How Our Bicycle Accident Lawyers Can Help

WINNING IS WHAT WE DO. CARING IS WHO WE ARE.
Flora Templeton Stuart Accident Injury Lawyers, with offices in Bowling Green and across Kentucky, are available to meet on weekends and often travel to our injured clients in Kentucky and Tennessee when they cannot come to us. As local attorneys we provide personal representation for our clients who have been injured in vehicle collisions which includes car, commercial truck accidents, motorcycle collisions along with slip and falls and dog bite injuries.

As a dedicated Kentucky personal injury lawyer, we never charge a fee unless we secure a settlement for our clients. For over forty-seven years, we have collected millions in injury claims, achieving the maximum recovery for our clients. You can call us 24/7, including weekends, for a free consultation without any charge or obligation. With conveniently located offices, we are just a call away.

What We Will Do For You in a Bicycle Accident Claim
After you or a loved one is injured in an accident, Flora Templeton Stuart and her team are ready to help.

• We investigate your accident immediately
• Get you good medical treatment with top doctors
• Our attorneys travel to you if you cannot come to us
• Reserve your PIP insurance benefits to pay your medical bills and lost wages
• Our attorneys use their 50 years of experience to get you a top settlement

Kentucky and the state’s municipalities and counties require improvements to their local roadways before they are truly safe for cyclists. In the most recent year for which data is available, 15 bicycle-related traffic collisions took place in and around Bowling Green alone, most resulting in injuries. In one recent year, 10 fatal bicycle accidents occurred in Kentucky.

If a Kentucky cycling accident injury has caused you physical, emotional, or financial loss, you have legal rights that a Kentucky bicycle accident attorney can help you protect. Contact experienced Kentucky personal injury lawyer Flora Templeton Stuart and her team online or at 888-782-9090 today.

About Flora Templeton Stuart

Attorney Flora Templeton Stuart has dedicated her legal career to fighting for the rights of Kentuckians who have been harmed by preventable accidents. Through decades of experience, she has rightfully gained the reputation of a fierce advocate for innocent victims of others’ careless and reckless actions. Her efforts have recovered millions of dollars in compensation for her clients. Compensation may be sought to help clients pay for the costs of their injuries and losses. Flora strives to ensure you can regain stability after the trauma of an accidental injury or death.

Kentucky Bicycle Accidents Take a Heavy Toll

Cyclists injured in collisions with motor vehicles in and around Kentucky often sustain severe, life-threatening injuries. After all, unlike motorists, cyclists have almost nothing protecting their bodies from the impact of a crash. Collisions typically knock riders from their bicycles, making them vulnerable to violent impacts with the road surface, other vehicles, or roadside objects. The consequences can be physically, emotionally, and financially catastrophic.

Common Characteristics of Kentucky Bicycle Accidents

Bicycle accidents stem from a variety of factors. The National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration (NHTSA) publishes data about fatal bicycle accidents around the country annually. The latest report reveals insights about the dangers faced by cyclists everywhere, including on Kentucky roads.

For example:

• Crash locations. The NHTSA found that most deaths in bicycling accidents happen in urban areas on stretches of roads other than intersections. The official Kentucky data linked above, however, reflects that most cycling accidents in one recent year happened in more-densely populated areas. However, more than half of the accidents resulting in injury occurred when a vehicle struck a cyclist in an intersection.
• Time of day. National-level data reflect that fatal cycling accidents happen just as often during daylight hours as at night. The most dangerous times for cyclists being from 3 p.m. to midnight.
• Contributing factors. The NHTSA data linked above does not classify all circumstances leading to cycling accidents. However, it is noted that alcohol was involved in 37 percent of cycling fatalities that year. Official Kentucky data, however, gives a clear indication of how accidents unfold in the Bluegrass State. Of the 376 cycling collisions in one recent year, 99 (or more than one-quarter) occurred because of driver inattention. Today, drivers are often distracted by texting and driving or other similar tech-related distractions. Forty-three accidents (or about 12.5 percent) involved failure to yield the right-of-way. Ten accidents (3 percent) involved disregarding traffic controls. Other factors also contributed to these accidents. According to the Kentucky data, speeding, loss of control, and other factors common to motor vehicle accidents contribute to bicycle accidents.

We expect that the above statistics will not surprise cyclists. Riding in an urban/populated area comes with well-known risks. Narrow corridors leave little space between bicycles and cars. Often, the space is far less than the three-foot distance recommended to separate vehicles and bicycles on Kentucky streets. Narrow roads lead to sideswipes and drivers’ inability to observe cyclists in their blind spots as they turn.

Kentucky cyclists are all too familiar with the collision phenomenon known as “dooring” or “getting doored.” A dooring occurs when a vehicle occupant opens a car or truck door directly into the path of a cyclist without warning. The bicycle collides with the open door, sending the rider flying and causing severe injuries.

We recommend that all drivers follow a simple tip to avoid “dooring.” Reaching across your body to access the door handle can prevent “dooring” an unsuspecting cyclist. Known as the “Dutch Reach,” this technique is taught to all drivers in cycling-obsessed Holland. Reaching across your body to open the door forces occupants to turn their bodies when getting out of a car. By turning your body in this way, you increase the likelihood that they will see a cyclist approaching from behind.

Common Bicycle Accident Injuries

Kentucky has escaped the ultimate tragedy of cycling accidents two years in a row. However, the unfortunate reality is that collisions between bicycles and motor vehicles often end in fatality. With the exception of a helmet (which a cyclist should always wear), cyclists are greatly unprotected. The lack of protection leaves riders vulnerable to a violent impact with a road surface, vehicle, or roadside object.

Even if a rider survives the impact of a collision, he or she will ultimately face additional challenges. Serious, sometimes life-altering, injuries accompany most cycling accidents. Some common serious injuries include:

• Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), which can happen anytime a cyclist’s head absorbs a blow, jolt, or penetrating injury. Helmet-use is the most reliable way to avoid sustaining TBI in a cycling accident. TBIs can cause permanent, debilitating cognitive, motor, and emotional deficits causing cycling accident victims and their families immense strain.
• Spinal cord injuries, resulting from violent and awkward falls can result in a cyclist facing temporary or permanent paralysis. Victims’ lives will undoubtedly be transformed and they will likely face millions of dollars in unexpected expenses.
• Crushed or traumatically amputated limbs may occur when a vehicle runs over a cyclist. The loss of a limb or its functioning will necessarily cause permanent disability and lasting pain.
• Extreme road rash, a burn-like condition that shreds skin and muscle tissue, embeds dirt and debris in a wound. Road rash can take months of painful surgeries and rehabilitation to heal (and even then leaves disfiguring scars).
• Orthopedic injuries, including broken bones and dislocated joints, will likely take the cyclist out of commission for an entire cycling season at least. In addition, serious orthopedic injuries can lead to chronic pain and permanently limited range-of-motion.
• Internal injuries to major organs often lead to long-lasting secondary health complications and large, unplanned-for healthcare expenses.

Of course, this list of injuries is not exhaustive. Bicycle accidents have the potential to inflict every type of injury imaginable. For any injury sustained in a Kentucky bicycle accident, Attorney Flora Templeton Stuart and her team are ready to help. They are committed to helping you recover the compensation you deserve.

Accountability for a Kentucky Bicycle Accident

From her accomplished career, Flora Templeton Stuart understands the importance of scouring the facts of a Kentucky cycling collision. From the facts, she works tirelessly to determine how it happened, whose actions could have prevented it, and who should be held accountable. She believes victims should always be compensated for injuries and losses caused by another.

Attorneys may take the “easy route” and simply assume that the motorist involved in a collision with a cyclist should be responsible. Attorney Stuart knows that motorists often have legal liability in bicycle accidents around Kentucky. However, she also knows that achieving maximum compensation for her clients requires investigation into other parties who may share that liability. For example:

• Motorists’ employers. Collisions between commercial vehicles and bicycles may deem the vehicle driver’s employer liable for damages to the cyclist. As a general rule, employers have responsibility for the actions of their employees while they are “on the job.” If employees are performing their job duties make a mistake, leaving a Kentucky cyclist suffering, the employer may be responsible.
• Bar/restaurant owners. In Kentucky, selling alcohol to someone who is already obviously intoxicated at the time of serving can lead to legal liability. Over-serving may provide the basis for liability if the intoxicated person causes an accident that injures a cyclist.
• Auto manufacturers. Sometimes a collision between a cyclist and a motor vehicle results from a defect in the motor vehicle. In those cases, the manufacturer of the defective vehicle part may be legally liable for damages to the injured cyclist.

Every Kentucky bicycle accident case is different, of course. That is why Flora Templeton Stuart and her team dig into the facts of every cycling accident case they take. To ensure the identification of all responsible parties, one must closely and carefully evaluate the details of each case.

Damages for Kentucky Bicycle Accident Injuries

The types of damages an injured party may be entitled to vary from case-to-case. Generally speaking, there are two broad categories of compensation a Kentucky bicycle accident. Victims can seek to recover economic and non-economic damages from parties who caused their injuries.

Economic (or special) damages pay for the out-of-pocket costs arising from a Kentucky bicycle accident. They include:

• The costs of medical care not covered by insurance;
• The costs of physical therapy and rehabilitation;
• The costs of medical equipment and prescriptions;
• Wages the cyclist loses from missing work after an accident;
• Income opportunities the cyclist loses because of bicycle accident injuries.

Non-economic (or general) damages pay for the general harm to the cyclist caused by a bicycle accident, including:

• The cyclist’s physical and emotional pain and suffering;
• Harm to the cyclist’s personal relationships; and
• Harm to the cyclist’s quality of life.

In Kentucky, bicycle accident cases that involve particularly reckless or outrageous conduct causing harm to the rider may warrant an award of punitive damages. Punitive or exemplary damages are intended to punish and deter future egregious conduct.

How Our Kentucky Bicycle Accident Lawyers Can Help

A Kentucky bicycle accident will undoubtedly disrupt the lives of victims and their families. Contacting an attorney will likely be far from anyone’s top priority. Bicycle accidents cause much more seemingly immediate concerns, like finding a way to pay bills while the cyclist recovers.

Flora Templeton Stuart and her team understand how stressful and chaotic life can feel after a devastating bike crash. She also knows, however, that promptly retaining a lawyer is critical to her client’s chances of recovery. For instance:

• Immediate investigation can secure important pieces of evidence and eyewitness accounts that will otherwise disappear or fade as time passes.
• Legal outreach to insurance companies can protect clients from falling prey to insurance adjusters representing parties with potential legal liability. Insurance companies aim to escape their obligations by tricking victims and their families into accepting low settlements in exchange for valuable legal rights.
• Sound advice from a lawyer with long experience can prevent accident victims and their families from undermining their claims for compensation.

The Kentucky Bicycle Accident Attorney You Need

Victims deserve compensation after a bicycle traffic accident causes catastrophic injuries and their families deserve recompense after a tragic loss of life. For decades, Flora Templeton Stuart and her team have fought to make sure that injured Kentuckians are fully compensated for the damages they sustained.

Ask her to fight for you, too.

Flora Templeton Stuart is dedicated in serving her clients no matter where the injustice took place. Check out one of her locations in Kentucky to discuss your recovery possibilities.

If a Kentucky bicycle accident has devastated your life or the life of a loved one, consult an attorney. You deserve a bike accident lawyer with a strong reputation for delivering results for her clients. That’s Flora Templeton Stuart.

Contact Flora Templeton Stuart today online or at 888-782-9090 to arrange a free, no-obligation consultation to discuss your options.