Can I get a witness?

Nearly all of my cases turn on the question of what happened.  That’s because, in order to get you compensation for your injuries or your damaged bike after a crash, I need to be able to show that the driver was at least 50% at fault.  Such a determination often requires a clear picture of how the crash occurred.  While proving what happened can often be fairly straightforward, there are many crashes where things get complicated.  In such cases, the deciding factor often takes the form of a witness.

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2 BPD vehicles obstruct the bike lane on St. Alphonsus St.

“Accident implies there is nobody to blame.”

The VTTI researchers estimate that potentially 36 percent of incidents—4 million of the almost 11 million crashes that happen in this country annually—“could be avoided if no distraction was present.”

By failing to acknowledge Mr. Wolf’s guilt, we have once more reinforced the culture of blamelessness that exacerbates a serious problem our society faces: thousands of people die every year on our roads.

Just think of the Southwest Corridor or the bike path on Memorial Drive, where cyclists are forced to stop, dismount, and walk every few minutes to make it across the many streets that intersect these major throughways.  Does this really make sense?  Of course not, but that’s the only legally protected way to cross.

The Invisible Zebra

Image via flickr

Imagine a world where crosswalks don’t exist.  Every crosswalk you know and love has been erased from the pavement.

That’s what it’s like for bicyclists in Massachusetts.

Although we have some of the nation’s best bike laws here in the Bay State, there are still a couple of major holes in our legislative structure.  The crosswalk is one of them.

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You just know cyclists are getting blamed for this.

Instead of cyclists, people biking. Instead of accident, collision. Instead of cycle track, protected bike lane.

A couple months ago I got a voicemail from someone at the Northeastern University Police Department, asking if I would be willing to help them produce a video on bike safety. I have to admit, I was a little hesitant at first. There are plenty of “safety initiatives” for bikers out there, but for...

June 27, 2014 — Boston has installed more than 50 miles of bike lanes since 2007, and the number of pedal-powered commuters in the city, while only 2.1%, is more than three times the national avera...

An NPR journalist’s fumbled tweet exposes a hole in the debate about urban cycling

A garbage truck driver who was behind the wheel when a bicyclist was struck and killed in Charlestown in April won’t face charges, after a Suffolk County grand jury voted last week not to indict him, prosecutors said.

“Sorry mate, I didn’t see you”. Is a catchphrase used by drivers up and down the country. Is this a driver being careless and dangerous or did the driver genuinely not see you? According to a report by John Sullivan of the RAF, the answer may have important repercussions for the way we train drivers …

Nick Falbo is proposing a new protected intersection design that would make intersections safer and less stressful than they are today.

as Nick mentions in the video, this is only new to US.

Nationwide, fatal bike accidents involving cars often result in misdemeanor charges, tickets, or nothing. Leah Shahum from the San Francisco Bike Coalition told the New York Times last year tha…

Better late than never -- usually. The problem was first raised in this column just about one year ago: A roadway expansion joint at the Back Bay intersection of Huntington Avenue and Stuart Street, a remnant of the Central Artery Tunnel, had caused an unsuspecting cyclist, Anthony Beckwith, to take a nasty spill.