Steve Magas is Ohio's Bike Lawyer. He has written about Ohio Bike Laws, bike crashes, bicycle advocacy and court cases for some 30 years. Soon we'll be adding a series of features about your favorite Ohio bike shops.
As regular readers know, I’ve been working on a report discussing each and every fatal bicycle crash in Ohio in 2010. As I am wandering through mountains of data, reams of paper, hundreds of photographs and more, some interesting information has been popping up which I thought I would share.
I’m working on a new “card” – a 4×5 card that cyclists can carry with them. Sort of a colorful, calming piece of real “bike art” on one side and a summary of Ohio’s bike laws on the other… I picture you looking at the pretty picture to calm you down as you eloquently educate the police officer on the fact that you CAN ride two abreast on any road, at any time, in Ohio…
The artist, Talia Lampert, is a New York artist who does “Bike Paintings.” Gorgeous, colorful paintings of … well… real bikes. Not high-end $20,000 bikes made of the latest mode of unobtainium, but real people’s bikes. You can see her work here.
The Columbus Dispatch asked me to write 750 words for their op-ed page which ran online on April 14, 2011. Getting me to stick to 750 was tough… OK, impossible… but they ran my 800+ words anyway!
Here’s an expanded, and annotated, version of what I sent in… my views on why Cyclist/Motorist Tensions that have escalated in Columbus during and following the Ed Miller trial – the man accused of being drunk when he ran into, and killed, a well-known Columbus cyclist, ride leader and advocate, Steve Barbour. The trial recently ended in a mistrial as jurors could not reach a unanimous verdict.
Steve Magas, The Bike Lawyer
In Columbus, Ohio the FIRST trial in the case of State v. Edward Miller has completed . Case Number 09CR4797 involves allegations that the defendant, Edward Miller, drove a motor vehicle while intoxicated and striking, and killing, cyclist Steve Barbour in the early morning hours of July 18, 2009. After several days of testimony, the jury was unable to reach a verdict and the judge declared a Mistrial. The case was set for a second trial starting June 20, 2011.
In Tampa, FL, another rider was killed last week. In 2010, Tampa went through a stretch where nine cyclists were killed in four months! We had 10 cyclists killed throughout Ohio in 12 months in 2010. While Florida may have better weather, there are millions of cyclists in Ohio who ride from March or April through October-November. We have many large cycling clubs and several large, well-attended regional and national rides – so it’s not like Florida has 10 times the cycling traffic – but Florida has 10 times the number of cycling deaths as Ohio. So what’s going on down there?
I’m putting a new “ad” into some publications. I thought I’d invite some comments on this one and see what folks thought!
From D.C. comes an interesting post – the author makes a case for changing “the rules” for riding bikes, questioning why we need to follow the same rules as giant two ton behemoths. Unspecified “changes” need to be made to the rules. Bikes shouldn’t have to follow the same rules.
I’m not a criminal lawyer. I don’t do criminal cases and I must confess I don’t know criminal law the way I know the law relating to civil cases, insurance, and the like! So maybe this is why I STILL don’t get criminal sentencing sometimes…
It seems like we are ALWAYS hearing about motorists who kill or maim riders… and yet, there is no prosecution, or they receive very little punishment for their misdeeds. Readers frequently ask me “How Can This Happen?” Hit/run cases are EPIDEMIC today… yet, the penalties for hit/run drivers are very small compared to the impact of such actions on the families losing a loved one.
I read the first sentence of this January 12, 2011 online newspaper article, though, and my jaw hit the floor… “…A Canton woman involved in a fatal crash that killed a motorcyclist in June reported to the Stark County Jail on Monday to begin serving a 15-day jail term.…”
I am well into researching my Report on All Ohio Cycling Fatalities. Part of the report will be tracking any criminal cases arising from the crashes. THREE of them are set for trial in February, 2011!
How many cyclists died on Ohio’s roads in 2010? Well, that depends on which reports you look at.
My project to review every cycling death in Ohio is well under way, and I’ve already found a significant error in the numbers generated by the Ohio Department of Public Safety! Their report says cyclists were involved in 11 fatal crashes, but my research says 9 cyclists were killed. Get this… WE’RE BOTH RIGHT… read on to see why!
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