Bicycling After Dark

By Cory Bilton If you are like me and still trying to commute to and from work on your bicycle this time of year, it’s almost impossible to avoid riding in the dark.  The official sunset time in DC today is 4:46 pm.  So you’d have to leave work pretty early to ride home with sunlight.  Riding a bicycle in …

DC’s Police Complaint Board Issues MPD Report Card on Bicycle Accidents

By Cory Bilton In working with injured cyclists, we see a number of recurring scenarios in bicycle accidents in the DC area.  When a bicycle-motor vehicle collision occurs, at least one person involved usually does not know how the rules of the road (e.g. the law) apply to cyclists.  This ignorance of the law often manifests itself in a presumption …

Contributory Negligence – How to Get Away With Hitting a Cyclist

By Cory Bilton If you are injured in an accident in DC, Maryland, or Virginia, one of the first barriers to recovering from the wrongdoer is the concept of contributory negligence.  Contributory negligence is a rule that states that if you are partly at fault for your injuries, you can’t recover any money from the other person that caused the …

Educating Motorists to Coexist with Cyclists

By Cory Bilton Bicycles are becoming more common on roadways in DC, Maryland, and Virginia.  It seems that almost every street I travel down, there is a mix of bicycles, motor vehicles, and pedestrians.  Brand new Capital Bikeshare stations seem to be cropping up on every street corner.  On my ride into work in the morning (from Ballston to Dupont …

Expanded Protections for DC Cyclists Only Go So Far

By Cory Bilton The DC metro area has a lot of drivers and a lot of cyclists, both using the same streets and roadways.  If you ride a bike in the area, you know that many motorists do not give bicyclists the same respect as another car.  Back when I worked on a tugboat, we might have called this the …

Virginia Cyclists Beware – “Dooring” Bill Dinged

By Cory Bilton If you cycle in the Northern Virginia area, particularly inside the beltway, you are probably familiar with the threat of being “doored.”   In many parts of Arlington, Alexandria, and Fairfax, you are frequently riding between moving traffic to the left and cars parked along the right side of the road.  When a car door suddenly opens right …