Experienced Bicycle Accident Attorneys
If you are injured while riding your bicycle in the Tampa Bay area, please give us a call. We want to ensure that cyclists and motorists alike understand the laws of the road to help keep more people in our community safe. If you’re injured on a bicycle, you must seek medical attention right away, and contact an attorney as soon as possible.
According to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, there were 6,668 bicycle crashes in the state of Florida in 2016. Of those accidents, 6,234 resulted in injuries.
Negligent Driver Causing Bicycle Accidents
If you are a cyclist in Tampa, you’ve been honked at, probably spat on, had things thrown at you, or even have possibly had lit cigarettes tossed at you while riding. Many times motorists or passengers even yell out of the window “Get out of the road!”
The truth is, these things don’t only happen in Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota, or Brandon… This type of “bicyclist discrimination” happens all across the country. Even more important, is that motorists will be held accountable, because these same actions lead to motorists not paying attention, or caring to pay attention to bicyclists sharing our roads. Their neglect leads to accidents, and it happens often.
Many motorists do not understand that it is the law that cyclists must use the streets, and that cyclists must follow traffic laws while using the streets – this means riding in the direction of the flow of traffic, stopping at stop signs, not running through intersections, obeying traffic lights, slowing down or stopping at crosswalks for pedestrians.
Unfortunately, most drivers consider cyclists to be pedestrians, and they do not treat them like other vehicles. Bicycle laws are written so that cyclists are actually considered vehicles, not pedestrians. So bicycle injuries are far too common, and a driver’s negligence is usually to blame.
Driver Negligence and Cellular Phone Use
Another issue is cellular phone use. Drivers who text while driving, or use their smart phones veer in and out of their lane, and sometimes into bike lanes causing accidents and injuring cyclists.
If you are injured riding a bicycle in the Tampa Bay area please give us a call at 813.229.3232.
Our goal is to grow the awareness of bike safety by ensuring motorists and cyclists are aware of the laws. We want to ensure new riders know the proper way to ride, and motorists are aware and share the road.
For an up-to-date schedule of cycling events around Florida, visit www.bikesafetampa.com.