bicycle accident attorney

Florida bicycle head injury risk defective bike helmet Many serious and recreational cyclists know they can reduce their risk of a Florida bicycle head injury by 60%-90% just by wearing a bicycle helmet. But what if the helmet you’re wearing is defective and provides inadequate protection?

Bicycling has never been more popular in Florida than it is now. With its flat terrain, year-round sunshine, and an abundance of nature trails, beaches, and scenic roads to ride, Florida has residents and tourists alike increasingly partaking. But the risk of Florida bicycle head injury is higher than you think – and defective bicycle helmets certainly don’t help.

In the first seven months of 2023, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced at least eight bicycle helmet recalls. These include:

Giro Merit Bicycle Helmet. Does not meet CPSC federal safety standards for bicycle helmets, and would fail to protect in the event of a crash, posing a heightened risk of head injury.
Xinerter Teal Adult Bicycle Helmet. Sold exclusively on Amazon from 2020 to 2023, the helmets don’t comply with positional stability and certification requirements of the mandatory federal safety standard for bike helmets, and would fail to protect riders from head injury in the event of a crash. The CPSC has warned consumers to immediately stop using them, cut the straps, and dispose of them so no one else can use them either.
SQM Bicycle Helmet. Sold on Amazon from 2022 to 2023, the single-sized helmet doesn’t comply with positional stability and certification requirements of federal safety standards. It would fail to protect the head in a bicycle accident or car accident.
Ventura Adult Bike Helmets. Roughly 1,750 of these helmets have been sold in the U.S., but they don’t provide adequate protection against Florida bicycle head injury risk.
Hurtle Multi-Purpose Children’s Helmet. About 1,800 of these bicycle helmets for kids were sold – despite failing to meet federal safety standards to ensure protection against brain injuries in the event of a crash.
Lelinta Multi-Purpose Kids Helmets. These kids’ bicycle helmets, manufactured by Lucky Global and sold exclusively at Walmart.com, don’t comply with federal safety standards and won’t adequately protect a child from the possibility of a serious head injury in the event of a Cape Coral bicycle accident.
TureClose Bicycle Helmets. These bike helmets don’t comply with federal safety requirements for positional stability, retention system, impact attenuation, or labeling requirements. Although the Chinese seller has refused to issue a recall, the CPSC is continuing to pursue a recall because if a rider crashes, they will not be adequately protected from a head injury.
Multi-Purpose Kids Bike Helmets, size medium. Sold on Amazon by Ouwoer Direct, these kids’ helmets don’t meet the standards for positional stability and impact attenuation required to ensure prevention of a child head injury.

What Legal Options Do I Have if a Defective Helmet Causes a Florida Bicycle Head Injury?

The coronavirus pandemic has spurred a nationwide biking boom. Bike sales nationwide have doubled in recent months compared to last year. Some cyclists like cheap transportation while others find it safer to cycle right now than take a public bus or subway. Many simply welcome a healthy outdoor respite from social isolation. Numerous Florida cities have seized on the reduced traffic counts as an opportunity to get a jump start on building new bicycle lanes or connecting existing ones to create a more expansive, safer biking network. However, South Florida is still one of the most dangerous regions in the deadliest state for bicyclists and the risk of a Fort Myers bicycle accident remains high.

The Miami Herald reports that despite the high demand for bike infrastructure, few South Florida cities are taking the initiative to make biking safer. Transportation safety advocates note that in many communities throughout the state, there is no network of safe bicycle pathways. Instead, we have these fragmented stretches of random bicycle lanes that do not connect to one another, are often not separated from traffic, and are far too frequently ignored by careless motorists.

Our South Florida bicycle accident attorneys know that many communities from Tampa to Miami have made big plans when it comes to bike safety, but many have stalled if they were ever begun in the first place. There has been discussion of expanding and connecting the Gulf Coast Trail, which would serve as a Southwest coast connector from Clearwater to Naples, with segments adjacent to motor vehicle traffic. WINK News reports the last time the City of Fort Myers created a plan to make biking and walking easier was in 2007, though they did recently release a survey asking residents to chime in with suggestions for improvement. Meanwhile, there has been little movement on Miami Beach’s nearly-200-page bicycle master plan for Miami Beach. So far, the city’s only built one-tenth of a mile of the 17 miles of protected bicycle lanes promised back in 2009.

Bicycling is great for individuals and communities in a number of ways, but there is cause for concern when there is an uptick in ridership combined with a lack of safety infrastructure – especially because Florida does not have a great track record when it comes to preventing bicycle accidents. Continue reading