The bike accident occurred four years ago in downtown Seattle, but the circumstances could easily apply to any similar service in any city here in Indiana, where an increasing number of bicyclists occupy the roads. A recent report by Smart Growth America and the National Complete Streets Coalition, Dangerous by Design 2016, indicated that of the top 105 largest metro areas in the country, Indiana’s Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson area ranked 50th. Comparing state-to-state rankings, Indiana ranked 22nd in the country for pedestrian danger index (PDI), which looks at the number of people who bike and walk to work relative to the number of injuries and fatalities of those travelers. Our rate was 46.3 in 2016, just beneath the national average of 52.5.

But of course, there is no safe state. Consider that Washington, where this devastating bicycle accident happened, ranked 36th on the state comparison list.

According to The Seattle Times, the company that employed the valet has many such operations nationally and reported a gross profit of $129 million just in the first nine months of the year. Despite this, the plaintiff alleged, the company turned a blind eye to what were clearly unsafe and illegal practices by its employees, who were under high pressure to deliver vehicles quickly back to patrons at a nearby hotel from an off-site parking lot. In fact, the company had received a number of complaints about the recklessness of the valets, particularly in taking the shortcut in question. However, the plaintiff alleged, the company never intervened.

Specifically, the cars for which valets were responsible belonged to customers at a local hotel. However, there was more room at an off-site parking lot. So drivers took the vehicles from the hotel across the street and into a surface parking lot. But instead of making a longer – and legal – trip across the streets and through four intersections, the drivers cut through alleys, drove across lanes, and pulled other illegal maneuvers.

The plaintiff at the time of the incident was riding in a lane marked by “sharrows” when the 21-year-old valet employee drove a customer’s vehicle across a one-way street, perpendicular to traffic, and didn’t see the cyclist approaching from his right. The cyclist was struck and suffered severe injuries in the car accident. The driver was cited by police for failure to yield.

At trial, the plaintiff argued that while the company never directed drivers to take this route, it never issued directives to stop them from doing so either, even after receiving complaints and notice of it. Based on the timing of the other complaints, the plaintiff’s lawyers argued, the company did have a reasonable time in which to take action on this issue and yet failed to do so.

The defendant attorneys, meanwhile, argued the plaintiff was at least partially responsible for his failure to react to avoid the crash. The plaintiff’s lawyers presented evidence showing he would have had just four seconds to react.

Ultimately, the jury decided the defendant should pay a substantial sum to compensate the plaintiff for the injuries sustained as a result of the driver’s negligence.

Indiana Injury Attorney Burton A. Padove handles personal injury claims throughout northern Indiana, including Highland, Gary and Hammond. Additional Resources: Bicyclist severely injured in crash with parking valet is awarded $38M, Dec. 15, 2016, By Mike Lindblom, Seattle Times

More Blog Entries: Trucks and Bicycles: A Too-Often Lethal Combination on Indiana Roads, Nov. 2, 2016, Highland Bicycle Accident Lawyer Blog

These programs have generally been regarded as safe, with the number of bicycle accidents and injuries reported among larger cities being quite low. Still, more bicycles on the road means a higher risk of bicycle accidents. This is especially true when drivers aren’t paying attention, particularly in urban areas.

Officials in Fort Wayne report that its downtown is slated to launch a small bike share operation, with 25 bikes available at five locations across the city, including the Arts Campus and the St. Francis downtown campus. Users there will pay $3 hourly – up to $30 each ride – to rent a bike, or they’ll have the option of a less expensive monthly or annual membership. The program cost $45,000 to start.

Fort Wayne was given a bronze-level Bicycle Friendly Community designation by the League of American Bicyclists, and the bike share program now averages 75 bicycle trips daily. The city has adopted a number of bike-friendly changes, such as shared bike lanes, to help improve rider safety.

Bike share programs first started in the U.S. in 2007. Larger cities like New York City and Boston latched on, and the phenomenon has spread quickly.

Recent bike share programs in Indiana include:

• Indianapolis Pacers Bikeshare program launched in 2014 with 25 stations and 250 bicycles. The program costs $8 daily or $80 for an annual membership.
• Columbus, Indiana officials launched ColumBike in May 2016. Regular users ride the Columbus People Trail, which has over 40 miles of bicycle and pedestrian paths, although they are welcome on the roads as well.
• Westfield launched a bike share program in May 2016 using Zagster, the same company that partnered with officials in Carmel and Fort Wayne.
• South Bend is considering starting a a $31,000 bike share program within the next few months.

Although bike share programs are touted as safe, there is always a risk of injury when cyclists ride in or near traffic. In Chicago, a woman was recently struck and killed while riding a bicycle from a bike share program – the first time a bike share program has been connected with a bicyclist’s death. That case involved a commercial truck. Even though the 25-year-old victim was reportedly wearing a helmet, collisions with trucks are especially perilous for bicyclists, no matter which kind of protective gear they are wearing.

We know that bike sharing programs help to drive down certain burdens on cities, including fewer health care costs, less congestion, lower pollution, and decreased traffic deaths. However, such programs are only effective if riders can trust their safety to the roads. One way to do that is to create designated bicycle lanes and barriers between cyclists and cars.

A 2014 study published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives found that cities saved as much as $24 for every dollar spent on biking infrastructure, such as bike lanes.

Another safety consideration is requiring side guards on trucks. New York City is requiring side guards on 10,000 large city trucks and private garbage trucks operating in the city by 2024. It’s a smart move, considering that while trucks make up just 3.6 percent of the vehicles on New York City streets, they account for 12.3 percent of all pedestrian deaths and 32 percent of all bicycle accident deaths.

These type of considerations should be weighed for any city that manages or is considering launching a bike share program.

Our car accident lawyers are committed to fighting for the rights of cyclists and other victims throughout Indiana.

Indiana Injury Attorney Burton A. Padove handles personal injury claims throughout northern Indiana, including Gary and Hammond. Additional Resources: City launches bike-share program in downtown Fort Wayne, April 15, 2016, Staff Report, WANE.com

More Blog Entries: Northwest and Central Indiana Interstates Dotted By Truck and Automobile Crashes This Winter, Jan. 24, 2014, Hammond Bicycle Accident Lawyer Blog