Given the climate on the east end of San Francisco Bay, Livermore and the Tri-Valley around it are prime bicycling territory. The city has done well in creating bike trails, and more of them are in the planning stages, regardless of a rider’s skill level. Of course, bicyclists can ride to and from work around town, and then there are the vineyard rides. Livermore is in busy Alameda County though, so riders must maintain their awareness of traffic conditions throughout the area. Experienced bicyclists realize that drivers of motor vehicles often don’t pay sufficient attention to their surroundings and fail to realize that bicyclists have the same rights on the roadway as any driver.
Common Types of Bicycle Accidents in Livermore
The first rule of bicycle safety is that riders have little to protect them if they’re in a collision with a motor vehicle weighing 2,500 pounds or more. Here are some common bicycle accident scenarios that riders get seriously injured in:
- Left Turns: If you’re approaching an intersection with a green light, and you’re traveling straight ahead, you have the right-of-way. A driver approaching that intersection from the opposite direction might make a left turn directly in front of you and cause a crash.
- Right Turns: You might be at an intersection or stop sign with a car on your left and the curb on your right, and you’re intending on going straight ahead. When you’re clear to go, you start out, but the car on your left turns into you when it’s turning right.
- Getting Shoved: A driver on either side of you might not know that you’re next to him or her and change lanes, sideswiping you and sending you into another car or up and over the curb.
- Getting Doored: On streets where parking is allowed, a driver or passenger might open a door directly in your path with no time for you to stop.
- Rear-End Crashes: These accidents are extremely dangerous. You can be stopped at a red light or stop sign, hit from the rear and catapulted over your handlebars head-first onto the roadway.
- Yielding Accidents: Although you might have the right-of-way at a stoplight or stop sign, a driver might fail to yield for you. Always use due care and caution around intersections.
Common Bicycle Accident Injuries
Other than maybe a helmet, bicyclists are unprotected in the event of an accident. In a crash with a motor vehicle, there are going to be at least two impacts. The first one will be with a motor vehicle, while the second one will be with the hard pavement. Either impact can cause severe injuries like the following:
- Skull fractures and traumatic brain injuries.
- Traumatic spinal cord injuries.
- Traumatic vertebral and spinal disc injuries.
- Rib fractures and damage to internal organs.
- Multiple fractures to the upper and lower extremities.
- Road abrasions with infection.
Don’t Take Another Fall
After being injured in a bicycle accident, the opposing insurer will do whatever it can to try and attribute some or all of the fault for your accident over to you. One way it will try to do that is through a recorded statement by you. Then, it will try to use your own words against you in the future. California law doesn’t require you to give that insurer any type of statement. On that basis, no matter how the opposing insurer’s representative tries to intimidate you, politely refuse to give any kind of a statement.
Contact a Livermore Bicycle Accident Lawyer
The best thing that you can do to preserve and protect your rights is to contact our offices here at Maison Law to arrange for a free confidential consultation and case review as soon as possible after your accident. We promise to listen to you closely and answer your questions truthfully. Then, we’ll advise you on how we believe you should proceed. Upon retaining us to represent you for the injuries that you suffered in your Livermore bicycle accident, our intention will be to maximize any settlement or award that you might receive.
