California Accident Attorneys Blog
Orange County, CA has experienced a surge in bicycle and pedestrian accidents resulting in injury or death in the past few years. Pedestrian and bicycle incidents are occurring more frequently as each day passes. In fact, by some estimates, a pedestrian is struck and killed in the O.C. every six days and the numbers have gone up so much in Orange County CA over the past few years that county administrators decided to invest in pedestrian and biker safety. The county no longer wants people to know it for its title of “most dangerous county” for bike riders in the state of California. Instead, it wants people to know it as a county that takes the life of every human being seriously.
The Tragedy of a Pedestrian or Bicycle Incident
Walking and biking accidents are such a tragedy because they mostly occur because of neglect. Neglect occurs when a person or party either acts or fails to act in a way that is in the best interest of another party. All people are supposed to look out for themselves and for other people who share the roads and sidewalks at all times. More often than not, drivers do not yield to walkers. Such drivers may not see the walkers or the bikers because of various distractions. In some cases, outright defiance causes the incidents. Furthermore, rushing causes more occurrences than any other causes. Workers rush to their jobs; students rush to school; anxious persons rush to the stop sign.
Walkers and bikers sometimes forget to look both ways before they cross. They sometimes fail to yield to the signs that are on the streets. The result of the neglect is a list of people who prematurely lose their lives and the potential that went along with them. The people who survive such incidents are often left trying to pick up the pieces of their lives with incapacitating injuries as well as emotional and psychological damage.
Walking accidents affected the lives of six Orange County residents in 2012. Those persons were either killed or severely injured. Some of the victims since 2008 were minor children under 15 years of age.
The Costs of Walking and Biking Incidents
The cost of the incidents is humongous for individual victims and their family members. They have to find a way to cover hospital bills, funeral expenses, household bills, therapeutic bills, medication expenses and the like. Such occurrences end up costing the county, as well.
What Orange County Is Doing to Make It Better
The county has received large sums of grant money that is it using to invest in safety. The leaders have a wonderful vision for safer streets, and they are going to enact such visions immediately. The county has received more than $53 million for some of its projects. It intends to invest in protected bikeways and better technology at the lights and crossways. The current structure is simply not safe enough, and the county intends to improve it ASAP.
What to Do if an Incident Still Occurs
The county’s efforts will most likely decrease the occurrences of walking incidents and bicycle occurrences. However, some may still occur because of the element of human error. In such cases, a victim can contact a special lawyer who can assist in many ways.
How a Personal Injury Lawyer Can Help
A personal injury lawyer can help by acting as a comforter, friend and silent fighter for the victim’s rights. Such a lawyer has the main goal of obtaining compensation for a person who has fallen victim to walking or biking injuries. The lawyer will fight to get the victim compensation for medical bills, medication, therapy and more. The lawyer may be able to convince the judge to issue punitive damages, as well. Judges sometimes order an offender to pay additional damages because that person is guilty of neglect in the most severe form.
Contact a Specialist for an Injury Today
A victim of a bike or walking accident does not have to feel defeated or alone. A personal injury attorney can often help that person to restore his or her life to what it was before the incident. A victim can call and request a free consultation. The attorney may provide no-win-no-fee representation, as well.
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