Minneapolis Personal Injury Blog

A Minnesota Department of Public Safety report confirms that four bicyclists were killed in Minnesota in 2011, which is the lowest number of deaths since 2007.  During the years of 2008-2010, there were reports of thirty two bicyclist killed and 2,836 suffering personal injuries.

Among other findings in the DPS report is that most bicycle collisions happened during the afternoon rush hours and that more than one half of the crashes involved bicyclists under the age of twenty five years old.

The Law Offices of Howard Sussman practices in the area of personal injury and represents injured bicyclists in collisions.  Our law offices are located in Minneapolis, Plymouth, Burnsville and St. Paul Minnesota.

In the early morning of  November 6, 2011 two people took advantage of the Regional Bike Trail close to the Hopkins-St. Louis Park border and tried riding their motorcycle over a thirty two foot high trail bridge, but crashed on the bridge and fell onto the rocky shore of the Minnehaha Creek..  Hopkins Police Sgt. Michael Glassberg reported that the Three Rivers Park police responded to a neighbor’s report of the motorcycle crash and found a twenty four year old man and a twenty seven year old woman lying on the rocks next to the river with personal injuries.  The injured couple were take from the accident scene to Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis.  The police reported that unsafe speed was a crash factor and the matter would be referred to the City Attorney for possible charges.

The April, 2011 death of Audrey Hull who was riding her bicycle near the intersection of 15th Avenue SE and 4th Street SE when she was struck by a dump truck has helped lead to bike lane changes along a two block length from 15th Avenue, which connects the University of Minnesota’s East campus with Dinkytown.  The City of Minneapolis estimates that this area averages approximately 3500 bicycle rides and 12,000 car and truck trips daily.  The bike lanes in this area are now marked green in the middle of the intersections.  The goal of the colored lanes in the middle of the intersection is to make drivers turning at the corners to be more vigilant of bicycle traffic and to make bikers have a better idea where to ride.

On August 27, 2009, Lisa Ann Roden of Excelsior, Minnesota was hit on by another cyclist in a tunnel located at the Hyland Lake Park Reserve in Bloomington, Minnesota. Ms. Roden was transported by ambulance to Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis where she died the next day because of her head injury. This fatal head injury occurred in spite of the fact that Ms. Roden was wearing a protective helmet at the time of the crash.

The tunnel in which the accident occurred had been a point of concern before the fatal accident because of a combination of a curve on the trail and a downhill run that creates bad sightlines for bicyclist using the tunnel. Park users warned Three Rivers Park District that there were bicyclist accidents happening at this point resulting in serious injuries prior to the fatal accident. These past warnings, combined with Ms. Roden’s fatal bike accident, have Park Officials now considering whether to add new safety precautions, including more signs warning bicyclists about the dangerous area or better markings dividing the bike path lanes.