Broward Injury Lawyer Blog

We’ve been doing a lot of talking about bicycling safety since Florida was named the most dangerous state in the nation. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the state of Florida saw more bicyclist fatalities in 2012 than any other state.

Bicycling.com offers some important resources for staying safe. Our Fort Lauderdale bicycle accident lawyers encourage you to listen up and to spread the word through National Bike Safety Month. Please review the following and share with your loved ones. Whether you’re old or young, a bicyclists or a driver, we can all do our part to help reduce the risks of these accidents.

Biking to Prevent a Fall:

-Make sure you’re always looking ahead. You don’t want to stare into the directions that you don’t want to steer. Our bodies naturally steer us into the area we’re looking. Look where your tires need to go.

-Prep your pedals. Don’t use clips on your pedals that are too tight. You want to be able to predict a fall and prepare for it. Once you start to fall, commit to it. Don’t back out and risk even more injury.

-Keep it loose. When heading over a bump or over a pothole, the last thing you want to do is tense up and lock your limbs. Make sure your body is loose and ready to absorb any kind of movement.

-Keep yourself stable. When you’re pedaling slow or you’re heading up a hill, you want to leave space between you and your bike. This will help you to keep your bike stable.

Unfortunately, you can’t escape your way out of every crash. But there are ways to help you skirt the damage. There are five major principles to falling properly. Listen up!

1. Go with the energy. Avoid throwing your arms out to catch yourself in the fall. This is where you run the risk of fracturing or breaking an arm or wrist. Your safest way to fall is to tuck and roll.

2. Take away the energy. When falling backwards, avoid putting your arms out to break your fall. Again, you run the risk of fracturing or breaking a bone. Simply tuck your chin and roll your back. Keep your arms out to the side to help stop the momentum. You want to slap the ground with your arms.

3. Lower your center of gravity. Keep your hips low to the ground to reduce inertia. You have a shorter distance to fall and less risks of getting injured.

4. Hang on. When falling, you may want to push the bike away from you with your hands and your feet. That’s fine, unless you’re falling to the side. When this happens, you want to hang on to the handlebar. Try to let the bar hit the ground first and absorb some of the impact.
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Safe Cycling is a focus throughout the entire month of May, which is National Bicycle Safety Month.

Not only is it a time to brush up on your safe biking skills, it’s a time to celebrate our freedom to ride. And officials in Broward County have a complete calendar of bicycling events going on in the area for the month-long safety campaign.

According to a recent study from the U.S. Department of Transportation, there are roughly 57 million people in the country, or more than 25 percent of the population over the age of 15, who ride bicycles. Most of these riders are out there bettering their health and getting exercise, while others ride for recreational purposes.

Our Fort Lauderdale bicycle accident lawyers understand that there are many places to bike in the area. It’s so bikeable that officials have created BIKE Broward, an Interactive Bicycle Trip Planning program. The route planner, funded by the Broward Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), is a joint effort by Florida International University GIS Center and University of Florida Geomatics Program at Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center. It is designed as a planning tool for bicyclists. Assistance was received from the Broward County Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Committee and various cyclists and transportation professionals.

Although officials are working to help you create the safest biking route possible, it’s important for you to make that route as safe as you can. This means you’ve got to be on your best behavior and practice safe riding skills.

According to the recently-released statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Florida is the most dangerous state for these kinds of accidents. In 2011, there were close to 150 bicyclists killed in traffic accidents throughout the year. That’s more fatalities than any other state. And those risks are only going to get worse as we head into summer.

It seems like a no-brainer, but did you know that the proper use of a bike helmet can reduce the risk of head injury by as much as 88 percent? In Florida, children under the age of 16 riding a bike or as a passenger on a bike are required by law to wear a helmet, according to the Borward Sheriff’s Office.

Before strapping on your helmet and heading out, you want to make sure that your bike is in good-working condition. Make sure that tires are inflated, the chain is lubed and everything looks well maintained. You want to wear brightly-colored clothing or reflective material to help ensure that motorists see you. When you’re seen out there, your risks for an accident decrease. Use hand signals and abide by road laws and street signs, markings and crossings. It’s the law. Your alertness and defensive biking may be the only thing to save you from a potentially fatal accident with a careless driver.
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According to the newly-released statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the number of bicyclist fatalities in the state of Florida is on the rise.

In 2010, there were fewer than 85 bicyclists killed in the Sunshine State. That’s a significant increase compared to the 2011 statistics, where we saw close to 150 bicyclist fatalities. We were ranked as the most dangerous state in the entire country based on these fatality statistics.

Our Fort Lauderdale bicycle accident lawyers understand that transportation officials have been boasting about a decline in the number of traffic accident fatalities, but many of them forget to note that the number of bicyclist fatalities is actually on the rise. From 2010 to 2011, our nation saw a close to 10 percent increase in the number of these fatalities. In 2011, there were close to 700 bicyclists killed in traffic accidents across the nation. There were an additional 50,000 bicyclists injured in these same accidents. These crashes, injuries and fatalities accounted for about 2 percent of the people who were injured in traffic accidents throughout the year.

This is especially important in the state of Florida because many enjoy cycling for transportation, recreation and fitness. Our state is blessed with beautiful biking weather year round, making for the perfect conditions to get out and pedal. Unfortunately, this weather contributes to the increase in our risks for accidents.

Bicyclists are asked to be especially careful when traveling during the evening hours. As a matter of fact, a majority (or 30 percent) of these accidents happened between the hours of 4:00 p.m. and 7:59 p.m. The second most common time frame for these accidents was between 8:00 p.m. and 11:59 p.m.

Throughout the year, the average age of bicyclists killed in traffic crashes was 43. Over the last 10 years, the age of injury and fatality victims has been on the rise.

Of all bicyclists, those between the ages of 45 and 54 had the highest fatality rate based on population. The highest injury rate occurred among those between the ages of 16 and 20.

If you’re a guy, you face the highest risk. As a matter of fact, close to 90 percent of those who were injured or killed in a bicycling accidents in 2011 were male.

Any kind of change to help to correct these numbers is going to have to come from drivers. All too often, driver inattention is credited for causing these accidents. We all have to remember that these two-wheeled travelers have rights to our roadways, too. And those rights need to be protected.

Take that extra second to actually look for a bicyclist before turning or making a move in traffic. That extra second could help to save a life and keep you out of a legal headache.
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Distracted drivers are causing a real headache on our roadways — especially for bicyclists and pedestrians. In a perfect world, we’d like to believe that everyone is on their best behavior behind the wheel. But the truth of the matter is that drivers are paying more attention to their phones and text messaging devices than anything else.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), at any given daylight moment across America approximately 650,000 drivers are using their cell phone or manipulating an electronic device while driving.

Our Fort Lauderdale bicycle accident attorneys understand that cyclists need to be more cautious than ever. We can’t expect drivers to be looking for us. All too often, bicyclists and pedestrians are being injured and killed on our roadways because drivers are looking at their phones instead of the road. Throughout National Distracted Driving Awareness Month, drivers are asked to get off their phones and pay more attention to their surroundings.

According to the NHTSA’s “SAFETY 1N NUM3ERS” online monthly auto safety newsletter, about half of all surveyed drivers say that they’re free to take incoming calls while behind the wheel. Twenty-five percent say that they’re willing to make calls while driving. Only about half of drivers say that they never make calls behind the wheel.

Let’s do the numbers:

-More than 210 million licensed drivers in the U.S.

-More than 100 million answer phone calls behind the wheel.

-Roughly 50 million make phone calls while driving.

-At any given moment in time, there are roughly 660,000 drivers on a cell phone or using an electronic device while driving.

In 2010, there were well over 3,000 people killed in distracted driving car accidents in the U.S. These were 3,000 fatalities that were completely preventable. In addition, there were nearly 400,000 people injured in these accidents.

“Distracted driving is a serious and deadly epidemic on America’s roadways,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

According to recent studies, close to 75 percent of drivers support laws banning cell phone use behind the wheel. Another 95 percent support laws banning texting while driving. When asked, drivers felt that the fines for breaking these laws should be at least $200. In far too many cases, drivers just don’t seem to care. When they’re out there behind the wheel, their cell phones matter more than you safety. Many drivers think that they can multitask safely. That’s nothing more than a myth, according to researchers.

As you might know, Florida is one of only a few states that has yet to enact any kind of distracted-driving measure. We’re allowed to talk on phones and text message behind the wheel without any fear of getting a ticket. But just because we’re legally allowed doesn’t mean that we should. Save a life — possibly yours — and hang up the phone while driving.
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The risks for pedestrians and bicyclists are on the rise in South Florida, and our funds to help to reduce such risks are dwindling. According to the Sun Sentinel, the Palm Beach Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) snagged close to $3.5 million from the government to assist safety projects in the area, like constructing more pedestrian bridges, enacting strategies to slow traffic, building new recreation trails and add bike lanes to neighborhoods. This year, we’re getting less than $2 million for these same projects.

“Traditionally in Palm Beach County, that has been the go-to source to build pedestrian and bicycle facilities that haven’t been built as part of a roadway project,” said Bret Baronak with Palm Beach MPO.

Our Palm Beach bicycle accident attorneys understand how important these modes of transportation are in our area. Many residents rely on two wheel and their own two feet to get to and from where they’ve got to be each day. Our beautiful South Florida weather provides the perfect conditions to get out there and to enjoy our paradise. Unfortunately, that paradise and safety is quickly endangered by the irresponsible habits of drivers and the poor designs of our roadways. These vulnerable travelers face some serious risks out there for some catastrophic accidents. That’s why it’s so important that we receive federal funding to help to make our roadways safer by reducing the risks for everyone.

Safety advocates are bringing up the funding issues for a number of reasons — the number one being the increase in traffic deaths. We saw a more than 15 percent increase in the number of traffic accident fatalities in Palm Beach County and a more than 10 percent increase in Broward County.

Back in January, officials with the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) kicked off new safety initiatives for bicyclists and pedestrians in both counties. It was an awareness campaign that included bus ads, billboards and television ads to remind people to be cautious around these vulnerable travelers. These campaigns were launched here because these were the areas with some of the highest accident rates in the state.

As a matter of fact, Palm Beach ranks as the fifth most dangerous in the state while Broward ranks as second — only behind Miami-Dade.

From 2008 to 2011, there were close to 25 bicyclists killed in Palm Beach County, There were 40 killed in Broward. During that same time, there were more than 110 pedestrians killed in Palm Beach and close to 200 in Broward.

Every year, we submit proposals to help to protect these travelers. In past years, we had the help of separate funding, like from Safe Routes to School.

We may not have the funding, and we may not have the infrastructure we need, but that doesn’t mean that we give up. It’s still important for everyone to travel in unison and remember that we all have rights to be out there. Keep an eye out for bicyclists and pedestrians and help to keep our roads safe for everyone.
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