Game of side-by-side chicken leaves Poway cyclist injured

Designated bike lanes are found scattered all across California. These lanes were added to help give bikes a safe place on the road and room away from the congestion of pedestrian traffic. The only problem is that the drivers of motor vehicles still have to pay attention to their surroundings in order to make these lanes work.

That didn’t happen in Poway when two vehicles played a kind of side-by-side chicken, a maneuver that caused the cyclist traveling in a parallel bike lane to suffer serious injuries that day.

San Diego County deputies confirmed that two vehicles had been travelling next to each other in two lanes on State Route 67. When the two lanes merged into one neither of the two vehicles yielded to the other. With the car on the left and the truck on the right, this failure to yield caused the two vehicles to collide.

At the end of the collision, the truck driver swerved to the right and directly into the path of the 38-year-old cyclist pedaling her bike in a charity event. The young woman was taken to a nearby hospital where it was determined that she had broken her neck and collarbone and suffered a concussion.

The accident occurred on Oct. 26. An arrest warrant was issued on Nov. 19, and on Sunday, Jan. 5 Poway sheriff’s deputies took the driver of the vehicle into custody on a felony warrant for reckless driving resulting in serious injury.

Even though there were criminal charges filed in relation to this incident, it doesn’t prevent the victim from filing separate claims in a civil court of law. A personal injury lawsuit not only holds a party responsible for negligent actions, but it provides the compensation that a victim often needs to recover.