Steve Magas is Ohio's Bike Lawyer. He has written about Ohio Bike Laws, bike crashes, bicycle advocacy and court cases for some 30 years. Soon we'll be adding a series of features about your favorite Ohio bike shops.
In Columbus, the end comes to a criminal case two years in the making. Amber Fernandez was sentenced in the hit/run death of Jeff Stevenson and received a very severe wrist slap – instead of being punished for 4-8 years for killing Jeff Stevenson, or even 1-3 years for the 3rd Degree Felony of Leaving the Scene, the judge gave her a whopping THIRTY DAYS for running away from the scene of what her lawyer called a “freak accident…”
HOW TO WIN AN AFRAP CASE –
A Close Look at Doug Morgan’s Columbus, Ohio Slam Dunk Victory
By Steven M. Magas, Ohio’s Bike Lawyer[1]
Early in 2010, my friend, and one of the smartest lawyers I know, Doug Morgan, defended a young cyclist in Franklin County Municipal Court. The cyclist was cited for “taking the lane” on High Street – i.e. riding towards the center of the lane rather than hugging the white line. The officer cited him for a violation of Ohio’s “AFRAP” law, as adopted in the Columbus, Ohio, City Code. Doug’s trial strategy should serve as a model for lawyers and cyclists alike in these cases.
WHAT TO DO IF YOU ARE IN A BIKE/CAR CRASH
By Steven M. Magas, Ohio’s Bike Lawyer
Is Cycling “Safe?”
Statistically, we know that riding a bike on the roadway is a VERY safe thing. While there are 30-40,000 motorists who die on our roadways each year, the number of cyclist fatalities has dropped considerably from a high of 1000 or so in the mid-1970s to below 700 in 2008. While motorcycle and pedestrian deaths are UP, cycling deaths are DOWN despite millions of new riders in this latest “Bike Boom!”
One reason for this decrease in cyclist deaths nationwide, I’m sure, is that the demographics of the “typical” cyclist involved in a fatal crash have totally flip-flopped since 1975. Back in the 1970′s, MOST cycling fatalities involved kids – people under the age of 16 – which meant that riders were somewhat unpredictable. There were a lot of “Dart Out” cases where children on bikes would suddenly appear on the roadway after darting out from a driveway. Call a lawyer from https://www.sweetesq.com/car-accidents/
Today, virtually all cycling deaths involved adults – indeed, adult men. In 2009, almost 90%, 9 out of 10, of all cycling fatalities nationwide involved people OVER the age of 16, and 87% of those were men. The average age of a rider killed on the road today if over 40.Today’s adult riders are more likely to treat operating a bicycle on the roadway the same as driving a car. They stay in their lane, know the rules of the road and don’t act in stupid or unpredictable ways – most of the time, anyway.
I wrote an essay a few years ago called “The BLS – Boring Legal Sh….er… Stuff – For Cyclists,” in which I described how your homeowner’s insurance, auto coverage, health insurance and more intersect when you are whacked by a car. I also suggested that cyclists need to make sure their Estate Planning was in order by updating their will and having Powers of Attorney in place for financial and health care matters. Fast forward a few years and this piece was mentioned on a hotsy-totsy financial planning website. A writer from The Wall Street Journal saw it -and suddenly I’m on the phone with Arden Dale, a regular WSJ contributor! On March 13, 2012 Ms. Dale’s Wall Street Journal story about Estate Planning for Sports Enthusiasts hits the web, and there, in a 43 word paragraph, Ms. Dale describes our 30 minute conversation for all WSJ readers to take in.
Darke County, Ohio is a small rural county, about 600 square miles, that sits north of Dayton. With one “city” in the county, Greenville, and a lot of smaller villages and townships, the total county population of 53,000-ish doesn’t seem surprising. Like all of Ohio’s 88 counties, it has a courthouse, court system and judges, along with an elected prosecutor and sheriff. Oddly, the Probate/Juvenile Court is online, but not the Common Pleas Court. It’s also the home court for a rather dark case…
Jerry Walling and Roger Brislawn do what many, many cyclists around the country do – they sit on the Bicycle Advisory Committee of their community. They never dreamed that accepting this role, and reviewing bike crashes, would lead them to the brink of “large fines and imprisonment...”
On May 23, 2012, Kelly Cox was driving her Chrysler Pacifica along Rapids Road near Chardon, Ohio… while drunk… very drunk…with kids in the car… She ran into, and killed, Geauga County Judge Chip Henry. Regular readers here know that I’ve written a good bit about this case already – and won’t reiterate what I’ve written here, here and here.
On February 2, 2012, Speaker of the House John Boehner, Jean Schmidt & Bob Gibbs, two Ohio members of the House of Representatives, ticked off MILLIONS of Ohio cyclists – how? By voting to KILL funding for bike and pedestrian projects.
The case against Kelly Cox, the motorist accused of driving drunk, with an amazing 0.28%BAC, and killing cyclist Chip Henry, was set for trial today, January 23, 2012. Numerous subpoenas had issued and the Henry family assembled for the ordeal that criminal trials are for the families of those killed. Instead of starting trial, though, they discovered that last minute plea deal negotiations were underway. Today, a few hours later, Kelly Cox plead guilty to the key crime – Aggravated Vehicular Homicide – and other crimes.
The “wave” is ubiquitous to motorcycling… you approach an oncoming rider, you do the “wave” – sometimes it’s arms out or hands down or fingers pointed or whatever… but waving is certainly accepted…
Here, though, is a pretty nice list that compares the [alleged] reasons why the owners of certain types or brands of motorcycles don’t wave… enjoy!
[I apologize to whoever wrote this first – I’ve seen it on so many sites and places that I’ve lost track and can’t credit the appropriate original, and obviously very funny, author]
Top Ten Reasons Not To Wave.
Keep up-to-date with Ohio Bike Lawyer on Facebook and Twitter
