Bicycle Accident Lawyer St. Louis, MO. Riding a bike around St. Louis, MO can be a fun activity and a great way to improve your fitness. However, many motorists are not so willing to share the road with cyclists, and believe that city streets are places for vehicles with four wheels only. Whether through carelessness, failure to recognize that there are bikes on the road, or even poorly-maintained pavement, bicycle accidents are a sadly too common occurrence in St. Louis–and because the most protection almost all cyclists wear is a helmet, the resulting injuries are much more severe than in other personal injury accidents.
At Combs Waterkotte, we have helped many St. Louis, MO cyclists from all walks of life obtain both fair compensation and a measure of justice for their bicycle accident injuries. Our firm is ready to work with you to take on all the liable parties in your accident and hold them accountable. Call us today at (314) 900-HELP to speak with an attorney about your case.
Bicycle Accident Statistics
According to the Centers for Disease Control, in 2015 a total of 467,000 injuries were recorded as a result of a bicycle accident. A third of all bike-related injuries came from children and teens, and three-fourths of all bike accidents occurred in an urban area. Most accidents took place on what are called “arterial roads”, or multi-lane roads with stoplights at intersections. Common bike accident injuries include broken bones, neck and back injuries, and concussions.
Some of the most common causes of bicycle accidents around St. Louis, MO include:
- Cars or trucks turning right across a cyclist’s right of way
- Running, or not fully coming to a stop at, a red light/stop sign
- Passing a car on the right
- Cars or truck backing out onto the street
- Passing too closely to cyclists
- Driving in a marked, designated bicycle lane
- Poor road conditions
- Improperly maintained roads (potholes, cracked pavement, etc.)
The magazine Outside has been tracking bicycle accidents for several years as part of a campaign to create safer streets for cyclists, and the picture they paint is not a good one. They found that 697 people died in a bicycle accident in 2020, down from 2019 but still part of a larger trend of bicycle accident fatalities increasing in recent years. Their statistics also showed that one out of every four fatal cycling accidents was a hit-and-run accident, while 16% of fatal bike accidents involved a drunk driver.
The kind of car one drives can also influence the severity of a bike accident. Larger SUVs or trucks, with their higher ground clearance and bigger footprints, can increase the chance of someone dying in an accident by 50% compared to if they were hit by a standard sedan. Speed is also a major factor in the severity of an accident: a study in New York City found that someone being hit by a car going 25 miles per hour is half as likely to die from injuries than if a car was going 30 mph, which led to the city instituting a blanket 25 mph speed limit in order to help promote safer streets for pedestrians and cyclists.
Contact An Experienced St. Louis, MO Bicycle Accident Attorney
At Combs Waterkotte, our St. Louis, MO personal injury attorneys are here to help bicycle accident victims get the compensation they are entitled to receive. Our firm takes a personalized approach to all their bicycle accident cases, identifying all evidence and determining every possible liable party. We place client satisfaction at the center of everything we do, which is why we offer our personal injury clients access to a wide network of top St. Louis, MO doctors and mental health professionals in order for them to get back to feeling at their best. Our firm also guarantees that whenever you call us, you will always talk to the attorney working on your case–never a paralegal or an assistant.
If you have been injured in a bicycle accident in St. Louis or anywhere in Missouri, contact a lawyer who is committed to getting you justice for your accident. Talk to Combs Waterkotte online, or over the phone at (314) 900-HELP, and put our top-rated St. Louis, MO personal injury attorneys to work for you today.
