Illinois Hit and Run Death, but Driver Leaves Plate
CBS is reporting that a bicyclist was killed in Des Plaines last night by a hit-and-run driver. Apparently, the driver was a United Airlines employee driving a company SUV. At approximately 9:40pm the SUV, allegedly driven by United Airlines worker Daniel Wehr struck a bicyclist, 25 year old Jose Gomez of Des Plaines. The collision occurred on Algonquin Road just West of Mount Prospect Road. Wehr is alleged to have fled the scene. When he was taken into custody at the United Airlines facility approximately six hours after the accident, he reportedly told police he didn’t see Gomez until after the collision had occurred.
One aspect of this hit-and-run that is common is the fact that the driver left his plate at the scene. This actually happens a lot in hit-and-run collisions. We have handled at least a half a dozen hit-and-run collisions in which the driver fled the scene leaving his license plate behind. License plate frames tend to break when a car strikes another object causing the license plate to fall off. This has been instrumental in a number of cases to locate and identify the driver. We once had a driver claim the plate was stolen before the hit-and-run collision occurred, but through investigation, we determined that the driver had reported the plate stolen three days after the collision and had purchased a replacement plate the same day.
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From Winner to Advocate: One Cyclist’s E-Bike Journey
Two years ago, on a family trip to Switzerland, my wife and I rented two electric-assisted mountain bikes, or e-MTBs, to tackle some steep trails near the Matterhorn. The salesperson said, in no uncertain terms, that the new e-MTBs were the way of the future, and we should give them a try. So we did. …
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A Comprehensive Guide to E-Bikes in Louisiana: Laws, Tips, and Choosing the Best E-Bike
E-bikes are popping up everywhere. If you’re riding one in Louisiana or thinking about getting one, you may have questions about the laws, safety tips, and how to pick the right bike. That’s exactly what this post is here for! We’ll break down what you need to know about riding e-bikes in Louisiana, from legal…
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The Lisa Torry Smith Act: A Win for Cycling Safety in Texas?
The Lisa Torry Smith Act brings important changes to Texas law. It makes clear that cyclists can ride in crosswalks and now requires drivers to stop and yield before entering a crosswalk with a pedestrian or cyclist. A gap in Texas law is allowing some drivers who hit people in crosswalks to get off scot-free,…
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Far Right?! I was taking a LEFT!
Even Bike Law lawyers get hassled. Like many of us, riding for me is stress relief; it’s an escape from conflict and a busy schedule. Sometimes incidents on the road have the opposite effect and one incident this weekend made me question the state of humanity. It was not an unusual event, nor a particularly…
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E-BIKES ARE LEGAL IN NC (WELL, SOME OF THEM)
Love them or hate them, e-bikes continue to rise in popularity. At the same time, lawmakers struggle to keep up with the developing technologies. Every week I get multiple inquiries from people trying to navigate North Carolina’s e-bike laws. If you’re confused, you’re not alone. We could easily fill a book with all the latest…
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BIKES & CRIMINAL JUSTICE
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…
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Another Successful Road Defect Case, This Time a $750,000 Settlement in Georgia
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 our Bike Law…
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One Million Dollars for Texas Road Defect
The Texas Department of Transportation had offered cyclist Mike Bagg $0. 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…
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More Roads = Better Transportation, And Other Myths
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 University…
