Bikes: Risks and Rights

On the 21st, I had the privilege of making a presentation at a CLE (continuing legal education - attorneys in Washington have to get 45 credits in 3 years to keep our license). The topic that I was assigned to present, along with another "cycling" attorney, was "Bicycles: Risks and Rights."

I'd put a lot of time into preparing, and also into learning enough to make my very first Power Point presentation (thanks Sparky!).

The day before the CLE, I drove to Tacoma. I'd booked a hotel a block from the convention center where I was to speak, the Hotel Murano. It had stunning art glass, not only in the lobby but as you got off the elevator on each floor. As you got off at your floor there was a museum-like exhibit of a piece, plus an explanation of how it was made and comments from the artist. Its location is just a short distance from the Chihully Glass Museum, which, alas, I did not have the opportunity to take in. As a plus, it was $80 cheaper than the Marriott, which was across the street from the convention center.

Sparky drove down the evening before, and took me out for a superb dinner at the El Gaucho steak house. Fabulous conversation, and the food wasn't bad either.

The title of the CLE was "Planes, Trains, Automobiles and More!" I think that I was the "more" with my bike presentation. The speakers who did plane crashes and trains talked about spending up to $500,000 in costs to bring a case to trial. Obviously, some of the heavy hitters of the Washington plaintiff's bar.

However, my co-presenter John Duggan and I had knowledge that they didn't about bike law - such as, that a cyclist hit by a car can access the medical payments coverage (PIP) of the car.

The lead-in to my portion was talking about what happened when Ann was killed, which is always hard, but personalized what I went on to talk about with the safe passing law. I began my talk: "On Mother's Day, 2004, I became an evangelist for bicycling safety." I then showed a picture of Ann cycling, and went on from there to talk about what had happened that day, the changes brought about with the Safe Passing law and other parts of bike law and rights in Washington.

Comments were favorable; one of the other speakers said that I should have gotten a medal for what I'd done - I said that wasn't why I did it, that it was something I've been called to do in life. He said he knew, but admired me for choosing to put myself on the line.

After the seminar was finished, I drove down to Longview, and spent the night at Wendy & Josh's. Wendy was our first "extra" kid, and Josh might as well have lived at our house.... It was great to catch up with them a bit.

All in all, a stretching experience.