Baltimore Bicycle Accident Injuries

Accidents involving a car or other motor vehicle and a bicycle are often some of the worst that can happen on the roads of Baltimore. While the driver of the vehicle is rarely hurt in such a crash, the bike rider frequently suffers serious or even life-threatening injuries. These injuries come in a variety of forms, from debilitating head injuries that can change a biker’s life to wrist injuries that only take a few months to heal.

Each one of these injuries, though, can be costly to recover from. If you or someone you love has been involved in a bicycle accident, you need legal representation from the personal injury attorneys at Gilman & Bedigian. With their help, you can get the compensation you need and deserve for the injuries you have suffered.

Common Injuries from Bicycle Accidents

While every bicycle accident is different – they happen on different roads, at different speeds, for different reasons, and have different outcomes – the vast majority of bicycle accidents end with only a small handful of injuries. These can span from minor injuries to the life-threatening or even fatal ones, though.

Regardless of the severity of the injuries that you suffer in a bike crash, though, you deserve compensation for your pain, suffering, and the costs of your recovery if the accident happened because of someone else’s negligence, poor driving, or ignorance of the rules of the road.

Head Injuries

Out of all of the injuries that you can suffer in a bike accident, injuries to your head are by far the most severe. These injuries are frequently life-altering because of their complexity and how much they impact your daily life.

Of course, wearing a bike helmet helps to protect yourself from some of the worst kinds of head trauma that frequently occur during a bike crash. However, even wearing a helmet does not prevent all kinds of head injuries. Some of the most severe bicycle accidents involve so much contact that a helmet does not completely keep you safe.

Wrist Injuries

On the other end of the spectrum of common bike injuries are injuries to a biker’s wrists. Crashes frequently throw riders from their bikes, and many of them naturally try to break their fall by putting out their hands. Unfortunately, the force of the impact is often much too high for this to be an effective move. Instead, putting out your hand to break your fall frequently ends with a serious wrist sprain or, more likely, a broken hand or wrist. Depending on the speed and force of the crash, these injuries can require multiple surgeries to fix, as the break can have significant complications.

Leg Injuries

Many bike accidents also lead to leg injuries, especially when the biker was hit from the side in the collision. The force and the weight of the car in these accidents fall directly on the biker’s leg, often causing serious damage to his or her shin, knee, or upper leg. These injuries are very painful, can take extensive time and medical attention before you make a full recovery, and are very debilitating while you are progressing through the recovery process. Worse, leg injuries can be very problematic for bikers, who tend to be active and athletic people who use their legs a lot and enjoy physical activities that need their full use. The loss of life’s enjoyments that leg injuries cause, therefore, can be especially high for bicyclists. 

Road Rash

One of the less severe injuries that bikers frequently suffer in a bike crash is road rash. If the accident is forceful enough to throw you from your bike and you are unable to effectively break your fall, the friction of the pavement can scrape your skin and cause an abrasion.

While road rash might seem like a minor issue, these injuries are incredibly painful and can actually become quite severe if not treated properly. Your skin is your first and most effective line of defense against infection, and when it is broken in such significant quantities like in a road rash injury, preventing an infection becomes more and more difficult. Unfortunately, the best way to do this is through an extensive cleaning, which can be very painful.

Back Injuries

Finally, back injuries are relatively common in bike accidents. Unfortunately, they can also be very severe.

Just like with leg injuries, back injuries are much more common when the collision came from the side. These crashes jolt the biker from side to side in ways that back muscles are poorly designed to compensate for. As a result, these muscles are more likely to get strained or torn and – far more seriously – are unlikely to protect your spinal cord from serious injuries.

Spinal injuries are some of the worst ways for you to get hurt in a bicycle crash in the Baltimore area. Just like with head injuries, spinal injuries are incredibly complex and create complications that not only impact much of the rest of your body but are also very difficult to diagnose and treat. Additionally, injuries to your spinal cord are very debilitating, as well. In some of the most severe cases, there can be nerve damage or partial or total paralysis. Any of these complications from a spinal cord injury can change your life for the worse and strip you of life’s pleasures.

Baltimore Bicycle Accident Attorneys at Gilman & Bedigian

The personal injury attorneys at the law office of Gilman & Bedigian in Baltimore know how difficult it is for bicyclists to safely enjoy the roads of Maryland. Drivers rarely know the rules of the road for bikers and frequently ignore your rights when you are on a bike, causing bike accidents every day. Unfortunately, it is the biker who really suffers in these circumstances, as they are the ones who get hurt.

If you or someone you love was biking in Baltimore, got hit by a car and got hurt, you need legal representation to get the compensation you need and deserve. Contact us online to get your case started.