What are the Most Common Motorist-Caused Car-Bicycle Crashes?
Negligent drivers are the number one threat to bicycle riders in Houston. These crashes usually cause serious injuries, mostly head and internal injuries. These injuries are usually fatal or permanent. When an eighteen-pound bicycle collides with a four thousand pound vehicle, the result is nearly always tragic for the bicycle rider. That’s especially true of traffic collisions. More on that below.
The economic losses alone, mostly the medical bills, usually exceed $100,000 in a catastrophe (life-threatening) injury matter. A Sugar Land bicycle accident lawyer obtains compensation for these economic losses, so victims don’t have to pay for injuries that another driver negligently caused. Attorneys also obtain compensation for noneconomic losses, such as emotional distress, so victims don’t have to suffer in silence.
Dooring
Usually, drivers have a duty of care to avoid accidents if possible. This legal responsibility doesn’t begin or end once a vehicle is in motion or stops moving. It extends to any driving-related activity, even something as mundane as opening a car door.
Drivers have a duty to look both ways before they cross intersections, and they also have a duty to look both ways before they open their doors. If a driver, or passenger, opens a door without looking, that suddenly-open door could smack an oncoming bicycle rider, throwing the victim off the bike.
The resulting falls usually cause the aforementioned head and internal injuries. The motion of a fall causes the brain to slam against the skull. It also causes internal organs to smash and grind against each other. Serious broken bones are very common in these incidents as well.
Right Hook
A Missouri City personal injury lawyer often uses this term to describe a right-turn collision. Generally, when motorists turn right at intersections, they look left. As a result, they often don’t see bicycles to their right, perhaps a bicyclist riding in a designated bike lane. A collision is almost inevitable in these situations.
Speaking of bicycle lanes, designated bike lane design sometimes contributes to these wrecks. Bike lanes with concrete pillar dividers are the best example. These obstacles give bicyclists additional room to operate, because they prevent motorists from veering into bicycle lanes. However, these obstacles also reduce the driver’s visibility, especially if the driver is looking away from the bicyclist, as mentioned above.
Such obstacles don’t excuse driver negligence. Neither do poor environmental conditions, such as a wet road. If anything, when conditions are poor, drivers have a special duty to slow down and be extra cautious.
Left Cross
These collisions may be the most common bicycle crashes in Houston. When drivers wait to make unprotected left turns against traffic, they’re often in such a hurry that they don’t see oncoming bicycle riders and turn directly in front of them.
Alternatively, the tortfeasor (negligent driver) may see a bicycle, but misjudge the rider’s speed and therefore believe they have time to turn when, in fact, they don’t.
Left cross bicycle crashes often cause extremely serious injuries. Usually, the tortfeasor guns the motor during such turns to shoot through a gap in vehicle traffic. So, that four thousand-plus pound vehicle is traveling at or near top speed when it hits that eighteen-pound bicycle.
These collisions also illustrate the two primary driver errors in car crash cases. Aggressive driving includes speeding and turning unsafely. Drugs, alcohol, and other substances or conditions, such as drowsiness, impair driver judgment and reflexes.
Count on a Thorough Fort Bend County Attorney
Injury victims are entitled to significant compensation. For a confidential consultation with an experienced personal injury attorney in Missouri City, contact the Henrietta Ezeoke Law Firm. Virtual, home, and hospital visits are available.
