Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Hi. I'm Dave Glatthorn. I'm an attorney in West Palm Beach
representing injured people. The title of this video is "Bike
Accidents in Florida: Avoiding Invisibility". Now I use that
title deliberately because in my years of practice I've
represented a lot of people that have been involved in bike
accidents or motorcycle accidents, and almost 95% of the
time the defendant will say "They came out of nowhere. I
didn't see them. I don't know where they came from." Or things
of that nature. Well, we know they didn't drop from the sky
and sometimes we make a joke about the cloak of invisibility,
but it's a very real problem. I think the problem arises from
the fact that most drivers don't understand that in Florida a
bicycle - a motorcycle - is a vehicle and they have all the
responsibilities of a vehicle. They have to obey all the
traffic laws as far as obeying stop signs, obeying stop lights.
But, they also have all the rights of a vehicle too. And
that includes having the right of way. And so often - either
I'm not sure what it is, if it's a blind spot mentally or not -
but so often defendants they see a bike, but they just think that
the bike can stop a lot quicker than they can and so they can
violate the right of way. Let me give you an example of a recent
case that I had where a lady was on a bicycle and the other
driver was one of the few people - of the 5% - that actually
admitted seeing my client, on her bicycle, before the
accident. He was backing out of his driveway. He admitted
looking over to his right, seeing my client in the road,
and but still going ahead and pulling out. And when I asked
him why did you pull out when she was that close? Actually she
was he said parallel with his next door neighbor. And he said,
"Well, I thought that she had plenty of room to stop." Well,
he wouldn't have said that if she were in a SUV or a car - or
anything like that. So, he actively violated her right of
way and he just didn't think that, he just didn't think that,
there was anything wrong with that. Well, there's everything
wrong with that, of course. Because we all know, riding a
bicycle - you might be looking here, you might be looking
there, you might be changing gears, you might be doing
anything. In Florida, as a bicyclist, you have all the
rights of a vehicle driver on the road. But you also have the
responsibility of taking care of yourself. Bike Safety is #1.
Wear a helmet. Always try to make eye contact with the other
driver if you're coming up on a situation we're you're not
certain if the other driver sees you or not. Don't be invisible.
I hope you found this video informative. If you did, hit the
"Like" button on the screen, down below. If you have any
other questions, call me at 561-659-1999. 561-659-1999. And
finally, come to DavidGlatthorn.com, where you'll
find a lot more content, a lot more video - information that we
hope will help you make the right decision for yourself and
your loved ones. I'm Dave Glatthorn.