Miami Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

So called "blind spots" can be very dangerous when changing lanes in a car. They are usually deadly when changing lanes in a motorcycle. Riders on cruisers, who usually wear open helmets (or none at all) can't hear a vehicle in the lane next to them because of the surrounding noise. Similarly, those who ride sport bikes while wearing closed helmets can't hear most noises (specially if they're listening to music from an Ipod or similar device) and on top, their lateral visibility is blocked by the helmet. These are factors that may contribute to crashes that happen when riders change lanes without noticing a vehicle in their blind spots. Therefore, we all (drivers and specially riders) need to turn our heads and make sure there are no vehicles in those spots before attempting to change lanes.

New Technology to the Rescue

Finally, new safety technology that is being made available for cars, may soon be made available for bikes. A recent B.B.C. article, talks about new safety technology that would not only alert riders of vehicles in their blind spots, but can also warn them when they are traveling to fast before they reach an upcoming curve.

Continue reading "Upcoming Safety Features for Bikes" »

Not all people drive their cars in a safely manner. By the same token, not all young bikers ride recklessly. A young man from Miami was riding in a six lane road when a driver in the lane next to him suddenly decided to change lanes, cutting the rider off. The man in the motorcycle tried to avoid crashing into the other vehicle but in doing so lost control of his bike and fell. The fall gave him severe "road rash", scarring, bruising and fractures. He subsequently retained the Law Offices of Greenberg & Stone, P.A. to represent him.

Drivers Must be Mindful of Motorcycles When Changing Lanes

According to the Florida Drivers Handbook every driver must indicate their intentions to others with their turn signals. Being constantly aware of other vehicles in your vicinity is an important skill for drivers to safely operate their vehicles in our busy streets. That is why our cars come with rear and side view mirrors. Similarly, it is important to check for blind spots next to our own car before changing lanes. A driver who is about to change lanes must turn his head to see if there is a vehicle in his or her "blind spot". For obvious reasons, all drivers under these circumstances must exercise special care to look for motorcycles, because they are smaller and more difficult to see. Our frequent failure to see motorcycles around or approaching our path is often the cause for crashes.

Continue reading "Rider Has a Bike Accident in Miami" »

A sixty year old Broward business executive who used to work out by riding his bicycle everyday, was moving with the flow of traffic when a driver backing her car out of her driveway suddenly struck him because she was not properly looking back and failed to yield. The victim has retained Greenberg & Stone, P.A., to represent him in this traffic accident case. He was taken to Broward General Hospital's emergency room with multiple traumas: a closed head injury, a fractured jaw, a derangement of the left knee and other back and neck injuries. After being admitted to the hospital he was operated on under general anesthesia, resulting in the insertion of plates and wires. Thankfully, he had a bicycle helmet on at the time of the accident.

Theses Accidents Happen Very Often and Many Times Result in Fatalities

Regrettably, accidents between cars and cyclists of all ages happen frequently and since riders are completely unprotected in a bicycle, they often result in fatalities. According to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles in their latest available report , 512 people were killed in bicycle accidents between 2000 and 2004. This report also shows that 23,842 people were injured in this kind of accidents during those years.

Continue reading "Man Struck by SUV While Working Out on His Bicycle" »

A pedestrian was killed early this morning by an SUV while crossing the intersection of Melaleuca Lane and Wiggins Road in Lake Worth. The elderly victim, Fatemeh Kazemishahmirzadi, was crossing in front of a vehicle in the lane closest to the median when the vehicle in the next lane hit her, maybe because the driver did not see her.

Florida Law states that motor vehicles must always yield to pedestrians, specially when these are crossing at an intersection and regardless of whether the crossing is marked or not. However, this fact alone (i.e., a driver failing to yield to the pedestrian) does not determine who was at fault in this kind of accidents. Therefore, an investigation is opened to find other facts, like whether the driver could have seen the pedestrian and/or whether the light was green.

Statistics by the Florida Department of Higway Safety and Motor Vehicles (see Florida Traffic Crash Statistics) seem to show that pedestrians between the ages of 75 and 84 are a particularly vulnerable group which accounts for 22.22 percent of all pedestrian fatalities that occurring when a pedestrian was crossing at an intersection in this State.

Continue reading "Pedestrian killed in a crosswalk accident in Lake Worth" »