Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was struck by an automobile while riding his bicycle last week. Read on to find out how Los Angeles streets are becoming increasingly dangerous.

The increasing concern among citizens for the safety of bicycle riders on Los Angeles streets was reinforced on Saturday when Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was flung off of his bicycle after being hit by a taxicab. The accident occurred at around 7p.m. on Venice Boulevard in the Mid-City area. As the Mayor rode in the bicycle lane, the taxicab driver exited a parking space without looking, quickly pulling out in front of him. Villaraigosa subsequently lost control of his bicycle, falling to the ground. The impact broke his elbow. According to the Los Angeles Bicycle Accident Lawyer, the Mayor’s accident is the culmination of increasingly unsafe riding conditions for bicyclists on city streets.

Villaraigosa received treatment for the broken bone at Ronald Reagan/UCLA Medical Center and is now resting at the Getty House, his official place of residence. Compared to the accidents and injuries the Los Angeles Bicycle Accident Lawyer has encountered, the Mayor was lucky to have only sustained a broken bone.

A July 4, 2008 incident of road rage directed toward two bicyclists highlights not only how dangerous L.A. streets have become, but also the strained relationship between cyclists and motorists in the city. On that day, an emergency room physician driving alongside a group of bicyclists abruptly slammed on his brakes, sending one cyclist crashing into his rear-view mirror and another to the ground. The first cyclist suffered a broken nose and front teeth and abrasions to the face and the second, a separated shoulder. The doctor, Christopher Thompson, 60, of Brentwood, claimed that cyclists had responded to his request for them to ride single file by shouting obscenities and flipping him off. When he stopped to take a photo, the cyclists were flung into his car.

The judge in the case, however, found the cyclists’ account of the incident more credible—especially after considering Thompson’s previous run-ins with bicyclists. According to the cyclists, Thompson had displayed road rage toward them from the start: honking, driving too close, and then suddenly stopping. Thompson was convicted of mayhem, assault with a deadly weapon, battery with serious injury, and reckless driving causing injury. He will spend the next 5 years in prison.

This incident, and others like it, has prompted bicyclists and safety advocates to request more bicycle lanes, a sentiment also expressed by the judge in the Thompson case. Others have advocated that some of the funds from Measure R—the 2008 sales tax for transportation projects—be diverted for bicycle safety initiatives.

“If the Mayor is not safe riding in this city, then who is?” is the question on many Angelinos’ minds this week.

If you have been injured in a bicycle accident and need legal advice, call the Los Angeles Bicycle Accident Lawyer at 866-981-5596.