We are Attorneys and We are Riders
We Represent Arkansas Cyclists
Had a Bicycle Crash in Arkansas?
Contact Ben Dodge to see if the bicycle crash lawyers at Bike Accident Attorneys (BAA) can help. Unlike other lawyers who attempt to represent cyclists, our BAA lawyers actually ride and race their bicycles as well as appear and win in court. Most attorneys are just pencil pushers. We are court room litigators who are passionate about riding our bikes and we have associated local counsel in other states to allow us to help you in your state. Based on our expertise and experience we have also been admitted in other states to appear in court for our bicycle crash clients on a case by case basis. We can help you directly or ensure that you get the quality help you need in your state. Contact Ben Dodge now to see how we can protect your rights.
3 Tips on Choosing the Best Bicycle Crash Lawyer and Avoid Being Scammed
So how do you know if you have the best lawyer? There are 3 things to investigate when hiring a bicycle lawyer that can help you avoid a scammer. Some of that depends on what you think the “best” really means. To me, it is simple. The “best” lawyer will get you to the most advantageous position possible with as little cost as possible. That’s it. Nothing else to it. I have seen too many lawyers give up or miss out on incredible opportunities for their clients because of their own egos arguing the irrelevant issues or pushing too hard in a direction that only generates their own fees as opposed to the results the client would rather have.
The most advantageous position is sometimes not even what the client comes in asking for. I can’t tell you how many times I probably talked myself out of a job in an initial consult because what the client wanted actually puts them in a worse position and I wasn’t afraid to tell them so. It would have been so much easier to just tell them what they desperately wanted to hear, help them feel heard and let them vent a little. All just tell them we better hurry up and rush to court so they can be vindicated. When in reality, that won’t help them at all. So that is what many lawyers do- they try to figure out what the client wants emotionally and then sell them a legal service that matches that emotional need and of course charge them for it based on whatever they think the client is able to pay.
Obviously not all attorneys are this cold-hearted. Many of us actually care. Many of us strive to do right by the client as opposed to just trying to do right by the pocket book.
Here are some general things to watch out for when looking for an attorney, especially a bicycle accident lawyer (I don’t like the word accident, I prefer “crash” – but most of the world uses the term accident and I understand why, so I sue it too). Here are the issues to watch out for:
1) Specific Knowledge
Do they have the specific knowledge required to handle your case? Just because they graduated from law school doesn’t mean they know anything about cycling! In fact, in my opinion, most of the country doesn’t know anything about cycling. It is crazy that all sorts of professionals from police offices charged with enforcing cycling safety to insurance adjusters responsible for finding fault don’t know anything about cycling laws. This is especially true with local rules, ordinances, and even more so with knowledge of local customs and implied expectations of cycling culture and more. Now fast forward to the moment when you are looking for an attorney to help you with your crash (your bicycle accident case) and you see a billboard on the side of the freeway, or a TV commercial, or even a Google search where the words cycling lawyer were used… How much specific knowledge of bicycle cases do you think they really have? Ask them how often they ride? Ask them what their favorite route is? Ask them if they could buy any bike on the planet what would it be and why? These questions will help you quickly identify if they are even remotely plugged into the cycling community and whether or not they have specific knowledge relating to cycling. Why is this important? SIMPLE- as a cyclist you already know that most people (drivers) hate that we are out on the roads. You already have an uphill court battle of public opinion. Being right on some traffic issue isn’t enough for us. Your lawyer must know this intimately in order to successfully navigate the complex negotiations of your case with the insurance company and opposing attorneys and then ultimately in a court room where you can bet no one on the jury will be a cyclist.
Also on the topic of specific knowledge. How many cases like this issue have they handled? What were the outcomes? How confident do you feel with their answers to these questions? Specific case knowledge is helpful. Do they have experience with the opposing insurance company? With that specific police department? With your judge? And on and on.
Specific knowledge is very helpful and you can’t buy it with expensive marketing on billboards, commercials, etc. It is earned with blood, sweat, and sometimes tears through years of experience.
2) Desk or Courtroom
The next thing to investigate is whether or not the attorney you’re thinking about hiring is a desk lawyer (I fondly refer to these lawyers as pencil pushers) or a courtroom lawyer. There is a need for all sorts of lawyers. But unless you are planning on having your bicycle accident attorney draft a will or some contract for you, then you want a courtroom lawyer not a pencil pusher.
I know this is a guess, but in my experience it seems like 95% of lawyers, especially the ones who end up on billboards and commercials, are just pencil pushers. Once their cases get to tough they refer them out to a real lawyer to finish the courtroom stuff for them. Most attorneys talk a big talk in their consult with potential clients about how good they are, but when push comes to shove and they have to actually prove it to you in a courtroom with you watching, their peers (opposing lawyers on the other side of your case) and in front of a judge and jury- they simply freak out and completely drop the ball or settle for less than you should ever take just to avoid the scary courtroom.
Don’t mistakenly hire a pencil pusher. Hire a bicycle accident lawyer who thrives in the courtroom. One simple question to help catch them off guard is ask them when is the last time they were in court? What was it about? What kind of hearing was it? What was the argument they proposed and made to the judge? How did it turn out? These simple questions will help you find out if they are pencil pushers or not. Their hesitation or odd answers are a dead give away that they are likely misleading you on their courtroom abilities and experience.
We are courtroom lawyers, sometimes even going multiple times per week to court. We file lawsuits, we don’t just write a few meaningless settlement letters and sell our clients on how good the settlement is- we prove it to our clients.
3) Do You Recognize Them from a Billboard or Commercial?
Yes I said that right, do you actually recognize them from a billboard or a TV commercial? Why is this even a thing? Well, it sounds harsh but those lawyers out there spending hundreds of thousands of dollars per year (for some they spend that per month) just to recruit new clients may be struggling to get their current and past clients to even refer to them… Yep, what if your lawyer was so good and you were so impressed that you happily sent business to him/or her? See how powerful that is? I’m not saying that everyone who advertises in our line of work is a horrible lawyer. What I am saying is that it is a bit suspect since advertising is NOT cheap and it begs the question as to why they have to advertise in the first place? Is their reputation with their own clients so bad that they have to find an alternative source to finding clients? Possibly. I’m one of those guys who avoids, in fact runs away from any professional I see on a billboard. I’d much rather consult a trusted friend and get their opinion as to whom I should see or NOT see based on their experience.
Not all lawyers who advertise are bad. But like I said, I personally run away from any professional on a billboard or TV commercial. A good old fashioned referral has always proved to be much better much more often. Just sayin’.
These are just 3 of the many things to look out for when you hire a bicycle accident lawyer. Call my office up and we can chat over the phone sometime about all the other million things to look out for like attorney billable hour quotas, bonus structures, professional reputation among peers, and so much more!
We are here for you. We got your back. We protect our own like you’re a member of our tribe. Good luck. Be safe out there and keep the rubber side down.
Contact Ben Dodge and let the lawyers in the Bike Accident Attorneys National Network help you. We will assist you in your case and/or find someone for you in your state that we can trust and recommend. We have your back. We are here for you.
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Arkansas Bicycle Accident Statistics
Resident Population
2,988,000
Total Traffic Fatalities
545
Pedalcyclist Fatalities
3
Percentage of Total Traffic Fatalities
0.6%
Pedalcyclist Fatalities per Million Population
1
Arkansas Bicycle Statutes
Arkansas law does not specifically define a bicycle as a vehicle. In fact, the definition of “vehicle” appears in a section of the Arkansas Code, Annotated titled “Motor Vehicular Traffic” (Title 27, Subtitle 4), so bicycles aren’t included in the definitions. A.C.A. § 27-49-111 contains the lan- guage from the Uniform Vehicle Code which reads, “Every person riding a bicycle or an animal, or driving any animal drawing a vehicle upon a highway, shall have all the rights and all of the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle, except those provisions of this act which by their nature can have no applicability” so as to include cyclists as legitimate and rightful users of the public streets and highways. The specific statutes pertaining to bicycles are found in the Arkansas Code of 1987, Annotated, (“A.C.A.”) Title 27, chapters 49 through 111. Cyclists may use any public road, street, or highway in Arkansas with the exception of the freeways and other controlled-access highways.
You may ride your bicycle on the sidewalks in Arkansas, except in specific cities which have enacted local ordinances that prohibit riding on the sidewalks in the business districts (Little Rock, North Little Rock, Hot Springs, and Maumelle prohibit, directly or indirectly (NLR) cyclists from riding on the sidewalks. LR, Hot Springs, Conway, Maumelle, Fayetteville, and Fort Smith directly prohibit riding on the sidewalks in the business district, NLR indirectly prohibits bikes from all city sidewalks.)
Riding on the streets and public roads in Arkansas generally falls into six general principles in order to comply with state and local law:
1) Drive on the right side of the roadway; never on the left, and never on the sidewalk;
2) Obey all traffic signals and traffic control devices;
3) When you reach a more important or larger road than you are on, yield to crossing traffic;
4) When you intend to change lanes or move laterally on the road- way, yield to traffic in the new lane or line of travel;
5) When approaching an intersection, position yourself with re- spect to the direction of your destination; and
6) Between intersections, position yourself according to your speed relative to other traffic. Bicyclists are required to signal like other vehicles pursuant to A.C.A. § 27- 51-403, but not continuously if they need both hands for safety (A.C.A. § 27-49-111).
When riding at night, Arkansas law (A.C.A. § 27-36-220) requires that you have a white headlight on the front of your bike, and a red tail light on the rear – both visible from at least 500 feet away. You may substitute a red reflector on the rear provided that it is still visible from at least 500 feet away when illuminated. The white and red reflectors that come on your bike from the sporting goods store or bike shop are insufficient; state law requires that you have active lighting systems when riding at night (re- flectors are passive.)
Arkansas does not require either children or adults to wear a bicycle helmet when riding. Little Rock and Fayetteville city ordinances additionally require that a bicycle be equipped with a bell or other device for warning pedestrians, and that it have a brake capable of making the braked wheel skid on dry, level pavement.
Additional information (aimed exclusively at motorists) is found in the Arkansas Driver’s License Study Guide (https://www.arkansas.gov/dfa/ driver_services/ds_documents.html), not all of which is covered under Title 27 of the Arkansas Code of 1987.
Summary of Major Violations for Bicyclists in Arkansas:
- Failure to operate on right half of road: A.C.A. § 27-51-301
- Riding wrong way on one-way street: A.C.A. § 27-51-304 (Class C misdemeanor)
- Moving across roadway without yielding: A.C.A. § 27-51-403 (a)
- Entering intersection on red signal: A.C.A. § 27-52-107.
- Failure to yield the right of way at stop or yield sign: A.C.A. § 27-51-503, § 27-51-601
- Failure to yield the right of way before entering roadway: A.C.A. § 27-51-603
- Failure to use head light: A.C.A. § 27-36-220(a)
- Failure to use rear light or reflector: A.C.A. § 27-36-220(a) and (b)
- Failure to yield to pedestrians in crosswalk not controlled by traffic signals: A.C.A. § 27-51-1202
- Driving while intoxicated: Applicable only to motor vehicles. (You can’t get a DWI or DUI on a bicycle in Arkansas, however you may still be cited for “public drunkenness.”) Summary of Major Violations for Motorists in Arkansas:
- Failure to make right turn from rightmost part of roadway: A.C.A. § 27-51-401 (1)
- Failure to yield when turning left: A.C.A. § 27-51-502
- Entering intersection on red signal: A.C.A. § 27-52-107.
- Failure to yield the right of way at stop or yield sign: A.C.A. § 27-51-503, § 27-51-601
- Failure to yield the right of way before entering roadway: A.C.A. § 27-51-603
- Failure to yield the right of way before starting from parked position: A.C.A. § 27-51-1308
- Unsafe distance when overtaking: A.C.A. § 27-51-306
- Unsafe distance (< 3 feet) when passing a cyclist: A.C.A. § 27- 51-311
- Unsafe place to overtake on left: A.C.A. § 27-51-307
- Unsafe overtaking on right: A.C.A. § 27-51-308
- Operating at unsafe speed: A.C.A. § 27-51-201
- Speeding in excess of 15 MPH over posted speed limit – Class C misdemeanor
- Opening door of motor vehicle when unsafe: A.C.A. § 27-51-1307
- Failure to yield to pedestrians in crosswalk not controlled by traffic signals: A.C.A. § 27-51-1202
Source: https://www.arkansashighways.com/act300/AR%20Motor%20Veh%2011E.pdf
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