Fort Collins, Colorado Personal Injury Law Blog

Dooring accidents happen when a passenger or driver in a parked automobile opens his or her door without looking to see if the way is clear. If a bicyclist happens to be passing at an inopportune moment, opening a door like this could result in catastrophic and fatal injuries. Regardless of whether the door simply clips the cyclist or causes the cyclist to ride directly into it, you can imagine how terrible an incident like this can be.

Automobile drivers and passengers may be financially liable in the wake of a dooring accident tragedy, but it's certainly preferred to avoid these accidents in the first place. Here's what safety-conscious bicyclists can do to prevent getting doored:

• Give parked cars plenty of clearance: If you're riding along the side of the road where parked vehicles are present, you should always put three to four feet of space between yourself and the parked vehicles. If it's impossible to leave this kind of room, then you should get off your bike and walk until the way is clear, or enter the roadway and ride in traffic as if you're a car. Both of these options are better than putting your life at risk.
• Scan for heads: Cyclists should also scan ahead to see if there are any occupants in the parked vehicles along the road. If a head can be seen, that person might soon be getting out of the vehicle without warning, so make sure you give that vehicle a lot of space. Even if you can't see any heads, be careful because a short person might not be visible on the other side of the seat.

Colorado’s population continues to undergo explosive growth, and with an influx of new residents comes an increase in road construction to accommodate them. In other words, if it seems as if road construction exists around every corner, it is because the state’s roadways are constantly in need of expansion and repair, but the work zones used to create and repair infrastructure can, at times, prove highly dangerous.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration notes that work zone crashes are on the rise across Colorado and the nation. So much so, in fact, that the number of crashes that occurred within work zones climbed 43 percent from 2013 to 2015, with more than 96,600 crashes taking place in the nation’s work zones in 2015 alone.

A bike helmet is a critical piece of safety equipment, and it can protect you in an accident. It can lower the odds of a serious head injury.

However, it is important to understand that the helmet may also increase the odds that you will get in that accident in the first place. It could cause you to take more risks. Two different studies have shown how this works.

Colorado legalized marijuana, allowing for a regulated industry in which people can buy small amounts for recreational purposes. By no means does this indicate that marijuana can be used without restraint, however. Some aspects of the law mimic laws surrounding the use of alcohol. For instance, impaired driving is still illegal.

However, some reports show that marijuana-related crashes are on the rise. For instance, the amount of people who got into deadly accidents with marijuana in their system more than doubled between 2013 and 2017. Every year, the amount goes up.