Bicycles can be a great way to get around the city in New York or simply to get some exercise. Many people take advantage of these benefits and it is common to see people biking. However, bicycles are much smaller than most of the other vehicles on the road and therefore when they are involved in bicycle accidents, it can be devastating for the bicyclists. So, to help prevent this from happening it is important for both bicyclists and motorists to know the biking rules on the road.
Traffic Laws for Bicyclists
As a general rule, bicyclists must follow all traffic laws that motor vehicles must follow, unless there are specific rules pertaining just to bicycles in a specific area. This means that bicycles must obey traffic lights and other control devices, yield to vehicles when they have the right of way, signal their turns and follow other rules. Likewise motor vehicles must yield to bicyclists when they have the right of way, signal turns and follow the other rules.
Where Bicycles should Ride
Bicycles for the most part should bike on the roads, but they should ride as close to the curb as they can unless they need to take a left turn or there are cars parked on the road. Also, when there are designated bike lanes on the road, people should ride in those bike lanes when possible. If there is a bike path people are encouraged to ride on them but they are not required to ride on a bike path that is separate from the road. Bicyclists can ride side by side on the roads as well, but if they are being overtaken by another vehicle, they should ride single file until the car passes them.
However, when making turns bicyclists should make turns as if they are a vehicle. This means that they should move to the middle of the lane they are turning from to ensure that other vehicles will not overtake them while they are making the turn. This is true when making both right and left turns.
These rules are in place to help vehicles and bicyclists to share the road safely. However, not everyone follows these rules all the time and just like car accidents occur when people do not follow the rules, bicycle accidents occur too. Unfortunately, though bicyclists often times suffer more significant injuries than people do in car accidents. Bicyclists have very little protection compared to a car and it does not take a major accident to cause major injuries.
Victims of bicycle accidents in New York could be entitled to compensation from the driver responsible for the accident though. Experienced attorneys understand the importance of this compensation and may be able to help make one whole again.
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