Tag Archives: cyclists

General Safety Issues, High Visibility Safety

WARNING TO ALL YOU FOUR-WHEELERS AND EIGHTEEN-WHEELERS: IT’S NATIONAL BIKE AND MOTORCYCLE SAFETY MONTH!

National Bike Safety Month

May is National Bike Month, and is sponsored by the League of American Bicyclists.  It is celebrated nationwide.  This observance is the time to showcase the great benefits of bicycling, and encourage more people to try it.

Whether you bike to work or school; ride to save money or time; pump those pedals to preserve your health or the environment; or simply to explore your community, National Bike Month is an opportunity to celebrate the unique power of the bicycle and the many reasons we ride.  Please note: Wednesday, May 7th, is National Ride a Bike to School Day.  If your child is not in the habit of riding their bike to school, be sure you  know that they are prepared to do so.  Friday, May 9th, is National Ride a Bike to Work Day.  The most important thing any cyclist can do is to put that helmet on, buckle it up and make sure it’s level.  It’s not going to do its job if it is tilted to the side to look cool.
As a national sponsor, the League provides resources to help you plan an event in your area, and each year the number and diversity of Bike Month celebrations continues to grow, accelerating the momentum around bicycling nationwide.

National Motorcycle Safety Month 

Most experienced motorcyclists know the rules of the road and hopefully follow them.  When riding on a busy highway, it is important that they stay on their part of the road, and that drivers are alert and watching their every move.  Good motorcycle riders wear all the right stuff – helmets, jacket, gloves, and other protective equipment.  All that gear comes in bright colors, as well as black, and the colors give more warning to drivers.  Wearing a high-visiblity vest over the jacket would help, too.

There’s nothing greater than feeling the wind and open air; but it gives us a fright when someone is seen riding their motorcycle or bike without a helmet.  Believe me, I know some pretty hard-headed people out there, but none that could survive hitting the road, a tree, or sign head-first! 

With warm weather finally getting here in many parts of the country, it’s time to get out the cycles and check them out, tires and all, to be sure they are in tip-top condition.  Go out there and have some fun, and also save some of that high-dollar gas we are paying for.  Just please ride safely.

General Safety Issues

UK Road Traffic Accidents (Guest Post)

Blog4Safety is fortunate to have many guest authors from the United Kingdom.  Matthew Blake shared this infographic with us, highlighting statistics of road accidents in the U.K.  Keep in mind the number of accidents that happen in the U.S. every day; use this information to help you remember that most accidents could be prevented.  At the end of the infographic, there are five safety instructions that apply to drivers in all countries. Drive safely! pb

Road_Traffic_Accidents

General Safety Issues

WHAT TO DO AFTER A MOTOR VEHICLE ACCIDENT (GUEST POST)

Sent by Danny Duric

First of all let’s state the obvious. A car is much more powerful than a pedestrian. Of course pedestrians have to watch out and follow “the rules of the road” meaning that they should follow what they have been taught since the early age. These are advice and lessons people give to their children like: “Carefully cross the street, and always look both left and right before crossing it!”, “Cross the street only where you see the zebra crossing!”, “Wait for the green light!”, and all that jazz. Now, this is good advice, naturally, but when the time comes for these children to start driving cars, somehow, they do not seem to obey the rules of the road that much. 

Alarmingly, 10.8 million car accidents occurred in 2009 in America only, as some statistics show. At this point, it really doesn’t matter if these statistics are as accurate as they ought to be, the point is that they occur a lot. We all know that car accidents happen, and, unfortunately, as cars become more and more available to the general public, it is safe to say that, with this traffic system, the number of car accidents, or any other motor vehicle accidents for that matter, will increase. Some scientists are currently working on a safer, automated commuting system, but since it will take time for that system to even be accepted, not to mention installed and put to work, we will have to watch out, because getting hit by a motor vehicle can easily be lethal.

To get to the point, if by any chance someone gets hit by a car, one should know that he or she is entitled to make a free personal injury claim and get a compensation, the amount of which is proportional to the seriousness of the injury at hand. This is possible not only if you are a pedestrian, a motorbike driver or a car (or other vehicle) driver that has followed the rules, but also if the accident is partly your fault. Of course if you are driving down a one-way street in the opposite direction and you hit someone, then you are the only “culprit” and you will not get any compensation, and will have to pay. If the accident is partly your fault, you might be entitled to make a personal injury claim and receive a compensation for the suffered injury.

After suffering an injury related to a motor vehicle it is needless to say that one should go to the nearest hospital, because sometimes, people do not feel the pain immediately, but they start having experiencing health problems and pains a while after the accident. Always go to the hospital to check if everything is in order. After that you should contact the Police Department. You have to do this within a certain period of time after the accident. The law states that if you wait, for example a month or so, than you can no longer report the motor vehicle accident to the police, so be sure to do this at your earliest convenience. The next thing you should do is to find out what kind of compensations are you entitled to. This information is given to you by your insurance company, but they have proven to be not that well informed on the matter. Instead you should talk to a personal injury lawyer as they will give you all the information you need.

These injuries caused by a motor vehicle accident may lead to a compensation and:

  • ·You can receive payment of all medical expenses provided for you.
  • ·If you have lost a workday and therefore lost the money that you could have earned, this can be compensated
  • ·You can receive payment for any and all pocket expenses that might have occurred
  • ·You are entitled to receive payment for all travel expenses
  • ·You can receive some fairly reasonable funeral expenses if the injury proves to be a fatal one
  • ·You can get a lump sum compensation for the injury at hand

To find out exactly what you are entitled to, seek legal advice from any kind of motor vehicle accident compensation lawyer. He or she is bound to tell you your best option.

If the injury in a motor vehicle accident proves to be a fatal one, note that the family of the deceased is entitled to an injury compensation claim via the Compulsory Third Party’s insurance. If the accident occurs while a person is going to work or heading home from work, you can get to compensate your motor vehicle injury.

All in all, after reading this one can concur that there are a lot of ways to get something out of a car accident. But, it is this writer’s advice to always pay a lot attention when you are in traffic.  Finally, if anyone should try to somehow fake the whole situation, like, for example, jumping on a moving car and then crying for compensation afterwards, know that that is called “Insurance Fraud” and it is highly punishable by law.

Thanks, Danny, for this advice, but let’s hope our pedestrians stay safe in their designated areas. Most of the time, it seems that calling the police would be the first thing to do so they can make out a report while everything is fresh on the affected driver/pedestrian’s minds. pb