Irvine Bicycle Safety Measures

Bicyclists should always look out for their own safety. During the day, bicyclists need to stay within the bicycle lane and always wear an approved helmet. If riding a bicycle at dusk or night, then you should always have lights on your bicycle and wear reflective clothing in order to reflect the headlights from vehicles behind you and notify them of your presence.

Additionally, the bicycle operator should also always use hand turns to signal when turning right or left and should, most importantly, always look out for an adverse driver when riding on any bike path, highway, or street. In the case that an accident does happen to occur, it is then important to consult with an Irvine bike accident lawyer to file a claim and recover damages.

Safety Measures Required By Law

It is very apparent that the helmet law is one of the most important laws for the safety of the bicycle operator. Commonly, police officers will stop bicyclists riding without an approved helmet and issue a ticket for not complying with the helmet law.

Other safety measures, including reflective clothing, lights on the bicycle and so forth, should always be followed by the bicycle operator as well.

Bike Helmets

There is a helmet law requiring bicycle riders to wear an approved helmet. That is for their own safety in case of impact with a vehicle, another bike, an object such as a sign or rock, or the pavement. Makeshift helmets such as football helmets or a kid’s helmet worn by an adult are not considered an approved helmet.

If the bicycle rider is not wearing a helmet and has a head injury, then the insurance company or adverse attorney is always going to try to apportion a certain percentage of damages from comparative fault against the bicycle rider. Accordingly, the damage or injury sustained would be much greater if you are not wearing a helmet. For this reason, it is always important to wear a helmet to comply with Irvine bike safety laws and avoid damaging any injury claim should one need to be filed.

Bike Lanes

There are a fair number of bicycle lanes in Irvine and the surrounding Orange County area. Bike lanes are found around parks and areas where you have a fair amount of bicycle riders, however there are also bicycle lanes on various roadways, where there is an actual marked bike lane to the right side of the roadway.

Purpose of Bike Lanes

Bike lanes are generally installed so that the motor vehicle operator can readily see that there is a specific bike lane. It is also for the safety of the bicycle rider, to advise them to be on the lookout. In terms of bicycle lanes in the Greater Orange County area, the motor vehicle operator always has to give right-of-way to the bicyclist.  Motor vehicle operators should look out for bicycle operators when they see the bike lanes.

When bike lanes are installed and readily available, it is an indication to the motor vehicle operator to be on the lookout for the bicycle operator. In terms of common bicycle accidents involving bike lanes, two examples include a vehicle veering into a bicycle lane and hitting a bicycle operator and a collision between multiple bicycles.

The conclusion here is if you are operating a bicycle, you should always keep to the right side of the roadway and stay within the bicycle lane for your own safety.

Other Safety Measures

Bicyclists should always look out for other motor vehiclists or other bicyclists. With that said it is also important to stay within a bicycle lane or to the right if there is no designated bicycle lane and be on the lookout for oncoming traffic. Occasionally look to your left and look behind you, to see if there are vehicles coming.

In case of emergency, anyone riding a bicycle should always have a card with them in their wallet which indicates their blood type and any allergies they may have. In the event of a serious accident and loss of consciousness, that card can be life saving on the way to a hospital by ambulance. This rule of thumb applies to all types of accidents – any vehicle operator or passenger, should always carry their blood type and any allergy information with them.