Pennsylvania Motorists and Bicyclists Reminded to Share the Road

Pennsylvania’s bike safety law was passed in April in an effort to reduce injuries and save lives of Pennsylvania bicyclists.  With colleges and universities back in session throughout the state, many students take to the road on their bikes to get to and from classes. In an effort to raise awareness of the public, and college students alike, the University of Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia police are teaming up to kick off the annual Share the Road bicycle safety campaign.

The campaign will kick off tomorrow at 11 a.m. in front of the Penn Bookstore. The event features members of the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, PennCycle, Neighborhood Bike Works, Keswick Cycle, the Undergraduate Assembly, the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly and Penn’s Medical Emergency Response Team who will be on site to answer questions about bike safety.

“This safety campaign gives us an opportunity to collaborate with important stakeholders such as the City of Philadelphia Streets Department and bicycle advocate groups to get safety information out to bicyclists, pedestrians, and motorists,” Maureen S. Rush, Penn’s vice president for public safety, said in the press release announcing the event.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in 2009, 630 bicyclists were killed and another 51,000 were injured in traffic crashes in the United States. In Pennsylvania in 2011, 11 bicyclists died and 1,312 were injured in vehicle crashes.  Bicycle crashes represent one percent of the total vehicle crashes in the state.

Bicyclists are asked to always wear a helmet, stay to the right of the highway, ride with traffic, not against it, ride defensively, and to use hand signals to indicate turning or stopping.

Motorists are offered the following safety reminders for safely sharing the road with bicyclists:

• You must yield to both pedestrians and bicyclists at all times.
• When turning right at an intersection, painted bicycle lanes require you to yield to any bicyclists either in the vicinity of your vehicle or approaching from behind.
• It is illegal to park or stop your vehicle in a manner that obstructs or blocks a bike lane.
• Check your side-view mirrors before opening your car door.
• Leave a 4-foot “cushion of safety” when passing a bicyclist.

Motorists are urged to pay extra attention when approaching busy intersections where bikers and pedestrians are apt to be present. Eighty percent of all vehicle accidents involving bicycles occur at intersections when cars are turning.

Our Pennsylvania car accident attorneys encourage motorists to remember that bikers have the right to travel our highways.  Please share the road with them.

If you are a cyclist injured in a crash with a motor vehicle, you may have the right to compensation for medical expenses, loss of wages, pain and suffering and other related damages. Contacting an experienced bicycle-car accident attorney immediately is critical to ensuring you get the compensation you deserve.

About Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys

Munley Law is a Pennsylvania accident and injury law firm that represents car accident victims and their families throughout the state of Pennsylvania and the Northeast, including those injured in accidents that involve speeding, distracted driving, drunk driving, fatigued driving, aggressive driving and careless driving in hazardous weather conditions. The Pennsylvania personal injury law firm’s additional practice areas include trucking accidents, motorcycle accidents, medical malpractice, defective products, toxic chemicals, workplace injuries, nursing home litigation and other serious accidents. To contact the law firm, use the firm’s online contact form.