Monday, November 24, 2008

Bicycle & Pedestrian Accidents on the Rise

The streets of San Francisco have seen the rise in the number of motorcycle and bicycles not only due to continuing rise of fuel prices and worsening economy, but in an effort to lessen the pollution and cleanse the air.

But corollary to that is the rise in pedestrian and bicycle accident which reported to have doubled since the last year. Authorities said that this does not mean that roads have become more dangerous but merely because of the increasing number of bicycles and motorcycle these days.

In 2006, vehicular accident fatalities in the US totaled to 42,642. Out of that number, pedestrian accident kills a staggering number of 4,784 individuals while nearly 70,000 pedestrians are injured.

Statistics show that at least 1 pedestrian gets killed in a traffic accident every 110 minutes, or so.

More and more people use motorcycle and bicycles to reduce the continuing micro economic burden that increasing fuel prices brought to American families.

In the State of California alone, the number of motorcycle licenses has reportedly increased – from 908,000 in 2002, the figure reached a staggering more than a million this year.

But as they say, everything has a price. As mentioned, due to increasing use of motorcycles and bicycles, the accidents in the streets involving them has exponentially increased as well. Cases of pedestrian accidents have noticeably increased too.

Pedestrian accidents are covered by tort laws which make negligent person liable for injury, damage or death of a pedestrian. Compensation may include medical bills, lost wages and property damages, as well as compensation for pain and suffering.