The system is, however, geared toward the less advanced cyclist, as it provides routes with the fewest hills (a feature that might annoy the advanced cyclist). Another feature, Local Search, guides cyclists to locations where they can take a break or find bike shops along their route. There are lines on the map that help bicycle riders choose different routes: Dark green Lines highlight bike trails, light green line highlight streets with bike lanes, and dotted green lines highlight other streets recommended for cyclists. There is also a blue line on which you can click to move the route along other designated bike trails, lanes and safe streets. Displayed to the left of the map are turn-by-turn written directions.

With this new service, Google can actually help propel forward socioeconomic/environmental/ health causes, which is part of the company’s basic founding principal: provide the public with free and easily accessible information. This tool may actually motivate people to use existing bike friendly routes and promote bicycling as means for everyday transportation. And, as a natural consequence, government may begin to see the need to paint additional bike lanes– which can provide opportunities to make communities safer, the air cleaner and people healthier. Put another way, if the public is aware of a safe and pleasant way to get around, that is one more reason to bike, leave the car in the garage and enjoy the fresh air (side note: cycling in the fresh air has got to leave you feeling more energized, buoyant and restored than cycling in the gym). It is also a chance to meet other bikers, make friends and become more social. Here at the Brod Law Firm, we think that this feature will lead to a reduction of bike accidents and promote cycling access, education and safety here in San Francisco and beyond. This tool could, maybe more than any other internet tool out there, lead to a real change in our communities, change that literally starts at our fingertips(especially if it becomes an iPhone app)!

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This week the Bay Area has been slammed by a series of storms that are sweeping across California. Here at the Brod Law Firm, we have been wondering how drivers and cyclists are coping out there in the rain and wind. On their own bicycling and driving are innately dangerous – if you combine those with a storm and roads full of traffic, you have a recipe for injury accidents. We have helped many clients who have been injured while driving in hazardous conditions, and we have simple advice for both cars drivers and cyclist when it is raining: Keep your speed down, keep your distance, and drive defensively. At the same time, however, since cars are bigger and faster than bicycles and can turn into deadly weapens during wet weather, we do have more specific tips for drivers on how to drive in the rain.

On rainy days, you should remember that even a light layer of moisture on the roadway can cause a vehicle to hydroplane. And if you find yourself hydroplaning don’t stomp of the brakes. This could send you into a spin. It is better to ease off the brakes and into a spin. If you drive through a puddle, or a series of puddles, you should gently tap your brake pedal. It is probably a good idea to tap the brakes several times until they respond safely and adequately. Tapping the breaks helps squeeze out any accumulated water that has built up in your braking system .

It is also important for you to slow your vehicle to match the speed of the majority of other vehicles on the roadway and drive on the outside lane, if possible. If it hasn’t rained for a while, you should be extra careful. A lot of oils are excreted on to and into the road surface from trucks, cars, vans and motorcycles. This oil builds up and becomes very greasy and slick when it rains. You should also make sure no one is driving too fast from behind; if you see someone much faster than you, lightly tap your brakes a few times as a signal that you are going slower. But remember, if you are going a lot slower than the majority of the traffic, you may be rear-ended by a careless or distraced driver.

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Here at the Brod Law Firm, we are big fans of Streetfilms.org, the video segment of the Livable Streets Initiative. Streetfilms produce short on-line videos, covering a range of topics from traffic calming in Paris to Sunday Streets in Bogata, also known as Ciclovia (an event after which San Francisco modeled its Sundaystreets). There is also video posted on Streetsblog that capture street confrontations, such as that between a New York City driver with a serious case of road rage and a pedicab simply trying to make his way through the congested city streets. We find all their videos entertaining and educational, giving us insight, while also keeping us in loop, into how our city compares to other cities in terms of the different ways a city can transform its streets into safe and sustainable places, for both vehicles and non-vehicles, as well as livable, vibrant places for social interaction.
The video on traffic calming in Paris we found especially interesting and inspiring. Some examples of their traffic calming strategies are: curbs are removed so that bikes, pedistrians and cars coexist; on the wider roads, bikes share lanes with buses and taxis; some crosswalks are raised, and cobblestone streets and neckdowns are implemented to slow oncomoing or turning traffic. Street calming is a powerful tool for changing behavior and improving safety, as it forces vehicles and cyclists and pedestrians to tolerate each other. And it is not just Paris, other cities, like Copenhagen, Demark, have been implemented extensive traffic calming techniques. Some cities go further to promote non-vehicle transportation, such as Curitiba, Brazil, where, on Rua XV de Novembro (15th of November Street), all vehicle traffic is blocked and only pedestrians are allowed.
Whenever we take on a new case where a cyclist or pedestrian has been injured by a vehicle, we are reminded that these accidents only reinforce San Francisco’s need for street transformation and street calming. In order for San Francisco to maintain a competitive edge in the global economy and its status as a world class city, it must implement, through education and marketing, strategies that place people over cars and reduce the convenience of driving a car. Advertising campaigns that show the burdens of owning a car in the city often outweigh the benefits can be an effective impetus for change. And we need not look to cities overseas for inspiration; cities here in the U.S., like Portland and Cincinnati, have done an excellent job developing and implementing techniques for traffic calming. If they can do it, then San Francisco can do it. These traffic calming techniques would not only benefit pedestrians and cyclists here in our beautiful city, they would also benefit the entire planet by reducing green house gas emissions.

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Tomorrow San Francisco will be joining cities from 42 countries around the world to celebrate International Walk to School Day. International Walk to School Day aims to create safe routes for pedestrians and cyclists and to emphasize the importance of issues such as increasing physical activity among children, reducing traffic congestion and crime in neighborhoods, raising concern for the environment, and building connections between families and schools and the broader community. The biggest challenge facing any pedestrian safety campaign will be to re-educate a culture so centered around and dependent upon using their cars to transport them every place. The US department of Transportation reports:

• On average, 5,000 pedestrians are killed each year.

• 85,000 pedestrians are injured every year.

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