[Sosfbay-discuss] Bicycles and the Law

[Tian Harter]

The Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition had a talk by Gary C. Brustin, an
Attorney  specializing in cycling law this evening. When I got there
somebody told me the guy would be late. It wasn't a problem though,
there was lots of interesting talk in air. For one thing the County
Supervisors are looking to trying to regulate bicyclist gatherings of
more than 50 people on County roads. Look for more on that in a day or
two on the SVBC email list.

The venue was the lunch room at Mountain View City Hall. Being in the
heart of Silicon Valley, even the soda machine was something else. We
found out when somebody put their money in the thing and dialed up a
drink. There was a complicated whirring noise as this shuttle moved to
the row and column where the guys choice was next. Then there was a bass
grinding noise and a thunk as the 16 oz. bottle was put on the shuttle.
Then another whirring as it moved down and to the right, finally the
normal vending sounds as the drink fell six inches down the delivery
chute. By this time everybody was watching the amazing high tech
spectacle. The customer picked up his choice and was leaving when a
higher pitched whir followed by the sound of coins on metal told me
something. I said "you forgot your change." The guy went back for it.

Jack intoned "the change came from within." I could hear a spiritual
Asian sounding trill of plucked notes in his voice until the whole room
burst into laughter. Then we went back to enjoying each others company
as the room filled with bicycles and the people that rode in on them.
Maybe there were twenty or thirty of us when the talk got under way.

Gary started by explaining that he wanted us to learn what the most
frequent bicycle accidents he sees are, how the drivers see us, and
what can be done about it. He explained that he has been litigating
these cases for many years, and he has seen most of these situations
over and over. He is a bicyclist himself, so he knows the roads the
way we do.

By far the most common accident that results in litigation is a car
making a left turn into a bicyclist. What happens is that the driver
doesn't see the bicyclist. Often the road is gridlocked, and the rider
is cruising in the bike lane behind a row of parked minivans and SUVs.
Maybe there are high bushes in the median. Sometimes the rider is just
moving fast enough that the driver didn't notice them. The way to
prevent this kind of wreak is to look before crossing an intersection
that might have cross traffic. Absolutely if you sue the driver your
chances of winning are good, but you still have to deal with a broken
clavicle or whatever the injuries are. Preventing injuries is better.

Another kind of accident he sees frequently is a car making a right
turn into a bicyclist. The most common reason for this is that the
cyclist had to cross a right turn lane to go straight, and the driver
didn't see them. Sometimes the driver wanted to make a right turn into
a driveway and didn't see the cyclist. These accidents are much more
likely to result is serious injury to the cyclist. Often a case can
be made, but again, preventing accidents is much better. He recommends
going slow enough when this is likely so that your reaction times are
effective.

The most serious injuries happen when a car and a bicycle are going in
the same direction and the car drifts into the bicycle. The law says
that cars can only pass when it's safe, and Gary often wins these cases
when they are litigated, but that's no help if you are a dead bicyclist.
Usually drivers say "I didn't see the bicyclist."

Usually Gary sees a few bike vs. dog cases every year. The law says that
dogs not on private property must be on a leash under the control of the
owner. If a dog gets caught in your spokes when chasing you the owner is
probably liable.

If there is a wreak. Gary advises people to first get off the road, then
get the police and ambulance (if one is required). Usually the ambulance
ride will get paid for by insurance. You might need the hospital.
Sometimes injuries take a little while to make themselves known. If at
all possible get the police to file a police report. Take pictures of
the scene, they will be valuable if you need to go to court. Don't just
get the injury and the blood. Get pictures of the skid marks, the car,
the bike, the intersection. Get license plate numbers and insurance
policy information. Take notes on what happened. The more information 
you can capture at the time, the easier it will be to reconstruct what
happened for the case later. If you need a lawyer get one involved as
soon as possible. Two months later it is very difficult to figure out
exactly what happened.

There are two ways to prevent wreaks. One is to be a safe rider. The
other is to work through advocacy organizations to get bike lanes,
lights that respect bicycles, and other measures that make being a
bicyclist part of a holistic urban landscape. Gary recommends that
everybody join the League of American Bicyclists (bikeleague.org) which
does excellent national advocacy (they recently got employer incentives
for encouraging bike commuting signed into law), California Bicycle
Coalition (calbike.org) (their new whole streets law should be making
streets safer for bicyclists statewide), and the Silicon Valley Bicycle
Coalition (bikesiliconvalley.org) (just about everybody in the room is
already a member).

Gary finished by saying always carry ID when out on a bicycle. Make sure 
you have your name, address, phone number, any allergy information, and 
whom to contact in an emergency on you. If you do get in a wreak and you 
do need a lawyer, Gary can be found at bicyclelawyer.com.
-- 
Tian
http://tian.greens.org
Latest change: Added pictures and commentary from Amanda's book party.