Category: Bike Law North Carolina
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
Cyclist Prevails in North Carolina Trial
A win against Contributory Negligence 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…
-
Contributory Negligence: A Rare Victory in NC
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 riding…
-
A Tale of Two Crosswalk Crashes
One Lost, One Won. Lessons? At Bike Law North Carolina, we’ve seen our share of collisions between bicyclists and motorists at sidewalk intersections. Two recent cases, one which we tried and lost and the other, which settled favorably to our client, highlight the challenges, especially in North Carolina and other pure contributory negligence states (Alabama, Virginia and Maryland). The…
-
Bike Charity Gives Bicycles To Those In Need
North Carolina group putting people on bikes. GUEST POST BY BIKE LAW AMBASSADOR KURT AREHART The bike charity Raleigh Community Kickstand, or just Kickstand for short, is a four year-old project organized under Oaks & Spokes, a 501(c)(3) engaged in fostering cycling in Raleigh. Kickstand channels donated bicycles to low-income and homeless members of our community whose lives can…
-
ABOLISH CONTRIBUTORY NEGLIGENCE!
The antiquated law of Contributory Negligence is particularly horrible for North Carolina cyclists, but cyclists NOW have a say in abolishing it. If you’ve met me, you’ve heard talk about contributory negligence many times, including here and here and here. My vocation and my passion as a bike crash attorney is representing injured bicyclists and families of bicyclists who have…
-
Tribute to Cycling Friendships
Cycling Friendships can be the best part of cycling, and the biggest loss after a crash. Cycling friendships are wonderful benefit to our sport and community. A major part of our work as bicycle “accident” lawyers means putting a value on losses that our clients suffer as a result of injures from crashes. When it…
-
End to Contributory Negligence in North Carolina?
Contributory Negligence is Unfair to Injured NC Bicyclists There is finally a positive development in the fight against Contributory Negligence in North Carolina. Last week a bill called the “Victims’ Fair Treatment Act” was filed in the North Carolina Senate. If passed, the bill would finally bring North Carolina bike laws into line with all but 3 other states…
-
Bike Law Ambassador: Cycling Teaches Life Lessons
Guest post by Bike Law Ambassador Nicole Van Baelen The pandemic has affected our lives in many different ways. For me, working from home has provided both the opportunity, and the need, to spend more time than usual riding my bike. While riding the 3500 miles I have logged so far in the saddle this…
