Professional triathlete Jordan Rapp was struck by a car while riding his bicycle on March 23, 2010. He was taken to St. Johns Regional Medical Center in Oxnard, California with reported injuries including numerous broken bones including his clavicle and scapula, as well as contusions and lacerations about the head and neck. He reportedly lost between two and three liters of blood as a result of the accident and was in the ICU.
The accident occurred at roughly 5:40pm on Tuesday, the 23rd of March. California Highway Patrol officer Frank Paramo said the accident is "consistent with a left hand turn" made in front of an oncoming cyclist. Officer Paramo suspects a commuting "farm worker" made a left-hand turn into oncoming traffic. The accident occurred at the intersection of Lewis Road and Old Lewis Road in the Los Angeles County area of Oxnard.
Here's another reason to increase your uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage limits. You can't control who's going to hit you, but you can control how much coverage you have under your own auto policy!
Showing posts with label insurance coverage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label insurance coverage. Show all posts
Friday, March 26, 2010
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Insure Thyself: Underinsured Motorist Coverage
Today I am going to post a little something about insurance. Sorry to pull the lawyer thing but this is Boston Bike Law, and I am a lawyer after all. Ok here goes:
If you own a car and have registered it in Massachusetts, then you probably have auto insurance. Some of the coverage is mandatory (so if you don't have it you better get it) but some of it is optional and not all drivers have it (or if they have it they don't have enough of it). If you ride bikes, there is a type of optional coverage you really need to look into called underinsured motorist coverage. The coverage potentially applies whether you are in your car, on your bike or hoofing it through Boston traffic on foot.
Why should you consider buying additional underinsured motorist coverage? Because if you get hit by a car while riding your bike, you don't get to choose the net worth of the person who hits you. See all those taxicabs, beaters and tuners out there? Assume they only have $20,000.00 in liability coverage. Medical bills alone can eat up $20,000.00 pretty quickly. If you beef up your underinsured motorist benefits your own insurance policy can make up some or all of the gap in liability insurance coverage which would otherwise exist.
So you may want to go and review your policy declarations page to see the coverage you have, and then talk to your agent about what it would cost to add some additional underinsured motorist coverage. If you ride a bike in Massachusetts, you may find that it's worth it to pay a bit more in premium for some extra coverage.
If you own a car and have registered it in Massachusetts, then you probably have auto insurance. Some of the coverage is mandatory (so if you don't have it you better get it) but some of it is optional and not all drivers have it (or if they have it they don't have enough of it). If you ride bikes, there is a type of optional coverage you really need to look into called underinsured motorist coverage. The coverage potentially applies whether you are in your car, on your bike or hoofing it through Boston traffic on foot.
Why should you consider buying additional underinsured motorist coverage? Because if you get hit by a car while riding your bike, you don't get to choose the net worth of the person who hits you. See all those taxicabs, beaters and tuners out there? Assume they only have $20,000.00 in liability coverage. Medical bills alone can eat up $20,000.00 pretty quickly. If you beef up your underinsured motorist benefits your own insurance policy can make up some or all of the gap in liability insurance coverage which would otherwise exist.
So you may want to go and review your policy declarations page to see the coverage you have, and then talk to your agent about what it would cost to add some additional underinsured motorist coverage. If you ride a bike in Massachusetts, you may find that it's worth it to pay a bit more in premium for some extra coverage.
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