Yielding: The Best Accident Mitigation Tool Any Driver Has Against a Motor Vehicle Crash

On the road, it is important for drivers to give the courtesy to everybody. If a driver puts himself first than other on the road, chances are nobody’s going to yield for anybody and this could be catastrophic. Such is what happened one day in Los Angeles, California as vehicles piled up after a collision at the intersection of the Interstate 110 and Interstate 10 where a policeman in a motorcycle was hurt.

According to reports from the California Highway Patrol, an unidentified motorcycle police officer was hurt sustaining a leg injury after his motorcycle collided with a car that caused a pile up. Currently, the authorities are investigating the real cause of the accident and who had the right of way to proceed. Such kinds of accidents on intersections of main thoroughfares happen a lot.

In a data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), a lot of major accidents happen in prominent roads across the country. This is because vehicles in interstates run faster than vehicles in simple side streets in the cities and suburbs. Also according to the agency, motorcycle riders are 37 times more likely to die against passenger car occupants. Experts say that motorcycles offer little or no protection to its riders. Even when a rider is equipped with complete riding safety gear like helmets, padded body suits and more, these are still inferior to the protection that motor vehicles offer to its occupants.

According to a Los Angeles motorcycle lawyer, such accidents could be avoided. According to him, motorcycle riders should exercise more caution while riding as they know about the increased risks that they take whenever they go out for a ride. The same Los Angeles attorney added that drivers, no matter how big or small your vehicle is should be more careful whenever to go out for travel. Common safety driving tips yielding in intersections and driving at the right speed makes a huge difference between ending up in a crash and getting to where you want to be safely.

Getting Involved in a Hit-and-run: Knowing Your Rights as an Injured Bicyclist

Bicycling is one of the most convenient forms of transportation, most especially in California. In fact, bicyclists are required to comply with the traffic laws of the state, as they also share the road with other motorists. However, bicyclists are vulnerable to hit-and-run accidents, especially if automobile drivers are not aware of their presence on the road.

For some, such horrible incidents are caused by sloppy enforcement of traffic laws. Some would say these are the fault of unlicensed and uninsured drivers. Reasons for such accidents are too complicated and involve a lot of factors that are linked with each other; nonetheless, it is the victims who suffer a lot from these unfortunate instances that should not have happened had the other parties involved acted reasonably with care.

Basically, hit-and-run accidents involving bicycles in California involve criminal charges, which are classified as either misdemeanors or felonies. A misdemeanor charge is filed against the driver d if the bicyclist was hit and caused only property damage, whereas a felony charge is likewise charged if the bicyclist was injured or killed.

While these criminal charges are imperative in punishing lackadaisical and wayward motorists, they don’t actually help in paying the damages to the bicyclists, especially for those who were injured or killed in hit-and-run accidents. For the most part, involved drivers are never located, or, if they had been found, the statute of limitations had already expired.