Cycling and the Law

Video Transcript:
Cindy Speaker: Good afternoon. My name is Cindy Speaker and my guest today is Attorney and cyclist Peter Steinberg of the Los Angeles Law Firm of Steinberg and Spencer Injury Lawyers. Peter how are you today?

Peter Steinberg: I’m great Cindy, how are you?

Cindy Speaker: Pretty good, thank you. Well Peter, I asked you to join me today for a couple of reasons. One of which is you are not only an attorney, but you are a cyclist. So I think you’re uniquely qualified to kind of address our topic today and I’d like you to start off by giving us a little insight as to how you’ve got involved in the cycling world.

Peter Steinberg: Well first of all, I’ve been riding a bike since I was a small child. And in recent years, I started doing triathlons, and one of the three sports in triathlons is cycling. So that’s pretty much how I got involved in it.

Cindy Speaker: You really jumped into it big if you’re doing triathlons.

Peter Steinberg: Well I guess you could say that. Triathlons come in different sizes. Sort of small, medium, and large, and I progressed through small and medium and almost to large, so it’s been exciting.

Cindy Speaker: Very interesting. Well what I’d like you to do is tell us a little bit about the rights and responsibilities of bicycle riders because although it’s a wonderful sport, it has the potential to be a dangerous sport.

Peter Steinberg: Well yeah, riding a bicycle can be extremely dangerous and the responsibilities are to comply with all vehicle code sections that apply to automobiles. And the key thing really on a bicycle is to be aware of your surroundings, be aware of the vehicles that are near you. Be aware of what’s in the street and what might come into the street. Be aware of debris. Be aware of animals that might come in front of you because if you’re in an accident on a bicycle, you can get hurt very badly.

Cindy Speaker: One of the questions I have is, is there any training for this? Because I mean there’s a lot of people that ride bicycles, but are there training courses? How do people get educated to avoid what can be sometimes very serious accidents?

Peter Steinberg: Well, there are lots organizations that you can join which will give you lots of tips as to how to be a safe bicyclist. And it’s a great idea to ride in a group because there is safety in numbers.

Cindy Speaker: Okay. Do you ride in a group?

Peter Steinberg: I almost always ride in a group. I think it’s imperative to have somebody with you—first of all, it makes the riding much more fun and if you’re ever hurt, there’s somebody to help you.

Cindy Speaker: Right, that makes sense. I have a question as to what insurance would cover you. Is there insurance, some type of insurance that you already have that would cover you? Or is there a special insurance that you should have as a rider?

Peter Steinberg: Well nothing special that I can think of. You obviously want to have health insurance in case you’re injured. And a good thing to have, in fact a great thing to have is an insured motorist coverage under your automobile policy. Most people probably don’t know this, but if you’re hit by an uninsured vehicle, your uninsured motorist coverage under your auto policy will cover you.

In California, it’s not a requirement that you buy uninsured motorist coverage, but it’s so important that if you decline it, your insurance company must get a written waiver of it from you. We’ve been advising our clients for years and years to make sure that they purchase as much uninsured motorist coverage as they possibly can afford.

Cindy Speaker: If the unthinkable happened and someone were injured by a motorist, what are some of the things that that person or their loved one needs to attend to just to make sure that legal rights are protected depending on the outcomes?

Peter Steinberg: Well the obvious thing is if you can get the license plate and the name, address, phone number, and insurance information on the vehicle that struck you, that’s essential and then we’ll take it from there.

Cindy Speaker: Okay, excellent. Well listen Peter; I’d like to talk with you again about this in the future. I appreciate your time today. I know you have to run, but thanks so much.

Peter Steinberg: Oh you’re quite welcome Cindy, call me anytime.

Cindy Speaker: Okay.