Even with the new laws protecting bicyclists in Mississippi (John Paul Frerer Act) it is still far too easy for a bicyclist to be hit by a car. Mississippi has recently imposed a three foot of distance when passing law, meaning that automobiles must provide at least three feet of space when passing a bicyclist. This law is meant to prevent additional brain injuries and death due to cars hitting bicyclists.(Bicycle Hit by a Car)

There has been a movement in Mississippi recently to promote vehicles completely changing lanes when passing bicyclists rather than just allowing the minimum of three feet. The reasoning for the statute, and the movement to completely change lanes is good.

On roadways as a bicyclist you may sometimes notice a backdraft as vehicles and big trucks pass by you. The closer these vehicles are to you, the closer these vehicles come to a bicyclist, the more likely the bicyclist is to be destabilized by a truck passing by and crash.

There are many benefits that bike riders enjoy in Mississippi (Bike Safely in Mississippi) today that they did not previously enjoy. First,  laws have been passed providing bicyclists increased safety in the state. One such law requires that motorists give bicyclists three feet when passing them on the roadway. Miss. Code Ann. §63-3-1309.

“a motorist shall leave a safe distance of not less than three (3) feet between his vehicle and the bicyclist and shall maintain such clearance until safely past the bicycle.”

Another Mississippi statute explicitly states that bicyclists must be treated as a motorist would treat another vehicle in the roadway and that:

“it is unlawful to harass, taunt or maliciously throw an object at or in the direction of any person riding a bicycle.”

These laws have raised awareness of bicyclists on the road and their rights, hopefully providing a safer roadway for all bicyclists in the state.

There are several general rules to be followed in general bicycle safety in Mississippi.

1. Wear head protection;
2. Test your bike before beginning to ride;
3. Don’t be distracted by music or a cell phone;
4. Make sure you are visible;
   • wear reflective clothing
   • be aware of the necessary requirements for reflectors and flashers
5. Be Alert and look for upcoming obstacles;
6. Bike the same direction as traffic and obey all the same traffic signals as a car;
   • this is opposite from pedestrians who travel against traffic.

Many other safety resources will provide information on how to bike more safely.

http://www.nhtsa.gov/Bicycles

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/bike/safety.htm

We have had several cases where bicyclists have had traumatic injuries due to a car hitting them as they rode their bike. In these cases the bicyclist used their uninsured motorist coverage on their own auto insurance policy to pay for some of their medical bills or damages. These coverages often pay for injuries occurring in cars, or caused by cars. For this reason we tell our clients to look at their policy declarations page for uninsured motorist coverage and to consider maxing out their uninsured motorist / underinsured motorist coverages on their own automobile policy.

Bicyclists Should Carry Uninsured Motorist Coverage

Policies of insurance vary in their language, but our experience so far with Uninsured Motorist and Underinsured Motorist coverages have provided coverage to bicyclists. Additionally, in Mississippi, uninsured motorists coverages stack meaning if there are multiple vehicles on a policy each vehicle will bring its value into a combined (stacked) value that you and the individuals living in your home are able to access when they are injured by a driver who doesn’t have enough insurance coverage.

The language of these policies often provides for injuries to pedestrians, injuries to bicyclists, injuries to passengers and any other injury caused by or in a car. In pedestrian and bicycle wrecks the injuries to the individual are often very serious and require as much of the insurance proceeds as may be available (the policy limits).

How much Uninsured Motorist Coverage can I buy?

Uninsured Motorist and Underinsured motorist coverages are capped based on the amount of liability coverage carried on the vehicle policy. So for instance, if you carry 25,000.00/50,000.00 in liability coverage on your policy then you will only be allowed to carry 25,000.00/50,000.00 in uninsured coverages on each vehicle. For this reason it may be worthwhile to update you liability coverages as you update your uninsured coverages in order to carry an appropriate amount of uninsured motorist coverage.

Uninsured Motorist coverage is the best buy in insurance in my experience. You will be glad that you have covered yourself against the individual that injured you not having nearly enough insurance to provide for your injuries. When you make a claim against an uninsured or underinsured policy you are dealing with your own insurance company. Your insurance company owes special responsibilities to you to investigate any claim you bring, and evaluate the claim quickly.  Your insurance is required to gather medical bills and records to an extent  and owes you the highest duty, a fiduciary duty. If the insurance company is caught failing to live up to these duties there could be dire consequences for the parent company.

Contact us with any questions

You are welcome to contact us with any questions about your current insurance coverages. If you would like to discuss the types of injuries and damages that could be caused in a bicycle wreck with an automobile, contact us.  If you believe you have a claim you need to make against an uninsured motorist policy, contact us, we will be glad to speak with you and our consultations are always free.

For additional information on bicycle and pedestrian resources in Mississippi check out Bike Walk Mississippi.

All over the country individuals continue to choose to use cell phones while operating cars and trucks. Activities like texting, emailing, surfing the internet and even looking up a phone number take the focus and attention of the driver off of the road and allow the unthinkable to happen to a bicyclist. New laws have been passed in Mississippi in order to provide that bicyclists would be more protected and protected on the roadways of Mississippi.Distracted Drivers and Bicycle Wrecks.

The John Paul Frerer Act, enacted in 2010, provides that bicyclists will be given all the benefits of vehicles on the roadway. Additionally the law provides that when passing a bicyclist on the roadway that a driver should provide at least 3 feet of space as the vehicle passes.

Distracted Drivers cause more wrecks

The roadways can be a much more dangerous place for bicyclists today when the focus required to see bicyclists which are roughly 1/3 less visible than cars or trucks is spent consistently fixated on electronic devices.

In order to stop or avoid an obstacle in the road, the driver of an automobile needs time to react. When electronic devices are in the mix in a car wreck involving a bicyclist that time to react is increased dramatically. A recent study by Texas A&M Transportation Institute shows that reaction time is doubled by cell phone use.

Undistracted Drivers

Questions are often raised in wreck cases that are handled by Mississippi Personal Injury Attorneys of whether full attention has been paid to the road or if the driver of the vehicle that caused the wreck with a bicyclist was:

• utilizing a cell phone,
• sending a text message,
• sending a tweet,
• checking email,
• surfing the internet,
• streaming video,
• checking facebook, or
• holding the phone in one hand.

There are methods that skilled attorneys can employ to forensically examine the cell phone of the driver, usage records, call records and other information to prove that an individual was in fact using their cell phone immediately before hurting a bicyclist on the roadway.

Time is working against you if there is any thought in your mind that a cell phone may have caused distraction in a particular bicycle wreck. Chat with our experienced attorneys at any time to learn just how quickly the process of obtaining and preserving this information can begin.

Obeying the law and personal injury

In Mississippi, when a driver injures another while breaking the law and that law was meant to protect from the type of injury that occurs it can be determined as a matter of law that the lawbreaker was negligent as a matter of law. For instance, in Mississippi, if a driver passes a bicyclist and fails to give the appropriate passing cushion of 3 feet and this action causes an injury to the bicyclist then the driver may be found to be negligent per se or negligent as a matter of law.

Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney application

The Injured in Mississippi Blog has a new app providing information on those injured in Mississippi.