We are often taught to ride our bikes at a young age. This arduous task is usually taken on by our parents and after a few knocks, cuts and bruises along the way, once we have grasped the technique it doesn't take much skill. Or so we thought.
Fast forward 20 years. You now consider yourself as an experienced cyclist. The park you once cycled through has changed to a concrete terrain and you have to weave your way through traffic. Imagine that whilst on one of your regular routes you get hit by a motor vehicle. Those cuts and grazes you suffered as a child whilst learning to ride have changed significantly and you have sustained a serious injury and you wake up in hospital with your leg in plaster.
More and more people are choosing to cycle, particularly in city centres, as it provides an easier way to navigate around traffic congestion as well as reducing the carbon footprint. Therefore different skills are required in order to integrate with other traffic on the roads such as road positioning and signalling.
Unfortunately, for this reason cyclists are extremely vulnerable and have little protection if they are involved in any type of collision or accident, especially a collision with a motor vehicle. On the occasion that this happens, cyclist can suffer a serious injury as a result.
According to The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) every year in this country over 16,000 cyclists are killed or injured in reported road accidents, including around 2,500 who are killed or have sustained a serious injury. These figures represent the reported road accidents only and 60% to 90% of cyclist casualties are not reported at all, especially if the victim is a child and it is a bicycle only accident.
In 2008 the Department for Transport further reported that there were 115 pedal cyclist fatalities and 2,450 reported seriously injured casualties with the number killed or seriously injured increasing in the last 4 years.
Various alterations such as cycle lanes have been introduced to enable cyclist to remain safe. However the addition of the cycle lane is unlikely to discourage a driver from overtaking if the driver perceives that there is sufficient room to do so. Cycle lanes are not incorporated on every road and often the roads are narrow and do not provide drivers with enough room to overtake. Nonetheless they still proceed to overtake creating a dangerous situation for themselves, on coming traffic and more importantly the cyclist.
Personal injuries sustained in a cycling accident can contribute to both physical and financial hardship. For this reason it is important to report any cycle accident to the police and get expert advice about whether or not you can make a compensation claim. It does not matter on the type of cyclist you are whether it be leisure, commuter, competitor, mountain biker or pro, if you are injured as a result of a bike accident which was not your fault Hilary Meredith Solicitors might be able to help.
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.look4articles.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.look4articles.com/images/rss.jpg "XML Feed For RSS")