Category: Bike Law Iowa
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Find a Bike Shop that Works for You
Treated poorly in a bike shop? Find another one, and take a few steps to be a good customer. Bicycling Magazine recently published an article titled, “Hey, Bike Shops; Stop Treating Customers Like Garbage.” The story follows a heavy-set 59 year old’s sad tale of how he was treated poorly from a number of local…
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Gears and Roving Across Iowa: A Bike Lawyer’s First RAGBRAI
We were somewhere around Denison on the edge of the corn fields when the Eurostyle Chamois Butter began to take hold. I remember saying something like “I feel a bit lightheaded, maybe we should stop at a watering station…” And suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us, and the road was full of…
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Another Iowa Hit-and-Run Results in a Bicycle Fatality
Last week another Iowa cyclist was killed by a hit-and-run driver. At around 6:00am Dave Ryder was struck by Stephanie Kenealy on 35th Avenue. Dave was coming home from the casinos. He was riding a road bike with drop handlebars. The bicycle was equipped with at least a rear light, and Ryder was wearing a white…
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Bike Safety in Iowa
The Des Moines Register is publishing a series of articles on bicycling in Iowa. My understanding is that they had planned the series, but the highly publicized hit-and run-death of Gregary “Wade” Franck brought bicycling safety issues to the forefront of many minds in Iowa.The current article is titled, “Why does Iowa have so many bike-car crashes?”…
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Drivers May Be Liable When A “Near Miss” Causes Injury
To horseshoes and hand grenades I would add bicycling in traffic to the list of activities in which close may be enough to do damage. While riding a bike, coming close to physical contact with a vehicle, i.e. a car door, may be enough to cause a crash and serious injury. In a video making…
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The Court Of Public Opinion v. Bicycle Fatality
There is an old saying in journalism, “If your mother says she loves you, check it out.” The legal profession is no stranger to this standard of diligence. You very well might get every lawyer to admit his or her favorite word is “allegedly.” Take the first policy I learned when clerking for Freeman Kevenides…
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Memory Loss After A Bicyclist Is Struck By A Car
A common story we hear when a bicyclist is struck by a car goes like this: The last thing I remember I was riding my bike down the street, then I woke up in the hospital with my family around me. When a bicyclist is struck by a car and they hit their head, it…
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Bicyclists & Hit and Run Drivers
At any given time about 20% of the cases we handle involve a hit and run driver. My unofficial research and experience suggests that a driver is more likely to flee the scene of an accident involving a bicyclist, and even more likely than that to flee the scene of an accident involving a pedestrian.…
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Iowa Bicycle Light Law: An Update
Senate File 424 is working its way through the Iowa legislature. If passed, the bill would require bicyclists in Iowa to use a white headlight and red tail light when riding a bicycle at night. Currently Iowa law only requires bicyclists to use a white headlight with either a red rear reflector or a red…
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Headlight and Red Rear Reflector Required Under Iowa Law
If you have a regular 9-5 job, this time of year you’re getting off work when it’s still dark out. If you ride your bike to work or you like to get some miles in after work it’s important that you make sure you have proper lighting equipment on your bicycle, not only to make…
