City leaders have been vocal in touting recently-released statistics indicating that not one patron of the bike-sharing program, unveiled last year, has died. This was noteworthy because grave concerns had been expressed from numerous sources indicating the bike-share program would lead to an uptick in bicycle fatalities in the city. In one instance, the New York Post quoted traffic safety experts who predicted some 20 to 60 patrons would die within the program’s first year.
Still, our Manhattan bicycle accident lawyers would point out that the assumption of the program being perfectly safe is erroneous. Just because no one has died doesn’t mean there haven’t been serious injuries or close-calls.
Consider, for example, that a Connecticut man filed a $15 million lawsuit against New York City’s Citi Bike program earlier this year. The 73-year-old claims he suffered brain and nerve damage after flipping over the bike while at the docking station. He claims a wheel stop, put negligently in his path, caused him to crash.
While he is believed the first person to file a personal injury suit against the program, he likely won’t be the last. A new study released by researchers from both the U.S. (specifically Washington State University) and Canada indicates the risk of head injuries in cities with bike-sharing programs has soared.
Published in the American Journal of Public Health, the study analyzed the number of individuals treated for head trauma at emergency rooms in 10 different cities over the course of two years. Five of those cities had unveiled a bike-sharing program one-year into the study period, and the other five had not. Among those cities with bike-sharing programs were Washington D.C., Montreal, Minneapolis, Miami Beach and Boston.
What they discovered was that in cities where bike-sharing programs had been initiated, the number of people treated at emergency rooms for bicycle-related head injuries rose by nearly 15 percent. In the cities where no bicycle-sharing program had been rolled out, there was no increase.
Health officials concede there are undoubtedly benefits to bike-sharing, including a reduction of pollution and the overall improvement of individual health. However, many of these programs – including the one in New York – do not provide helmets.
While both the City and Citi Bike indicate they “strongly encourage” users to wear helmets, they aren’t offered as part of the program.
Users can, however, take advantage of a New York Department of Transportation initiative to dole out free helmets – 50,000 so far as of 2007. The state does not mandate helmets be worn by adult bicyclists, but children 13 and younger are required to do so by law.
A joint report issued by the New York City Departments of Health, Parks and Recreation, Transportation and Police indicate that 92 percent of all bicyclist fatalities in the state occurred as a result of crashes with motor vehicles. Despite the fact that cyclists make up approximately 17 percent of vehicles on New York City roadways, they account for nearly one-third of all traffic fatalities in the city. The main factors behind these crashes were driver inattention, intoxication and disregard of traffic signals and signs.
The Law Offices of Nicholas Rose, PLLC offers free consultations. Call 1-877-313-7673.
Additional Resources:
Head Injury Risk Rose In Cities After Bike-Sharing Rolled Out, June 12, 2014, By Scott Hensley, NPR
More Blog Entries:
Wittorf v. City of New York – City May be Negligent for Failure to Warn of Road Defects, June 18, 2014, Manhattan Bicycle Accident Lawyer Blog
