Call

Blog

Law
02

Blog

Report on the First Annual North Carolina Bike Summit

Those of you who know me (Ann) know I’m not a big fan of meetings. I’d rather be riding my bike than talking about how to ride my bike. But the First Annual North Carolina Bike Summit was an exception to my general meeting antipathy. The fact that the summit organizers were able to attract 175 people from around the State shows the growing excitement around cycling and the growing desire to unite the cycling community. That excitement was definitely carried into the Summit.

The Summit was held all day Friday, October 12 and half of Saturday, October 13 at NC State’s McKimmon Center in Raleigh. Friday consisted mainly of breakout sessions on numerous topics, including community involvement, infrastructure, planning, and education. Since we’re trying to plan Charlotte’s first large scale Open Streets event, I attended the presentation on Open Streets planning, which included a case study of Durham’s successful event series. Here is the agenda for the whole program.

I also attended Education Strategies and Campaigns, where we heard from Steven Goodridge and Lt. Tim Tomczak of the Raleigh Police Department about educating and training police officers on how to properly enforce laws affecting cyclists. We also heard from Deb Thompson of  The Adam Little Foundation about that organization’s broad-based efforts to educate drivers and cyclists on how to share the roads safely.

It’s difficult to pinpoint the most inspiring session of the Summit, but if forced to choose, I would probably say the brainstorming session on Saturday. In that session, all attendees sat in one room together and brainstormed for one hour each of three topics: (1) NCDOT Master Plan development (2) Health and Wellness (3) Policy & Politics focus group.

As advocates, we often complain about the fragmented nature of cycling advocacy. Shouldn’t all of our many local groups all be united somehow under a larger umbrella? Why? (1) Power in numbers in influencing lawmakers (2) distributing resources efficiently by not duplicating efforts and (3) improving our efforts and gaining ideas by learning from other organizations – what has worked well and what hasn’t. Of course, it is still important to focus efforts locally and on local issues, and local groups should maintain their autonomy and missions. But those efforts would become more effective by drawing on the strength of a larger organization.

I believe the Summit was the first step in that direction. For the first time in North Carolina, we talked about uniting and had the players there necessary to commit to that effort.

For another report, see: http://www.peoplepoweredmovement.org/site/index.php/site/blog/4257/

If you are in need of representation in North Carolina contact one of our Bike Accident Lawyers in your area. 

Raleigh Bike Accident Attorney

Durham Bike Accident Attorney

Charlotte Bike Accident Attorney

Comments

Ann Groninger Jan 04, 2024

Many of our cycling clients find themselves having to interact with the criminal justice system. Typically, it’s because the driver who hits them (or their family member) is charged with a crime or traffic offense. Occasionally bicyclists themselves are charged with traffic offenses! Every state’s criminal laws are different, but there is a lot of […]

Read More
Bike Crash Road Defect Georgia
Peter Wilborn Jun 14, 2023

We recently shared the story of a trial victory from the State of Texas where a bicyclist was injured due to a defect in a road maintained by the Texas Department of Transportation. Texas Road Defect   We now can tell the story of another huge win in a road defect case, this time from […]

Read More
Road defect dangerous to cyclists
Charlie Thomas Mar 14, 2023

Recently, attorneys with the Bike Law network took a case to a trial against a titan of a defendant: the Texas Department of Transportation. TxDOT was represented by the Attorney General’s Office, one of Texas’ largest legal teams. We had a great client, but it was a tough case to prove. So tough, in fact, […]

Read More
bike path charlotte
Ann Groninger Jan 13, 2023

  2023 got off to a rough start for Charlotte, North Carolina, particularly in the context of road safety. Within about a week, we lost a young woman who was riding her bicycle, a pedestrian killed in the same area of town, and four people were killed in a car wreck on I-85 in the […]

Read More
North Carolina Bike Crash
Ann Groninger Dec 06, 2022

Unless you’re a very recent follower of ours, you’ve heard us talk before about “contributory negligence.” To recap: “pure contributory negligence” is the law in North Carolina and only 3 other states (Alabama, Virginia, Maryland). In pure contributory negligence states, if a person is injured by someone else’s fault and the injured person contributes even […]

Read More
Is It Illegal to Ride Your Bike on the Sidewalk bikelaw
Peter Wilborn Aug 01, 2022

The laws dictating whether you can ride your bike on the sidewalk differ depending where you live. Different states have different laws on this matter, and local ordinances also vary. Let’s take a look at the legal framework behind various state laws related to cycling on sidewalks. The laws of sidewalk-riding can be very complicated […]

Read More
Ebike crash
Bruce Hagen Apr 26, 2022

DRIVER ON METH KILLS 17 YEAR OLD BICYCLIST, BARROW COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY REFUSES TO CHARGE DRIVER WITH FELONY.   On August 23, 2020, at approximately 8:40pm, 17-year old Obianuju Osuegbu was on her way home from her summer job working at a grocery store. She had earned enough money that summer to buy herself a […]

Read More
Stop as Yield
Brian Weiss Apr 25, 2022

Finally, “Stop As Yield” (the much sought after common sense traffic law for bicyclists) is coming to Colorado in 2022, likely July 1st.   Stop as Yield, aka the “Safety Stop” After the Governor Polis signs the law and the Safety Stop becomes effective, anyone who rides a bicycle or scooter on public roads will […]

Read More
Contributory Negligence
Ann Groninger Apr 25, 2022

It took losing at trial and a long appellate process, but it ended in a blow to contributory negligence in North Carolina. We just won an appeal on a bicycle crash case that happened in 2016 and came to us in 2018. The case went to trial during the spring of 2021. Our client was […]

Read More
Load More