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    Houma Bicycle Accident Lawyer

    Being involved in an accident while riding a bicycle can be a very upsetting situation. A bicycle accident can involve two bicyclists, a bicyclist and a pedestrian or a bicyclist and a vehicle. Depending on the nature of the accident, the injuries can be severe and debilitating. You may be out of work for a long time while you recover from your injuries and at the same time, your medical bills may be going up. For you and your family’s economic well-being seeking financial redress for your injuries with a distinguished personal injury lawyer may be beneficial for recovering losses. A Houma bicycle accident lawyer from Kopfler & Hermann can help you understand the legal options you have following a bicycle accident.

    Louisiana Bicycle Laws

    Louisiana requires that anyone under the age of 12 must wear a helmet. While adults are not legally required to wear a helmet, wearing one will greatly reduce the amount of injuries from an accident. There is no specific law against riding on the sidewalk. Louisiana does require that all bicyclists stay as close as possible to the right lane. Some exceptions to this rule are when the cyclist is avoiding an unsafe condition, when trying to turn left or into a private driveway, when they are looking to make a right turn, trying to overtake and pass another bike or car, and where there are two lanes and traffic travels in only one way they may stay on the left lane.

    Any bicycle is treated as a vehicle so all laws that apply to vehicles on the road also apply to bicyclists. If a car is passing a bicycle they must do so safely and have at least three feet distance between the bike and the car. Cars have to make sure that when they open their doors they do not interfere with anyone else on the road, including bicyclists. Bicyclists are designated as vulnerable road users which provide them with additional protection. This makes it illegal for other to taunt, harass, or maliciously throw objects at anyone on a bicycle.

    Proving Negligence

    When there is an accident, the plaintiff and their Houma bicycle accident attorney must show that the accident was caused due to the defendant’s negligence. Negligence has several elements that must be met. There must be a duty to act like a reasonable person under the same or similar circumstances. For these types of cases, it must be shown that the other person, like the driver, was not driving reasonably. There must be a breach of that duty. To show breach the driver must have been driving unreasonably. It must be shown that the driver was not following safety regulations or driving in an unsafe way.

    The injuries must have been actually and proximately caused by the negligent act. Actual cause means that the injuries would not have happened but for that specific act by the driver or another bicyclist. A Houma bicycle accident attorney must show that it was foreseeable that the driver’s negligent driving would have caused an accident and that there was no intervening cause in between. Lastly, that there were actual injuries because of the negligent conduct.

    How a Houma Bicycle Accident Attorney Can Help

    Negligence can be hard to prove because of all the elements involved so hiring a Houma bicycle accident lawyer is paramount. Furthermore, if you want an attorney to help you avoid litigation by trying to reach a settlement. Your lawyer can settle with the other party directly or with the other person’s insurance company. Call our firm today.