One of the many dangers of riding on the road is the threat of being hit by a car. This can be quite a traumatic experience for both the parties involved in the accident, the driver, and cyclist.
However, it is often the cyclist who is injured the most, which most cases the cyclist in fatally injured. A study done by the Governing showed that during the year of 2012 the national death rate for bicyclist was roughly 2.3 deaths per 1 million people in the country, with states like Florida averaging 5.7 deaths per 1 million people in the state.
These statistics are shocking as personally, I believe that there is no need for people to die for incompetent driving.
One of the questions that often gets asked when there is a motor vehicle accident involving a bicyclist is, who is to blame?
According to ladahlaw.com, in the state of Nevada, cyclists have right of way on the road, meaning that if a car were to hit cyclists there would be very little chance of the driver of the vehicle not being in some sort of trouble with the law of Nevada.
Is this a good thing?
Giving cyclists right of way on the road is the best possible way to ensure that a number of cyclists deaths stay at a low number.
Because a car or a truck is a much bigger vehicle and has more power and protection than a bicycle has it makes sense that if there is an accident that the bigger vehicle involved takes responsibility for the accident as they are equipped better to make sure that the accident doesn’t happen.
If a driver kills a cyclist they will stand trial on a minimum charge of manslaughter, unless their defense can prove that there where external circumstances which prevented the driver from begin able to stop and not hit the cyclist, for example, the cyclist ignoring a stop street or traffic light and riding straight onto head-on traffic.
As a Cyclist what can you do?
Being hit by a vehicle as a cyclist can be a traumatic experience which may require in most cases, medical service. This, of course, costs money and in some cases additional costs, outside of some medical aids will pay, in most cases you will most likely end up spending time in the hospital, which can also increase costs and if you have broken bones, the amount of time which you spend time at work can be affected as well.
This means that you stand to lose a large amount of money from medical bills and unpaid leave from work, furthermore, there is always a chance in which you will end up in a lawsuit with the driver of the vehicle as they will want you to pay for the damage on their vehicle.
To prepare for this you must make sure that you have some form of medical and legal aid to prevent people from taking money from you, while you can’t do anything about it.
