By Attorney Chris Strohbehn

With the COVID-19 pandemic making indoor exercise difficult, outdoor alternatives like bike-riding have become a common way for people to get their desired daily physical activity. If you find yourself riding your bicycle more often, it is important that you take the necessary safety precautions, especially considering that a larger number of bicycle fatalities typically occur during the summer months. While many bicycle accidents are caused by drivers of other vehicles, there is plenty you can do to reduce your chances of being involved in an accident or to lower your injury risk if an accident does occur, including:

1. Wear a helmet. Although most cities in Wisconsin do not legally require bicyclists to wear a helmet, making the personal choice to do so is the best way to minimize the risk of a severe head injury or traumatic brain injury if you are involved in an accident.
2. Use lights and reflectors. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, bicyclist fatalities are much more likely to occur between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and midnight. If you are biking at night, wearing reflective clothing and equipping the front and rear of your bike with lights can greatly increase your visibility to other drivers and reduce your chances of being hit.
3. Follow regular traffic laws. Bicyclists are required to follow the same traffic laws as other motorists. This means that when riding a bike, you should always travel on the same side of the road and in the same direction as motor vehicles. You should also obey traffic signs and lane markings, signal when turning, stop at traffic lights and stop signs, and avoid distractions that remove your attention from the road.
4. Know your abilities. If you are an inexperienced or out-of-practice bicyclist, you should practice riding your bike in safe areas free from traffic before taking to the road. Planning your routes to avoid dangerous, high-traffic areas whenever possible can also reduce your risk of injury.
5. Supervise your children. While 60% of adult bicycle accidents are the fault of another motorist, 90% of child bicycle accidents are caused by the child’s error. Young children require close supervision whenever riding a bike, and they are safer in residential areas than on the open road. You should be absolutely confident in your children’s abilities before allowing them to bike in traffic without supervision.

If you are in a bicycle accident, you should seek immediate medical attention for any injuries and try to collect any evidence you can from the accident, including photographs and witness statements. Even if your actions partially contributed to the accident, you may still be able to seek compensation for your injuries under Wisconsin law. 

By Attorney Chris Strohbehn

Electric scooters (also known as e-scooters) are a form of transportation that is becoming more and more popular in cities across the United States. While these types of scooters are not new, the business behind them has changed. Companies such as Bird have begun offering rentable electric scooters that are placed on the side of the road for anyone to use. A person can use an app to rent an available scooter, then hop on for a ride. However, since these scooters have begun to pop up on city streets and college campuses, the number of scooter-related injuries has increased significantly, and people who are injured may be unsure about their legal options.

During the summer months, many people take advantage of the warm weather to enjoy time outdoors. Bike riding is a popular activity for families, but parents should be aware of the dangers that exist for children when using bicycles. Across the United States, nearly 630 children are injured every day in bicycle accidents. Collisions with larger vehicles can be especially devastating, and result in serious injuries, disability, or even death.

Bike Safety Tips

In order to protect children from bike accident injuries, parents should take steps to ensure they are safe when using bicycles, including:

Bicycling is a great way for people to get exercise while traveling, whether riders are doing so for recreation or commuting to work on a daily basis. However, bicyclists are at risk when they share the road with cars, trucks, and other vehicles— bicycle accidents are likely to result in serious injuries for bike riders.

Bike Accident Statistics

As more and more people travel on Wisconsin’s roads via bicycle, improvements have been made with the intent of increasing safety for bicyclists. While the number of injuries has decreased over the past few decades, there are still around 1,000 bicycle accidents in Wisconsin every year, and nearly every accident results in a bicyclist being injured or killed. In fact, in 2016, a bicycle accident resulted in the injury or death of a cyclist every 10.2 hours.

Bicyclists traveling on roadways must abide by specific traffic laws in order to keep them and others safe. Bicyclists are especially at risk: they do not have the safety protections cars provide, and bikes can move at much faster speeds than pedestrians.

Bicycle accidents leave cyclists gravely injured, while those in cars may not be injured at all. If you have been in a bike accident and you believe that you were not at fault (or not fully at fault) in causing the accident, you should be compensated to the full extent Wisconsin law allows.

Key Bicycle Laws in Wisconsin