The Law Offices of Harvey A. Hyman

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Safe Riding

While bicycling is incredibly fun as well as energizing for body and spirit, it makes us vulnerable to serious injury from negligent automobile drivers, poorly maintained roads and unmarked road hazards. A study published in 2003 in the American Journal of Public Health states that for every kilometer of road travel, cyclists are 12 times more likely to die than motorists. Many car drivers have still not learned to share the road in a safe manner with bicyclists, which is why the Ride of Silence and increased driver education is so essential. My law office is a principal sponser of the first ever Ride of Silence in Oakland on May 17, 2006. Safety statistics from Caifornia's Dept. of Health Services shows we have a problem at here at home. DHS reports that between 1996 - 2000, there were 619 fatalities and 22,44 severe injuries among cyclists in California from bike related crashes. While it is simply not possible to foresee or avoid some road accidents while cycling, you can reduce your odds of being hurt by following the safety practices described below:

Prepare ahead

Use puncture resistent tires. Make sure your tires are properly inflated and check their surface for areas of extreme wear that could blow out during your ride. Make sure your wheels securely fastened by the wheel skewers. Check to see that no spokes are loose. Make sure your brakes and gear shifters are working properly and your chain is clean and lubed. Put your bike upside down and spin your wheels to see they are spinning free and clear of the brake pads. Look carefully before you enter the road, even if departing from your own driveway on your own block. Bring at least one spare tire tube and a CO2 cartridge. Bring your driver's license or RoadID bracelet for indentification. Let a family member or friend know when and where you will take your ride, in case you do not return. At dawn or dusk, make sure you have a bright spotlight such as halogen activated. In cold and wet weather, wear a warm, water resistant jacket over a sweater or long sleeve shirt to avoid hypothermia. In hot, dry weather, wear a camelback or take at least 2 full containers of water in your racks, preferably with an electrolyte mix. Since someone on your group ride may take a hard fall, always have a first aid kit in your car with pain medication, iodine, bandages and an instant cold pack. Someone should have a miniature digital camera to record road hazards or the cause of a crash, and a pen and paper to record the license plates of a hit and run driver.

Always wear a bicycle helmet approved for safety by ASTM, Snell or the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and make sure it fits properly.

Upwards of 85% of head injuries can be prevented by proper use of an approved helmet. A recent study by pediatricians showed that 80% of the time parents of young children failed to properly position and adjust their kids’ bike helmets. Clearly more education is needed. When you buy a helmet make sure it has a thick, strong strap that fits snugly enough so that you can't dislodge the helmet by using your hands to jerk it forward and back or twist it from side to side. Remember that vents are great to keep your head cool but they decrease the area of contact between your head and the hard, crushable Styrofoam under the helmet shell that protects your head during a crash. At some point the number of vents on a helmet may grow too high to acceptably trade off decreased safety from your helmet in a crash. Also be aware that the aerodynamic gain from an elongated helmet shape is another safety tradeoff, because the sharp, angular contours of such a helmet can get caught or hung up on other objects during a crash. Talking to bike shop employees and reading cycling magazines is one way to learn more. Please take a look at my article on Bike Helmet Safety posted elsewhere on this website.

Helmet use is a personal and social issue. It is somewhat common to hear people who do not wear helmets emphasizing such things as personal freedom, increased comfort and increased vision of the road. Helmetless riders also say they that accidents are governed by karma, that if its your time to go, you will go no matter what you are wearing to protect your head, and if its not your time, you can survive even a catastrophic fall. People who wear helmets tend to emphasize the fact that they cannot possibly anticipate, detect and respond fast enough to every potential road hazard that could cause them to suffer a brain injury, including drunk drivers, sleepy drivers, road rage drivers and surface hazards like oil slicks, water puddles or cracked pavement. In California only children under the age of 18 are required by law to wear helmets. I know that some adults choose not to wear bike helmets some or all of the time, and certainly they have the legal right to do this

However, my position is that I do not want to needlessly risk sustaining irreversible brain damage and becoming a burden to my family if I can prevent it by wearing a helmet, and even though bike helmets are not capable of preventing me from dying or becoming brain damaged in the worst scenario crashes, partial protection is better than none, and a well made helmet is effective most of the time to prevent injury or reduce its severity. While bike helmets cannot prevent mild concussions, they do a very good job of preventing lethal brain injuries, skull fractures and painful abrasions to the scalp. Depressed skull fractures can lacerate the brain. Even a non-displaced skull fracture can tear the dural membrane around the brain creating a potentially lethal epidural hematoma. Torn scalps with hair loss are not just unsightly, but are incredibly painful due to all the nerve endings in the scalp. Furthermore, researchers at helmet testing facilities such as Snell, have reason to believe that wearing a helmet does prevent at least some concussive brain injuries, based on epidemiological data showing such injuries to be far more common in helmetless cyclists than in helmeted cyclists. Given a choice, I think most of us would prefer to skid on a helmet rather than on our heads or slam a helmet against the street rather than one's head. Once you have made that choice, it makes sense to shop around for the best, most protective helmet you can afford. If you have decided to wear a helmet, don't buy or accept a gift of a used helmet or an old helmet made before all manufacturers were required to meet up to date safety standards in the design, manufacture and testing of helmets.

Special Safety Laws for Kids and Bikes

Under California law, adults are not required to wear bicycle helmets and cannot be stopped or ticketed for failing to do so. However, it is different for childen. Vehicle Code Section 21212(a) mandates that a person under age 18 may not operate a bicycle or ride on a bike as a passenger unless he is properly wearing a helmet that meets the safety standards of ASTM or the CPSC. Vehicle Code Section 21204, which is aimed at children, prohibits anyone from riding as a passenger who is not seated on a regular seat, except for toddlers who are required to ride in an approved child safety seat for bikes. This law was passed to outlaw the practice of one kid riding as a rear passenger in a standing position with his feet astride a metal bar or pipe inserted through the hub of the rear wheel. Unfortunately kids continue to ride this way all over California. What these kids seem not to understand is that they can fall back onto their heads and suffer a permanent traumatic brain injury if the driver of the bike loses control for any reason. The Safe Kids program in California is group of community volunteers that goes to schools to educate children about bicycle safety laws and bicycle safety practices to prevent serious injuries, including head injuries. Anyone wanting to get involved with the Safe Kids program can contact me through this website.

Use a safe saddle

Painful urination and blood in the urine are the least of your worries if you a male cyclist using the wrong saddle. On 5/18/04 Dr. Dean Edell reported a study at Cologne University in Germany by Dr. Frank Sommer involving 2,000 males who rode on various bike seats in his laboratory where he monitored changing rates of blood flow to the penis. He detected a drop of 70 - 90% in penile blood flow occurring within 1-3 minutes on most bike seats. These results have been substantially duplicated in separate studies at Boston University and the Scripps Institute of San Diego. Dr. Edell stated that Dr. Barry Minkow of Specialized has tested a variety of new seat designs and had good success in restoring normal penile blood flow. Long hours of riding on a poorly designed seat place men at risk of temporary, and even permanent, symptoms of genital numbness and erectile dysfunction. Dr. Edell estimates that male cyclists have 2-3 times the rate of erectile dysfunction as non-riders. Padding is not the answer. Seats with extra padding can the worst offenders in causing reduced blood flow. The key factor appears to be the presence or absence of a central groove in the bike seat. Seats with the groove allow for decompression of the arteries supplying blood to the penis. For additional reading see Of Sex and Bike Seats by Alice E. Fugate.

Use a safe bike that meets the requirements of California Law

Not all new bikes sold in bike shops are safe or legal to ride on public streets and highways. California Vehicle Code Section 21201(a) states that: "No person shall operate a bicycle on a roadway unless it is equipped with a brake which will enable the operator to make one braked wheel skid on dry, level, clean pavement." Today fixed gear bikes, formerly used mainly by bike messengers and track racers, are becoming quite popular and much more readily available. They are popular in part because they weigh less than and cost less than a regular 18 or 21 gear bike. This is because fixed gear bikes or "fixies" have only gear and no brakes. The sprocket is attached directly to the wheelhub so the bike cannot coast. When the rear wheel turns, the pedals turn too. These bikes do not come with brakes. The only way to stop them is to resist the foward motion of the turning pedals using force exerted throught your feet. The rate and extent of deceleration while braking in this way is much less than with a regular 18 speed bike, because braking force can only be exerted against the rear wheel. Riders who train on these bikes can get good enough to stop when they want, and even do impressive tricks like the skip stop and the track stand. However, novice riders or even experienced riders who have not trained on this particular type of bike, can get seriously injured. A common mechanism of injury is for the person to stop pumping and then fly over the handlebars when the pedals keep spinning. Inability to stop efficiently can cause collisions with curbs, trees, hydrants, signs, pedestrians or other cyclists. People who try to maintain their own bikes have amputated fingers on these bikes when they put them on a repair stand, because once the back wheel the chain will keep spinning even if your hand gets caught in the chain, someting that causes automatic stoppage of chain movement in a regular bike. Remember to exercise caution and good judgment when you buy a bike. Fixed gear bikes may be safe for some, but not for everybody. Although fixie riders take the position that the rider himself is an adequate "brake," a police officer could ticket you or find you at fault for a crash if you rode one of these bikes, on the grounds that it had no mechanical brake. To circumvent this problem, some people attach handbrakes to the front wheel.

Take a bicycle safety clinic from an experienced and reputable instructor at least once a year.

Every community has one or more cycling safety instructors who give clinics to cyclists at every level of skill. These are typically people who race now, or used to race. Some of them are members of the League of American Bicyclists. They can be found by word of mouth through your local cycling club. Some are listed on this website under Links. These clinics are very helpful in teaching cyclists how to anticipate and how to handle common hazards of cycling, including emergency braking when encountering water puddles or for oil patches. Our Links Page also lists sites that post crash avoidance tips. While reading through these sites is definitely helpful, it is not a substitute for taking a cycling skills clinic because that is where you get to practice crash avoidance techniques, watch others do it and have an instructor critique you. One seasoned cycling instructor who can teach you techniques for avoiding crashes in group rides is Alan Atha of Novato in Marin County at www.cyclingsystems.com.

Develop better balance on your bike

Some crashes occur when two riders accidentally bump into each other, and one or both of them gets startled and loses control by oversteering, overbraking or gripping the handlebars too tightly. Cycle Ops and other companies sell what are called bicycle rollers which can be purchased new over the Internet for as little as $160. The rollers consist of a metal frame, two rotating drums in the rear to hold the rear wheel of your bike and one rotating drum in the front that you place your front wheel directly upon. When you first try it, its like biking on ice and its common to fall to your left or right. The best way to get started is to work with an experienced bicycle coach who will hold and steady the bike while you practice, and teach you how to hold your body and how to peddle in such a way that you gradually develop the ability to ride on the rollers yourself with no help. To protect yourself from injury falls, its best in the beginning to practice in a narrow hallway, where you can learn to bump your shoulders or elbows against the walls without falling. This prepares you to keep your balance on the road when you accidentally rub against or bump into another rider. This sort of thing happens all the time in criterium races, but the average recreational rider has no experience with such minor collisions between riders, and using rollers at home will make a huge difference in how safely you handle them. Once you develop stability on the rollers, you can go on to practice riding with one hand, then no hands and even with your eyes closed like a Ninja.

Learn how to survive a crash

While its best to avoid a crash, not all crashes are avoidable. For instance, after you have started to enter an intersection with the right of way, a driver might run a stop sign and skid into your side while braking as hard as he can to avoid impact. What do you do then to save yourself? Believe it or not there are crash skill clinics. One of them is held by BCAT, a non-profit firm known as the Berkeley Center for Appropriate Transport. You can access information about their events by emailing them at bcat events@yahoo.com or by calling Stephen at 510-302-8119.

Do not ride when drowsy due to lack of sleep, recent consumption of allergy medicine or alcohol or other causes.

Stay focused and alert. Do not wear headphones. When glare is present use sunglasses. To keep your brain working effectively consume adequate proteins, carbs, fluids and electrolytes before, during and after your ride. Do not ride after a meal at which you consumed alcohol. In 2002, 23% of all traffic fatalities among cyclists happened to cyclists with a blood alcohol level of .08% or greater. Alcohol impairs memory, slows thinking, slows reaction time and creates a sense of euphoria that dulls one's appreciation of dangers along the road.

Prevent dehydration but don't overhydrate.

Dehydration represents water loss from circulating blood volume to the point that the blood is abnormally thickened, the heart has to work harder to pump it to the muscles and its oxygen transfer/waste disposal functions are reduced. Untreated dehydration can progress all the way to heat stroke, kidney failure and death. Some things to remember. Intense sports activity like cycling suppresses thirst, yet raises your need to consume water because your body sweats to cool itself and you blow out alot of moisture when breathing hard. Good strategries to avoid dehydration are don't ride on very humid or very hot days, especially during peak temperature. Drink a lot before, during and after your ride. When going on a ride of 3 or more hours, drink a couple of bottles of water before you leave the house, and then keeping drinking 1-2 bottles (preferably 2) every hour. If you don't have to pee alot on your ride, you are dehydrated. The need fo drink lots of water carries over to cool days, because a long ride on a cool day can still cause a significant loss of fluid. Its good to have one bottle of plain water and one bottle with an energy drink that has carbs and salt, still better some protein too. Adding salt to your water optimizes fluid absorption and adding carbohydrate avoids fatigue. Protein stops or slow degradation of muscle tissue from the demands of the ride. Remember that just a 2% loss of body weight from sweating is associated with a 10-20% reduction in athletic performance; while a 3-5% loss is associated with a noticeable impairment of reaction time, judgment, concentration and decisionmaking. To get your salt and carbs in a properly balanced and tasty mixture your are likely to drink on the road, buy a pre-made sports drink with a flavor you enjoy.

Something that is good for you in limited quantities can hurt or kill you if you consume too much of it, and water is no exception. A study of runners in the Boston Marathon that came out in 2005 in the New England Journal of Medicine concluded that runners who drank massive amounts of water were at risk of so diluting the salt concentration of their blood as to incur brain swelling with paralysis. They cautioned athletes to monitor their usage of water by weighing themselves before and after an event. If they gained weight during the event, they clearly drank too much water.

Take care of your eyes.

Protecting your eyes and your vision are essential for safe, comortable riding. Even at a crusing speed of 15 mph, you can be severely injured if you are blinded for just a moment. Even on overcast or low light days you should wear protective lenses to shield your eyes from dust, dirt, mud or tiny pebbles that can easily be swept into your face by wind or kicked back up into your eyes by the wheel in front of you. Wraparound glasses with polycarbonate or other shatter resistent lenses are a good choice. Wind is extremely drying to your eyes. On windy days use an artificial tears solution before and during the ride. On sunny days use eyewear marked UV absorption up to 400 nm, special purpose or ANSI UV -- these block 99% of UV rays. On drizzly days yellow lenses brighten and clarify vision. In fading light, red or vermillion lenses brighten vision. For questions about eye health and eye care for cyclists contact the Institute for Sports Vision in Ridgefield, CT founded by Don Teig, O.D.

Take care of your skin

Anyone who has stepped outside their house recently, and especially all of you who have watched Al Gore's "Inconvenient Truth," know that our world is getting hotter. In July 2006 the East Bay in northern California set a record for most consecutive days of 100 plus degree heat (ten). Always remember to apply a high SPF sun protectant lotion generously before you ride. To protect your eyes from irritation when sweat droplets move the lotion into your eyes, you can use a sweatproof lotion and wear a cotton headband. If you want to avoid lung cancer, don't smoke. If you want to avoid skin cancer, which can be fatal, use sun block on your skin when you ride your bike.

Take care of your muscles

The old thinking was that cyclists needed to stretch before riding to avoid tearing their muscles. Today's gospel is that pre-ride stretching is counter-productive because it loosens the microscopic structures inside your muscles that keeps them stiff enough to do the work required to ride a bike, including pedaling, grasping the handlebars, bending your back forward in aerodynamic position and holding your head up to see the road. However, everyone agrees that stretching your muscles after you ride is good for them. Riding long distance or riding short distance at high intensity (as with interval training, time trialing or sprinting) will precipitate muscles tightness in many parts of your body, especially in the places where your biomechanics on the bike predispose you to tightness, such as the glutes, hamstrings, quads or calves. Gentle stretching of these areas done in accordance with instruction from a personal trainer or PT is a great idea. You can also use a foam roller to roll out the spots that are extra tight like the IT band that runs from your buttock to your knee along the lateral thigh. Another important way to take care of your muscles is to bring an energy drink on board that has protein in it to reduce muscle damage. The replenishment window after riding is one hour for carbs to restore muscle glycogen, but also one hour for protein to reduce inflammation and avoid muscle tissue breakdown. Within one hour of riding you should drink a recovery drink with carbs and protein, eat foods rich in carbs and protein like a turkey sandwich on whole grain bread or both. Health food storesand grocery stores sell drinks rich in anti-oxidants like Odwalla and Pomme, which protect mitochondria from free radicals after excericse. Health food stores also cell supplements with amino acids to replenish protein building blocks that can be consumed with a post-ride meal.

Always check for traffic and road conditions.

Be aware of potential hazards ahead including cars backing out of driveways, parked drivers opening their doors, potholes, broken glass, puddles, road kill, unpredictable movements by child pedestrians or dogs, etc. Be prepared to react, but learn how to feather your brakes rather than braking with a death grip which can cause loss of control. Hard braking of the front wheel alone can cause you to pitch over the handlebars and break your collarbone. Hard squeezing of the rear brake alone can whip your rear wheel forward and cause your bike to pitch over. In emergencies, its best to move your butt way back, put your feet parallel to each other on the pedals and squeeze both brakes hard. If you feel your rear wheel lock up, ease up on the brakes. Ride slower in wet weather and brake earlier than on a dry road. If you spot a patch of oil, sand or gravel on a straight road, flicking the bike around it by using your buttock and hip muscles beats sharp steering into traffic or off the road. In a curve, keep pedalling through the patch with slight brake pressue to increase traction and learn modified positions that will help you retain balance, such as keeping the bike straight up while you lean into the turn.

Do not ride on sidewalk, especially against the flow of car traffic.

Some municipalities prohibit bicyclists from riding on the sidewalk, at least in commercial areas. Although one purpose of such laws is to prevent cyclists from contacting pedestrians, another one is to prevent cyclists from getting run over by cars entering or leaving driveways. This risk is dramatically increased when a cyclist rides on the sidewalk in a direction opposite to the flow of traffic. When a driver about to exit a driveway to the right approaches the sidewalk, he will tend to look only to his left for approaching vehicles and will not expect a cyclist to suddenly cross his path from his right side. John S. Allen, the LAB Regional DIrector for New York/New England, has stated "The evidence that bicycling on sidewalks is more hazardous than bicycling in streets is overwhelming." In the Sept/Oct 1994 edition of the ITE Jounral, Alan Wachtel wrote that the average cyclist who rides on a sidewalk incurs a risk of accident 1.8 times higherthan while riding in the street. Wrong way cyclists incur a risk of accident 4.5 times than right way sidewalk cyclists.

Avoid paceline riding on narrow roads where cars pass each other at high speed.

Paceline riding by professional cyclists on roads blocked off to car traffic may be safe enough, but what about friends engaged in recreational cycling who get together sporadically? Tragedy can strike, especially on narrow rural highways where cars and truck move into the opposite lane to pass at speeds over 55 mph. While riding in a paceline, cyclists have a natural tendency to ride close to the back wheel of the bike in front and to stare at its back wheel to avoid hitting it. This distracts one's attention from the whole road, including sudden passing movements by cars or trucks headed in the opposite direction. While paceline riding can be fun, recreational cyclists need to exercise real caution about when, where and how to do it for their own safety.

Always read and heed caution signs posted for cyclists

Some roads have signs posted warning of rough road ahead. Upon seeing such a sign, its important to slow down, scan the whole road surface and get ready to brake or steer clear of a pavement hazard. Upon entering a bridge slow down to read the signs. Some bridges (like the Golden Gate) have signs warning of high winds or the presence of pedestrians, and even tell you that by choosing to ride your bike on the bridge you are legally assuming the risk you will be injured. If you see such a sign, you have to make a calculated decision on whether to accept the risk. If you do hurt yourself on a road with such a sign, you may well be out of luck should you sue. Its always important to keep your head up and eyes looking forward. Otherwise you can blow past a sign and miss it entirely or even crash into one. At times, cyclists have actually crashed into portable signs placed at bridge entrances to warn of temporary hazards.

Obey traffic laws.

Stop at stop signs and red lights even if the intersection looks clear, and even if other members of your group got through when the light was green. Cyclists cannot fault cars for going through red lights if they ride through them on their bikes. Do not keep riding along the right hand curb if it is dangerous to do so. If vehicle traffic is very heavy or there is road work going on, it is lawful to move away from the right hand curb to a place of safety pursuant to California Vehicle Code Section 21202(A)(3). Do not give way to the temptation to respond in kind to rude motorists. 2,000 pound cars always win over 18 pound bikes. It is wiser to ignore rude remarks by drivers, then yell profanities or flip them the bird in return. Bicycle riders have been run over by drivers consumed with road rage after engaging in angry exchanges. Overly aggressive drivers who come too close for comfort deliberately in order to intimidate cyclists should be reported to the police. Lance Armstrong recommends that you memorize the car’s license plate; the gender and age of the driver; and the place and time of the incident; so you can help the police identify the offender.

Make yourself as conspicuously visible as possible.

Riding with a group makes you more visible. Wearing bright neon or flourescent colors like yellow or yellow-green during day time is a good idea. Let the drivers and other cyclists around you know where you are headed. Use signals to indicate slowing, stopping, left turns and right turns. When seeking to warn others, it is more effective to use a loud voice than attempt to ring a bell or blow a horn. Try to avoid riding at night, if possible. When riding in dark conditions, wear retro-reflective clothes. You can place retro-reflective tape on your helmet and mount a halogen spotlight to your helmet, handlebars or both. Having a light beam coming from your bike not only helps you see the immediate area around you, but makes you distinctly visible to oncoming drivers who may be preparing to make a left turn or cross the center line to enter a driveway. CAT makes a good inexpensive device. Stay on routes you know well. Night time is worst time to try a new, unfamiliar route, because you may get so distracted trying to find your way, you become more vulnerable to being hit by a car or striking a road hazard.

Take heed of collision risk factors.

When planning where, what day of the week and what time of day to ride it is a good idea to heed known risk factors for car-bike collisions. The rate of injurious collisions is much higher in urban settings, especially intersections, than in rural areas. In rural areas, the rate of injuries is much higher on major roads where cars can legally go 55 mph than on hills where care traffic is sparse and cars go slower. The risk of sustaining a cycling injury in non-daylight conditions is 4 times greater than during daytime, because most motorists have difficulty seeing cyclists in low light conditions. A majority of cycling crashes occur within one mile of the cyclist's home. A majority of cycling crashes occur in the summer, and between the hours of 3-9 p.m.

Have a mechanic inspect your bike after a crash

After a catastrophic crash no one hesitates to throw away their bike, because it is bent like a pretzel and beyond repair. What about a crash that you are able to walk away from, that leaves your bike looking intact? The safest thing to do is not to ride it again until you have a bike mechanic inspect it carefully for hairline cracks in the frame and fork, and other potential safety problems. Owners of carbon forks love them because of their strength, durability and good road feel, but such forks can break while you are riding if you weakened them in a crash. Some bike mechanics suggest you have your carbon fork inspected at the factory of origin after a crash. Whether your bike is titanium, aluminum, steel or carbon (or more likely a hybrid) you should always bring it to the mechanic after a crash. Do not take chances.

Be a proactive member of the cycling community and help prevent injuries.

When cycling you will notice unsafe places and conditions, such as deep cracks or potholes in the road surface, sewer covers with slats parallel to the road or or fixed objects (like mailboxes or fire hydrants) placed inches from the curb where a falling cyclist could hit them. Problems like these should be photodocumented and reported to the Dept. of Public Works of the county, city or town having control of the roads where they exist. You should keep records showing the date and content of all such notification. Should the public entity ignore the notice and fail to fix the problem, eventually a cyclist will suffer injury, and these records will constitute case winning proof that the public entity had advance notice of the dangerous condition with an opportunity to correct it, but was failed to act. in a timely, dilgent manner to prevent the foreseeable injury.

Join together to bring hit and run drivers to justice.

Hit and run driving is a social plague. It is not just committed by substance abusers with criminal records, but by community leaders in business, the professions and even spiritual pusuits. Very few cyclists carry high limits of uninsured motorist coverage on their cars, which is applicable to injuries they suffer on their bikes from a hit and run driver. Cyclists who do not own a car or those lacking adequate uninsured motorist coverage on their cars are out of luck when seriously injured by a hit and run driver. The state's victims of crime program is grossly underfunded and can do little to help. A cyclist victimized by a hit and run driver is best off if the driver can be identified quickly so he can be sued for his car insurance, made to pay restitution in a criminal proceeding from his own pocket or both. The cycling community can help by putting pressure on uninvolved witnesses to come forward or making the guilty party so fearful of apprehension by law enforcement that he or she voluntarily turns themself in. They can post information about the incident on signs, phone poles and storefronts in the vicinity of the crime and post information on their websites. They also have the option of raising money to put down as a reward for a witness who comes forward with accurate information leading to the arrest and prosecution of the hit and run driver. If no witness comes forward the money can go to help the victim with medical expenses and vocational rehabilitation.