The bicycle, and by extension bicycle riders, are here in the five boroughs to stay. Anyone involved in the Five Borough Bike Tour held every year can tell you that. It seems like over a million bike enthusiasts come out that day in May and take over the streets. And they don’t buy those bikes exclusively for the trip.
Saving Money and Improving Health Get More Cyclists on the Road
More commuters every year are deciding to forgo paying for gas and public transportation and getting in some exercise on their way to work. Earlier this year The New York Times reported that up to 450,000 daily bike trips are taken in New York City each day. Even if you don’t own a bicycle, there are bike rental kiosks all over town. Unfortunately, more riders mean more accidents.
The bicycle rider does have to take great care, however, because there are other vehicles out there that well outweigh theirs, and that can lead to serious bicycle accidents. The fact that there are many designated bike lanes can lead to some awareness of the automobile commuter that a bike rider is nearby, but dealing with trucks and buses will always be more in the car driver’s mind. Then there are those drivers who refuse to go hands-free on their phone or worse text while driving.
Ways for Bikers to Stay Safe
Being aware of these and other factors is the number one way to prevent an injury. As the New York DOT has a number of rules (available for downloading) that must be followed the aware rider should be able to recite them by rote. If all of this is done and there is still an injury suffered an Attorney with bicycle accident litigation experience in the five boroughs should be contacted.
There can be serious injuries suffered, time lost from work, and even disability or death so the injured party or their family must be in contact with the bike accident lawyer to obtain the compensation they deserve.
