We are in the process of tweaking the Ohio BikeLawyer website- www.OhioBIkeLawyer.com
As part of that process I like to search for other Bike Law pages for other lawyers locally, throughout Ohio and around the country and see what they are doing.
Some folks have very sophisticated, professional pages – tremendous pages- something for us to strive for – The NYC BikeLawyer, Dan Flanzig and Flanzig-New York Bike Lawyers has a great page. The folks at Bike Law do a great job. Many Type A “bike lawyers” come at this from the hardcore tri/race scene – some are more casual. You can tell who actually rides and has some passion for protecting your right to ride and the ones who …well… are just trolling for cases…
Let’s just say that there are many lawyers out there trying to capture “bike crash cases” using very routine marketing efforts – their consultants told them “You need a page on bike crashes” and then sold them a cookie cutter webspage that might SAY “We do Bike Cases” but you can tell they couldn’t tell a disk brake from a derailleur. They often cite some out of date statistics, list some typical”causes” of crashes [speeding, distraction, drugs, etc] , have a list of “injuries” designed to be captured searches [“bike crash brain injury” – “Fractures” “Nerve Damage”] and feature a photo of a smashed up bike that they purchased from Getty.
A few examples below. These are from several different local and statewide law firms – each misstates Ohio or local law – or implies that riding in traffic is super dangerous, or more dangerous than riding, say, on the sidewalk.
This bit of data simply misstates Cincinnati’s sidewalk law and then implies that riding on the ROAD…GASP… put you in DANGER…
Here’s another example that implies that you are “forced to ride bumper to bumper” with cars and trucks if there is no bike lane… dude… there are NO BIKE LANES ON 99% of the Roads in Ohio… yet, we RIDE on 99% of the roads in Ohio …every day… generally very SAFELY interacting with cars. When people don’t do STUPID/CARELESS things we can safely ride with traffic, in traffic… remember the mantra? Cycling Savvy folks will remind us that:
WE ARE TRAFFIC
These law firms & their marketing consultants don’t understand that road cyclists generally KNOW what they are doing – they know the law- they protect themselves & work at riding safely- these lawyers and their consultants develop webpages that basically treat road cyclists like they’re 10 yr olds darting in and out of traffic…
One of the worst is the last photo listed. It’s from a “big name” Ohio injury law firm – and it completely MISSTATES Ohio law – I mean gets it 100% BACKWARDS in a way that I didn’t even think was conceivable.
They claim it is UNLAWFUL for a cyclist to pass traffic on the right…this is FALSE –
But the bigger deal is that they claim that:
–>” If the lane is too narrow to safely travel side by side, SINGLE FILE RULES MUST BE FOLLOWED”
Say WHAT?
Dude- did you even READ the statute – do you have any CLUE what you are talking about?
Clearly these folks and their marketing teams need to take my BIKE LAW 101 seminar for lawyers & judges. I spend 2-3 hours going over Ohio Bike Law, bike crash scenarios and key elements of Bike Crash cases that are different and more challenging than run-of-the-mill crash/injury claims. Maybe I’ll send them some of our Ohio/Kentucky BIKE LAW cards…
We [the Ohio Bicycle Federation] fought HARD for YEARS to get 4511.55(C) added to the Ohio Revised Code as part of the 2006 Better Bicycling Bill. I helped write that revision – it adds a SECRET WEAPON to our legal arsenal – the “Too Narrow” provision that ALLOWS US TO TAKE THE LANE- These YaHoos would have you think the “too narrow” provision MANDATES SINGLE FILE RIDING… Sheesh – I may need a drink… that is just DUMB
I helped write 4511.55C and all the other 2006 changes in the law that were adopted by the legislature – I argued for the passage of the bill before the Ohio legislature. I THINK I know a bit more about Ohio Bike Law than most folks… SO I think you can take THIS to the bank:
=> 4511.55C does NOT mandate single file riding- completely the OPPOSITE.
=> 4511.55C is an EXCEPTION to the AFRAP Rule. An exception to 4511.55A.
=>4511.55A mandates riding “as near to the right side of the roadway as practicable” – 4511.55B is the part of the statute that allows riding two abreast EVERYWHERE.
=> 4511.55C says that you DON’T HAVE TO RIDE OVER TO THE RIGHT IF THE LANE IS TOO NARROW. It has NOTHING TO DO with the two abreast rule – single file riding is NEVER MANDATED under Ohio Law.
=> 4511.55C is a LANE POSITION statute that modifies the AFRAP rule found in 4511.55A & it gives you the legal right to TAKE THE LANE and use ANY LANE POSITION YOU WANT when the lane is too narrow to be shared by the bike & a MOTOR VEHICLE…
Maybe instead of a Cookie Cutter lawyer you need to find yourself a good BIKE LAWYER if you are injured while riding your bike! Somebody who KNOWS the law – who helped WRITE the law – who has been protecting YOUR RIGHT to the road and arguing with insurance companies and their lawyers over The BIKE LAW for some 40+ years!
Needless to say – OUR New & Improved & Revised Ohio BikeLawyer website will NOT be misquoting ANY of Ohio’s bike laws. I have helped write and pass many of the current laws. A few years ago I was retained by ODOT for a project for ODOT which involved a complete review & analysis of EVERY bicycling and pedestrian statute.
These lawyers are not stupid – they are a hot shot firm representing injured people. They handle big and small injury and death cases. They DON’T DO a lot of bike cases, but they see them as a Target Market – they want the cases without doing the deep dive to really understand what makes them unique.
There are lawyers advertising for bike case who are apparently lazy when it comes to posting on BIKE Law – they treat cyclists as a product who are too stupid to understand the law – they did a quick one-time read through of 4511.55 and completely misinterpreted the law and then put it out on the “Bike Crash” webpage for all to see…
Bottom Line – CHOOSE WISELY when choosing a lawyer or law firm to represent YOU and protect YOU in the event of a serious bicycle/bike crash!
© 2024.
You have a typo in your first link – Blke