Every bicycle accident lawyer knows that fatal bike crashes are rising by the year. As long as cycling is seen as a viable form of transportation, fatalities will rise until those who have appropriated money to paint new lines wake up to the fact that a dedicated infrastructure for cyclists is the safest means to protecting an environmentally conscious generation in their quest to find a sustainable form of transportation.

As business districts simultaneously pursue inward expansion and a reduction in traffic congestion, city-fathers have looked to the success of Europe’s cycling programs for cost-cutting answers. Many European cities have found success in building bike lanes. Amsterdam and Copenhagen have the reputation as two of the most bike-friendly cities on the continent. With up to 400 kilometers of dedicated bicycle paths in the city of Amsterdam and a mild climate, cyclists have demanded space for bicycles as a viable form of transportation and a safe way to get from one place to another. In fact, today cycling commuters exceed more than 50% of the modal share. To understand this urban phenomenon, we have to look at the history of biking in Amsterdam.

Cycling took hold in Amsterdam more than a century ago. But at the end of World War II as prosperity grew, a swift transformation of infrastructure occurred. Neighborhoods were brought down to make way for avenues and more automobiles – the new model for transportation. Citizens grew concerned when their neighborhoods were destroyed; they witnessed child fatalities and injuries because a former biking community couldn’t assimilate a timely change in a society’s rush to the future.

Cycling began to diminish as cars congested the avenues. But in 1971, a time of activism around the world, thirty-three hundred automobile fatalities and the death of 400 children in one year alone, gave rise to a powerful political movement and ultimately an influential biker’s union that successfully advocated for more cycling space and a dedicated infrastructure. A large populace returned to transportation cycling and, well…today, there is some safety in numbers.

This is an abridged success story of cycling in one European city, but this is not our American story. Our National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that while pedal-cycling fatalities rose in 2015 by 729 souls, approximately 10% fewer were injured when compared with 2014 statistics. This decrease in injuries may stem from driver cognizance of the rights of cyclists, although little effort has been made to raise awareness. Or perhaps an increase in the number of bike lanes. But I tend to think that the improved and widespread application of better safety equipment, including helmets, has done much to stem brain injuries, concussion and other catastrophic injuries.

Consultation with an Experienced Bicycle Accident Lawyer

It’s not enough to paint a few lines and call it a bike-friendly community. If our society is serious about encouraging cycling as a sustainable form of transportation, then we need to look harder at public campaigns that educate and support the roadway rights of cyclists. And until cities can find the funding to build dedicated bike lanes under an infrastructure separate from automobiles and trucks, those who have received cycling injuries and the family members of cyclists who have died because of another’s negligence, will need the competent legal representation of an experienced in the unique circumstances of cycling and the law. Contact an attorney, like the Auto Accident Lawyers Indianapolis, IN turn to, who offer a free consultation today; one who has the experience of negotiating and litigating for increased compensation. Do this before witnesses can be lost and valuable evidence destroyed.


Thanks to our friends and contributors from Ward & Ward Law Firm for their insight into bicycle accident cases.

 

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