The snow has melted. The sun is out. The weather is heating up. People sick and tired of bad winter weather want to get outside and be active. And they do. And one of the big changes we see in commuting patterns is that in the warmer weather, more and more people bike to work. It’s only logical that an increase in the number of cyclists on the road creates an increased number for the potential for bike accidents.
What I’ve noticed in Toronto, is that more politicians at City Hall encourage Torontonians to bike. Bike to work. Bike to pick up groceries. Bike for pleasure. Bike to the doctor’s office. Biking is sexy. It’s cool. It’s good for you. It’s hip. Wherever you go, Toronto’s politicians want you to bike. Unfortunately, the infrastructure does not exist in Toronto, or many other Ontario Cities (London, Peterborough, Hamilton, Oshawa) to ensure that your bike ride is a safe one. Unless you stay on your driveway with training wheels and a helmet on, you can’t assure this Toronto Personal Injury Lawyer that some motorist in their car won’t share the roadway with you and won’t “nudge” you off the street.
Bike paths exist, but they don’t travel through your entire city. Toronto is looking to extend the bike path system, but this is happening at at snail’s pace. So, cyclists in Toronto and all other Ontario cities are forced to share the roadway with motorists.
In most cycling injury cases, the motorist never admits to hitting the cyclist. Why would they admit to running over a cyclist and paralyzing them and rendering them unconscious and with a permanent brain injury? They deny ever even seeing the cyclist. They deny feeling the contact between the car and the cyclist. They deny everything, despite the fact they were ever charged or convicted under the Highway Traffic Act.
Do the math. Your average car weighs between 650lbs to a ton. Your average bike weighs around 15-25lbs. Which vehicle wins when they collide? You average car traveling on a city street can reach speeds of 40-60km/hr. A bike can get up to 20km/hr depending on the speed and intensity of the cyclist. Which vehicle will come out unscathed following a collision? A car has side air bags, front air bags, automatic brakes, roll bars, seat belts, front and rear and bumpers, plastic and metal to absorb the impact of a collision. What does a bike have? A basket on the front of it? Perhaps a little bell or a light at the front of the bike. But what good will that do when a car runs the bike off the road and into a concrete pole? Maybe the cyclist has a helmet to protect against brain injury. Ever see a car drive over and crush a bike helmet? Not a pretty site. It could be your brain or skull inside of that helmet.
At Goldfinger Injury Lawyers, we’re not anti-cycling. In fact, we’re very pro-cycling. But we see the worst of the worst biking accidents which result in serious injuries such as catastrophic brain injury, paraplegia, loss of limb and even death. This does even take into consideration the psychological trauma sustained to the accident victim and their family after the biking accident.
Because our personal injury law firm sees the worst of the worst bike accidents, we know how serious cycling accidents are. We know that if you are going to cycle, make sure that you do so safely. We also know that the cycling infrastructure simply does not exist in Ontario’s cities to prevent these accidents from happening. Bikes and cars have shown that they cannot share the road. This is both an awareness problem, a congestion problem and an infrastructure problem.
Cycling accidents can result in the most serious and most traumatic injury. If you or a loved one has been hurt or injured in a Toronto cycling accident, or a cycling accident anywhere else in Ontario, call Goldfinger Injury Lawyers today for your free consultation with one of our personal injury lawyers. All of our consultations are free and you don’t have to pay any fees until your case settles. If Goldfinger Injury Lawyers gets you nothing, then you pay nothing.