Boston bicycle accident attorney

Published on: July 15, 2016

Boston Bicycle Accident Attorneys Talk Hit-and-Run Crashes

Hit-and-run accidents have been on the rise in major cities in recent years, spiking more than 13 percent in a recent three-year time frame. In some places, like Los Angeles, it’s so bad that half of all crashes in the city involve at least one driver who fled the scene. In total, these accidents kill about 1,500 people a year – disproportionately affecting pedestrians and bicyclists. In fact, 60 percent of hit-and-run fatalities are pedestrians. bicycle9

Just recently in New York City, friends and family gathered in Brooklyn to remember the 35-year-old founder of a company called Bikestock, a bike repair vending machine business and avid bicycling advocate, who was riding home form his night job when a black Chevrolet Camero with tinted windows struck him around 2:30 a.m. He was dragged for a distance. The driver didn’t stop. He was later pronounced dead. It was the 12th cycling fatality in New York City this year, compared to five this time last year. Said a police investigator, “Most of the time, it’s errant and lawless motoring that is to blame.”

Several states, including Texas, Florida, Arizona and Colorado have increased criminal penalties for hit-and-run drivers. In Massachusetts, M.G.L. c. 90 s. 24 makes failure to stop after a collision a misdemeanor, with a maximum penalty of up to 2 years in jail, a $200 fine and between 60 days and 1 year of license loss. Of course, that assumes the driver got caught. So here does all this leave Boston bicycle accident victims? Continue reading

Published on: April 10, 2016

Distracted Biking Laws Target The Wrong Traffic

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Late last year, Massachusetts state Rep., Steven Howitt (R-Seekonk), introduced a bill that would ban bicyclists in the Commonwealth from wearing headphones while they ride. bike

He reasoned that, “If they want to share the road, they have to share the responsibility as well.”

Certainly, there is a case to be made that bicyclists need to be alert at all times when navigating through traffic. It’s really more for their own protection than anything else. But are efforts to crack down on distracted cycling really going to slash the number of bicycle accidents in Boston and elsewhere?

A recent analysis by the Pew Charitable Trusts suggests probably not. That’s because the real problem isn’t biking while distracted. It’s driving while distracted. Continue reading

Published on: March 20, 2016

Boston Bicyclists Navigate Treacherous Landscape

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Boston bike riders are daily dodging large trucks, drivers who are distracted and vehicles that are double-parked. They are doing so on fast-paced roads that more often than not were designed without consideration of their existence. bicycle1

From 2010 to 2015, more than a dozen people were killed on city streets, ranging in age from 8 to 74. In each case, riders were struck by motor vehicles – buses, cars and massive trucks without side guards to stop them from falling underneath.

The Boston Globe reported last year that Boston has more cycling deaths per 10,000 commuters than Washington D.C., Portland, Seattle, Denver and Minneapolis – all cities of similar sizes where, like here, bike travel is increasingly popular. Continue reading