Florida Car Accident Lawyer Blog
Bicycling is great exercise. It can get your pulse racing and can give you a whole-body workout while strengthening your core and offering cardio exercise. In a world where many of us spend too much time being sedentary and obesity is a serious health concern, bicycling is a great way to stay active and even enjoy the great outdoors.
Despite all its benefits, however, bicycling accidents in Hollywood are still a concern for anyone who chooses to exercise this way. While the state and local municipalities have taken steps to reduce the number of bicycle accidents, far too many bikers are injured or even killed on our roads. To keep yourself safer while you exercise, be sure to follow these tips:
- Always follow the rules of the road. Bicycles are more flexible, so it can be tempting to go up on a sidewalk or try to coast through a red light, but it’s vital to obey all traffic signs and signals. They are there to protect you.
- Ride with the flow of traffic, acting like a car on the road. Riding against the flow of traffic is actually more dangerous, since cars are less likely to expect a bike coming towards them. Take your own space in a lane, without sharing lanes.
- Use hand signals and make your movements clear. Avoid weaving or making unexpected maneuvers. Try to make eye contact with drivers around you before you turn or switch lanes to make sure they see you.
- Don’t ride on the sidewalks. Not only can it lead to a collision with pedestrians, but it can be less safe for you. Sidewalks can be uneven enough to cause you to fall from your bicycle and when you move from the sidewalk to the road, cars will not know to look for you.
- Where possible, use a bike route, paved shoulder, bike lane, or trail. You are safer on bicycle-designated areas where cars are not driving. When there is no bicycle area or paved shoulder and you are sharing the road, ride in a lane with traffic.
- Make yourself as visible as possible. Wear light-colored clothing and use lights on your bicycle so other motorists can see you. Use reflective paint or adhesives on your bike, helmet, and clothes to stand out even more in dim lighting.
- Ride only when you are in physical shape to do so. If you are fatigued, unwell, or not sober you may make dangerous mistakes which can cause a collision. You can also fall from your bike or have poor response times, which can mean a collision with a car.
- Do not get distracted or wear headphones while biking. Checking your phone or listening to music or podcasts can mean you don’t notice pedestrians, car horns, cars, and others on the road, meaning you could find yourself in an accident.
- Scan the road in front of you for debris and any objects which may be dangerous. Even relatively minor dangers to a car, such as potholes, can be enough to make you lose control on a bike. Seeing these dangers ahead of time lets you steer your bike well out of the way in time.
If you have been in a bicycle accident, contact Flaxman Law Group for a free accident consultation with a Hollywood bicycle accident attorney.