It is a tired excuse, “the sun was in my eyes.” This is what a driver claimed after striking a woman in Champaign, Illinois on June 12, 2020 causing her multiple fractures. But when she came to our law firm seeking help we knew that the driver’s excuse was, in fact, powerful evidence of his own carelessness. It is a simple rule of driving, codified in law and commonsense, that if you cannot see, you may not proceed. After filing a lawsuit against him, we secured a settlement with the driver providing full compensation of the injured bicyclist.

As the video shows, our client was riding her bicycle in a crosswalk when she was struck by the right turning driver. This is permitted under Illinois law, which expressly allows people on bikes to ride in crosswalks, so long as they yield to any pedestrians who may be present. Though she had been on the sidewalk, not permitted by local ordinance, that fact did not cause the crash. Had she been on foot rather than astride her bike, the collision likely still would have occurred. In the crosswalk she should have been clearly visible to anyone paying attention, and wearing sunglasses. Also, the no-sidewalk-riding ordinance could not have been used as a defense by the driver and his attorneys since the ordinance was enacted to protect pedestrians from adult cyclists using the sidewalk. It was not meant to protect drivers from cyclists, an obviously silly notion.