Bike Crash: There's an App for That
As the Boy Scouts say, "be prepared" — this app helps you respond quickly if you are a dust-up in New York City, sponsored, of course, by a personal injury firm.
By Jesse Londin All Articles
Law Technology News
August 5, 2013
This was a bike collision app waiting to happen.
Bike Crash Kit, the free offering for smartphones (iOS and Android) has got the lane covered for New York area cyclists who are spinning their wheels about what to do in the event of a bicycle collision. This app helps users cruise through basic bike law, emergency numbers, and easy tools and screens set up for recording information pertaining to a bike bang-up.
Bike Crash Kit is a natural move to mobile from Flanzig and Flanzig a New York personal injury firm that enthusiasts may recognize as the hosts of the comprehensive, specialty bike law website, NewYorkBikeLawyers.com.
The firm wheeled out this app last year, in plenty of time for May 2013 — when America's most populous city launched the instantly cool and popular Citi Bike bicycle sharing program. With 800 miles of bike lanes and paths in the Big Apple, New York's biking population grew by many thousands almost overnight. That's lots of potential new clients for litigators.
This app's for lawyers who bike, too. Like Daniel Flanzig (an avid bike rider who's had encounters with "more than one cab"), countless lawyers live, work, and travel in N.Y.C. Before you hit the mean streets to bike off stress or tour the town on two wheels, download Bike Crash Kit.
In the event of a mishap — if you can find your smartphone and it still works — open the app and click on "New Crash" to record collision-related data, starting with the names and contact info for any driver, vehicle, witnesses, and police involved in the occurrence.
Key in the collision time, date, and location, along with weather and road conditions. Hit the "Media" icon to select the app's camera, recorder, notepad, and drawing options. Sure, every smartphone already has these features, but you can use them here to keep all your crash images and data together.
The "Emergency" menu includes links to call a nearby bike shop, hospital, taxi, 911, and, of course, Flanzig's offices. In between crackups, but not while pedaling, delve into the app's "collision Info Guide" that includes FAQs, insurance information, and New York state and N.Y.C. bike laws.
Fill in the "Personal Info" menu in advance, in case you bang your head on the pavement and suffer amnesia or for some other reason forget your own first and last name, address, email, and bike make and model.
Of course, if you're collision-prone and have been down this app road before, you can select "Modify Old Crash" to edit your data for earlier accidents.
Flanzig and Flanzig is also the creator of Bikewitness.org , an innovative website to connect crash victims with witnesses. Post to this site through Facebook or Twitter. Or, as Flanzig's Twitter account for this project, @bikewitness, instructs, "If you see something, tweet something," using the hashtag #bikewitness.
So wear your helmet and be prepared for mishaps and mayhem on the rough-and-tumble N.Y.C. streets with the Bike Crash Kit. Look for an update this summer that the firm says will include a link to Citi Bike stations.
BCKis not the only app to specialize in collision law on-the-go. Many other tort lawyers across the jurisdictions find mobile space a natural fit for their fast-moving practices. Accident and injury law apps proliferate. There's even another Bike Crash Kit — put together by Flanzig's app developer, this time for a practitioner in Miami.
After all, no one knows better than sure-footed collision counsel that anything can happen, anywhere, anytime. Apps like this make nifty mobile calling cards for civil litigators to keep their emergency contact info, along with selected digital help offerings, safely downloaded on clients' smartphones.
collision and injury lawyers don't have to proverbially chase ambulances any longer: There's an app for that.
Attorney Jesse Londin is a New York-based freelance writer. Email: buzz@londin.com.