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036 Micromobility

036 Micromobility

Lawyers in the House with Montlick

Attorneys in Podcast: Mike Moran, Esq.

“Micromobility.” It’s a word that has gained popularity in recent years to describe all the ways (new and old) people are getting around without cars. Bicycles, bike shares, e-scooters, skateboards, e-bikes…it’s becoming more and more popular way of getting around in congested urban centers.

Maybe your city has seen e-scooters littering the sidewalk, or a bike-share option has popped up near you.

Montlick attorney Mike Moran is here to help you know the laws and how to stay safe before you take to the road on one of these transportation modes.

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The purpose of this show is to provide general information about the law. Our guests will not provide any individualized legal advice. If you have a personal situation and need legal advice, contact us for your free legal consultation with a Montlick attorney.

Topics Discussed on the Podcast

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00:05	ANNOUNCER: Welcome to Lawyers in the House. With Montlick. Wish you had a lawyer in the family? Now you do. Here’s your host. Veronica Waters. VERONICA: Welcome to Lawyers in the House with Montlick. I’m your host, Veronica Waters, so happy to be back with you for another week for a fantastic show, talking about all things legal and how the law can help you in your everyday life.
00:32	VERONICA: You know if we looked at the landscape of the commute that we have today, one of my favorite movies probably would be now called Planes, Trains, Automobiles, E-bikes, and Scooters. There used to be a time when the roads were just put aside for buses and cars and trucks, right?
00:57	VERONICA: But now when you look in cities like ours, where we’re sitting today in Atlanta, Georgia, you are seeing what’s called micromobility all across the roads and streets. And it’s really making that landscape of our commute look a lot different. The way we’re getting around in some cities simply is going micro and we’re talking about micromobility safety today. And what happens whether you’re using it, or are simply sharing the road with someone who is, and what happens when one of you gets hurt.
01:31	VERONICA: To join us today for this extra special episode, we have a return visitor to Lawyers in the House. The amazing Mike Moran is in the house with me today. Mike, thanks so much for being in the House. MIKE: Thank you so much for having me again. It’s great to see you again. VERONICA: I love having you here. Now, I want to say that you have been with us on a couple of shows. We last talked about long shot cases.
01:55	VERONICA: If you are familiar with Mike, you remember that he is one of those attorneys who takes pure joy in getting cases that other law firms or insurance companies have rejected and said “no way” to. And with a lot of compassion and diligence and dedication he finds big victories for his clients. I want to say that Mike got his degrees in Pennsylvania? MIKE: In Pennsylvania and in New York. VERONICA: Yes, Pennsylvania and New York. He is a husband and a father of kids and dogs.
02:27	MIKE: Yeah. VERONICA: And loves to travel with his pack. They love to take good trips and Mike’s a very strong swimmer. Maybe he’ll tell us about this riptide or whirlpool incident he had in the ocean one time. He’s really- he’s really incredible and I want to say thanks so much Mike for being back in the house with me today. MIKE: I appreciate the opportunity and that is a great movie. Thanks for sharing. This is a little personal to me. I have two kids, 16 and 13. They like to bike. They like to use scooters. And we live in the city.
02:56	MIKE: And so, you know, getting around is obviously the utmost importance, but doing it safely can be a challenge. And so thrilled to be here today to talk a little bit about what everybody’s responsibilities are and how these things are governed. VERONICA: You know, Mike, you have shared with us before that you had a very personal experience that had nothing to do with micromobility that sort of, I think, maybe gave you a little bit of the calling to get into personal injury law.
03:28	MIKE: Yeah, absolutely. My sister is much younger than me and was involved in a motor vehicle collision and really badly hurt and had a delay of symptoms. And then ultimately because of that delay, the insurance company denied her claim. And so, I watched that from afar. I wasn’t even in law school at that time, but certainly inspired me to do that. And so now I’m working for families and I’m working for people who are pedestrians all the time and people who are on bikes and scooters all the time.
04:01	MIKE: And oftentimes kids. And my job is to help guide them through the after effects of what happens. And sometimes these things can bring very serious injuries for obvious reasons when it’s car versus pedestrian or car versus a person on a bike. And so, it’s no less of a David versus Goliath kind of thing.
04:27	VERONICA: It is scary. And I think I’ve said before, when you think about the damage and the injuries, property damage and personal body damage that can come from a motor vehicle accident, imagine how much worse it is when it’s not two vehicles hitting together. But a vehicle versus a person. MIKE: Yeah, it’s horrible. And what can make matters worse is because of that and because the seriousness of the injuries oftentimes the- the injured party, the biker or the pedestrian or the child is taken away in an ambulance before the police ever even arrive.
05:02	MIKE: And… or certainly before they can be interviewed. So, a lot of times what we see in our practice is you get these upside down, if you will, police reports that aren’t really accurate because it’s one sided. And it’s coming from the driver of the automobile, typically. And so, when you have these bike versus car, you have pedestrian versus car. You typically get one sided police reports.
05:31	VERONICA: Must be hard. Seeing that as an injury attorney. MIKE: It’s frustrating. It’s really helpful if we are involved right away because we typically go to the scene and recreate what happened. We hopefully track down witnesses as quickly as possible while memories are fresh. So, it’s really helpful if we’re involved right away and something like that because evidence goes away.
06:00	MIKE: And so, we like to jump right at it. I think a scene investigation in these kind of cases are probably of the utmost importance. VERONICA: Let’s talk about how we get to one of those scenes in the first place. We’re talking about micro mobility safety today. And to sort of generally define micro mobility, it has to do with a range of small and lightweight vehicles usually a thousand pounds or less, which operate typically at speeds 25 mph, maybe 35 mph and below. And they’re personally driven vehicles.
06:29	VERONICA: So, we’re talking about bicycles, e-bikes, scooters, electric skateboards, those shared bicycle fleets that you see, electric pedal assisted bicycles, and I think even walking actually is defined as a mode of micromobility. So here in Atlanta, I mentioned, and in a lot of cities across the country, you’re probably seeing this in your own backyards. These scooters in particular have just boomed over the past decade.
06:59	VERONICA: It’s incredible how we seem to go overnight almost from nothing on the streets to boom. What are these little bladed things, you know, around me all the time? MIKE: Yeah, they’re fascinating. They’re helpful. I’ve ridden them, they’re great. VERONICA: You’ve ridden a scooter. MIKE: I have. VERONICA: How’d you do? MIKE: At first, I was a little shaky, but I’ll tell you what I did. And I think everybody should do this. If you first are going to ride one, you should take it to a parking lot and get your feet underneath you, if you will.
07:30	MIKE: And be comfortable with it before you want to be out on a road, out on a path, a bike lane with other people. So, don’t just get on it and go you know if you can. VERONICA: That’s such a great idea because I’ve never seen anybody… like there’s never an attendant at one of these fleets where you see them, you know, stacked up on the sidewalk or whatever. Nobody’s like, okay, here’s a primer on how to do this thing. MIKE: Right, right. There isn’t. And so, you see a lot of novices on it. And the biggest thing is, you know, everyone needs to know these are considered motor vehicles.
08:01	MIKE: Like they are governed by laws that govern cars. Same for bikes. And same for scooters, same for… any vehicle like that is considered a motor vehicle. And people don’t realize that. And it’s important that they understand that. So, for example, if they are driving one of these things, they have to be driving with the flow of traffic. You cannot be driving these things against the flow of traffic. You have to be on the right side of the road and going with traffic.
08:31	MIKE: So, there’s all kinds of laws that govern motor vehicles. They actually govern bikes, and they actually govern these scooters as well, and people need to know that. And there’s other things. You need to drive them as far to the right as you can of a roadway. And I say that because you can’t be on a sidewalk. You’re not allowed to ride these on a sidewalk. VERONICA: Yeah, in the city of Atlanta, I think it could… laws could be different state to state, city to city, but I know that in the city of Atlanta, you’re not allowed to ride scooters or bikes on the sidewalk. MIKE: No, you’re not.
08:59	MIKE: And people don’t know that. A lot of people don’t know that, and it’s dangerous for pedestrians. And so, the law looks at us two different ways. If you’re a pedestrian… and a pedestrian’s a jog or a runner, a walker, just somebody out there, even a motorized wheelchair is a pedestrian. And so, they have their own kind of governing laws that are protecting them. And then scooters, bikes are different. They are governed by a whole other set of laws. Only pedestrians can be on sidewalks. period. And scooters and bikes cannot be on sidewalks.
09:29	MIKE: And that’s something that certainly is designed to protect pedestrians. VERONICA: It’s got to be dangerous, though, out there when so much of so many cities don’t have things like protected bike lanes or whatever kind of infrastructure would sort of give these small motorized vehicles a safer avenue. And whether those lanes exist or not, I know a lot of us have seen scooter riders dashing in and out of traffic, blowing past red lights.
09:59	VERONICA: I saw a video on YouTube one time where some guy just went… he was actually doing crossing the street and he just is going right across the crosswalk, but against the traffic and traffic is coming this way and they meet perfectly, and he goes flying. Now, thankfully, he gets up after a couple of seconds. And walks away. But clearly dazed. MIKE: Yeah, absolutely. Helmets are important, right? People don’t recognize that.
10:28	MIKE: I think if you’re 16 or under, you have to have a helmet, first of all, whether it’s a bike or a scooter, but I don’t think it’s a bad idea for adults either, of course. VERONICA: Where do you have to have a helmet? Is it here? Is it in Georgia? MIKE: In Georgia, it’s 16 and under that’s required. And that’s for bikes or scooters. But we certainly encourage everybody to have helmets. Because when you’re riding these things, you know, certainly I talked to you about my unsteadiness at first and nervousness riding these things, I could hurt myself.
10:58	MIKE: And you can always hurt yourself, but you can’t control how other people behave around you when you’re riding these, namely other vehicles, cars. And so, a helmet is always a good idea for any age group. VERONICA: Is that in the waiver? You know, of… we were talking recently about waivers, and I know that there’s… I’ve heard people talk about the speed with which you can rent one of these vehicles.
11:21	VERONICA: You download an app, you check out this bike, you sign a waiver that says yes to whatever terms and conditions are on there, but these things are multiple written pages long. I can’t imagine that someone is standing there on a cell phone reading through hundreds of pages of… or dozens of pages of documents. MIKE: Right, well, they do try to age restrict those rentals, right? But somebody… a child with a credit card or, you know, an app on their phone… It’s a little bit difficult to monitor that.
11:51	MIKE: If they rent from a brick and mortar store, the law requires them to issue a helmet under those ages. So, and you can rent these from brick and mortar stores, but it’s harder to monitor and control when it’s kids with credit cards and apps. And I really hope that parents will work with kids about safety, about the rules of the road, riding on the right side, riding as close to the right side as you as you can.
12:18	MIKE: You really, that’s what the law says, that when you’re riding a bike or scooter, you have to be as close to the right of the road as you can be unless you’re going to turn left. Then you’re allowed to be over in the left part of the lane because obviously you’re going to turn. So, you know although it’s stressful for motorists, they too need to know what their responsibilities are. So hopefully we can talk a little bit about that. VERONICA: I think we definitely should talk about what are my responsibilities when I’m behind the wheel, not just the responsibilities of the folks who are actually on the scooters themselves.
12:50	VERONICA: I know a lot of people are turning and they don’t remember to look both ways. It’s not just when you’re crossing the street, it’s when you’re about to drive onto one, too. And that’s something that we should talk about. Whose responsibilities land where? And let’s talk a little bit about the cases that you had before you. You have been practicing just at Montlick alone for 20 years. And I’m sure you’ve seen a lot of these cases. So, coming up on Lawyers in the House, we’ll talk a little bit more about how complex these cases can start to be once they happen.
13:20	VERONICA: I’m Veronica Waters, this is Lawyers in the House. You’re listening to our podcast, Lawyers in the House with Montlick. Join us 8 a.m. every Sunday if you want to listen live on 95.5 WSB. VERONICA: All right, we are talking micromobility safety here today on Lawyers in the House. Thanks so much for being with us. I’m Veronica Waters, your host, with special guest Mike Moran, Montlick injury attorney, and Mike is also a scooter veteran, I’ve learned today.
13:53	MIKE: I’ve tried. VERONICA: And you have been practicing, I mentioned, at Montlick alone for 20 years. How long have you been an attorney now? MIKE: I’ve been with Montlick for 20 years and I’ve been licensed a little bit over 18. VERONICA: Okay, so you have been with Montlick for two decades and certainly seen quite a number of micromobility related cases, whether they be bikes, scooters, mopeds. MIKE: Yeah, absolutely.
14:19	MIKE: And the common thread that I see through them all is insurance issues. And when people have insurance, they have to purchase liability. Like if they hurt someone, if I hurt someone, I have liability. But what they don’t realize is they’re being sold the state minimum, an awful lot. And a state minimum in Georgia’s 25,000. And that is often just leaving them under insured for what can happen in situations if there is a automobile versus bike or automobile versus pedestrian.
14:54	MIKE: The ER trip with the ambulance can exceed 25,000 for somebody who’s injured like this with a break or surgery or anything like that. And that’s just the first visit, right? So, these things can be a nightmare because we’re often seeing that people who were negligent and driving the vehicle and struck a pedestrian or a scooter or a bicyclist have the state minimum. So, what happens then? Well, people don’t realize that you can purchase for your own self uninsured motorist coverage.
15:25	VERONICA: Do I have to own a car to do it? MIKE: You do, yes. But you would be protecting your family. So, if you have kids, it actually extends to them. If you live with a relative of yours, it’s called a resident relative and extends to them. It starts with the car in the home for sure. And there’s two kinds of uninsured motorist coverage. There is a traditional kind. Back when I first started, like you said, a billion years ago. VERONICA: You said that.
15:54	MIKE: There was only one kind. There was just uninsured motorist coverage. And if somebody at 25 and you had 25, it was a push. There was nothing to recover. The laws changed a little bit now, and we’re allowed to purchase what’s called stackable uninsured motorist coverage or add on some companies call it. And that means that if the person has 25 and it’s just not enough, you can add on your own policy, whatever increment you have. You could have more, you can have 25, 50, hundred, so on. Up to a million if you wanted.
16:22	MIKE: But that’s the key is families need to look at their insurance portfolio and add on uninsured motorist coverage and put on the kind that stacks, the add on kind. I think that’s super important. VERONICA: How would I know how to start navigating this, Mike, if I’m in an accident like this? MIKE: Well call us at 1 800-LAW-NEED right away right when it happens and let us look into this for you and take that burden off your back and create the notice that’s required and cross the other T’s that you probably don’t know exist.
16:53	VERONICA: Talking about stacking coverage dotting I’s and crossing T’s, how complex can these micromobility cases go. We’re going to go in depth coming up on Lawyers in the House with Montlick on Veronica Waters. You’re listening to our podcast Lawyers in the House with Montlick. Join us 8 a.m. every Sunday on 95.5 WSP. VERONICA: Welcome back to Lawyers in the House with Montlick. I’m your host Veronica Waters and wanted to remind you here as I sit with special guest Mike Moran from Montlick injury attorneys that if you missed any part of this fantastic show on micromobility…
17:31	VERONICA: I know I’m learning a lot. Maybe you want to hear some of the Cliffs Notes again. We’ve got you. Just make sure that you follow us on your favorite podcast platform iTunes, Google podcasts, Sstitcher Spotify. I can’t even name them all. Just subscribe to us. Every time the new episode drops you will get notification of it right away. And remember, you can always hang out with us all throughout the week. Follow us on every social media platform @MontlickLaw. And FYI, send us a line 24/7 at LawyersintheHouse.com.
18:01	VERONICA: Mike Moran, we’re talking about micro mobility safety today. And it’s not just planes, trains, and automobiles getting us from point A to point B anymore. It’s bikes and e-bikes and scooters. Oh my. MIKE: Yeah, they’re exciting. It’s an exciting way to go. And it’s individuals. It’s people in groups. And so, you know in a busy city, I know coming in traffic to work in the morning can take a long time on a highway in a car and it can often be cut by a huge fractions if you use micro mobility.
18:32	MIKE: So, I think there’s certainly an exciting future for it. VERONICA: Now, a lot of people talk about the benefits of micromobility because it is good for the environment. And as you said, it can do some of those first mile, last mile options, particularly for people who may be using public transit to get you to the start of your trip and to the end of your trip, your final destination. But there are some hazards that we really need to address about just how safe this is.
19:02	VERONICA: You’re a personal injury attorney, Mike Moran, and I was recently reading from the Journal of the American Medical Association’s latest statistics about these kinds of scooter accidents. They see often fractures and head injuries. From these type… And more so with scooters, they said than actually bikes. MIKE: Yeah, there’s certainly just horrible injuries with the vehicle versus pedestrian versus scooters.
19:34	MIKE: And as a motorist myself, I know that you know there’s angst when you approach somebody on a bike or on a scooter. And people coming into the city who maybe don’t come in a lot, probably experience that as well. For example, in Georgia, we have a three feet law, right? And what that means is you’re supposed to stay three feet away from the scooter. As the automobile driver, as the car driver, you’re supposed to stay three feet away from the bicyclist. If you come across one and there’s two lanes in your lane of travel, you’re supposed to switch to the other lane.
20:05	MIKE: Give them their lane. That’s very important for people to do. If you can. You’re supposed to reduce your speed by at least 10 mph as you approach a bike or a scooter. And so those are very important things to do, and people don’t often know what to do when they approach these things. And there is a level of angst, but… VERONICA: if not outright anger. Not to interrupt you, Mike, but let’s be honest, I’ve seen case after case of drivers who are, for some reason, angry that there are cyclists on the road.
20:36	MIKE: Yeah, well, and they’re concerned as I suspect sometimes that the bike isn’t going, the speed limit. And if that’s the case, the bike does need to be to the far right. Fair enough. But they need to be situationally aware of these bikes and scooters because they’re all over. And they’re going to remain. And I think certainly they need to know their responsibility to reduce their speed and change lanes if possible. I think that’s very important.
21:04	VERONICA: Let’s talk about what happens when these injuries happen. Somebody calls you up. Mike Moran, give me an idea of just how complex these cases can get. MIKE: Sure, we work these cases nationwide and the laws differ from state to state, but I will tell you that we rarely find where the investigating officer has assigned fault to the actual car or the automobile. It’s just rare.
21:30	MIKE: And I don’t know if there’s this unconscious bias towards scooters or bikes, but that’s always an uphill battle that we find right away. Maybe it’s because like we said earlier, they’re often serious injuries and they’re just not there at the scene to give their side. But either way, these are difficult to start because certainly it seems like it’s an uphill battle right away. And so that’s important to call us right away. Let us get to the scene. Let us recreate what happened. Let us track down witnesses.
22:01	MIKE: I had a client one time. It was a pedestrian and given a citation for not crossing in a crosswalk. And granted it was investigated at night, but I met him there a few days later during the day and, sure as anything, there was a crosswalk. It was faded, but it was there. And so, we ended up getting his ticket dismissed. And we ended up winning his case. You wouldn’t know that if you just read the police report. And he wasn’t there when the officer got there. VERONICA: Because he had been taken away for his injury treatment.
22:31	MIKE: Yeah, it was a broken leg, very serious injury. And so, we were able to turn that around by getting out right away. So, in these kind of cases, I think time is of the essence we talked earlier about notice you have to put your own company on notice. Even if it’s your son or daughter God forbid, you have to put your insurance company on notice or else that policy that you’ve paid for won’t be available. VERONICA: Tell me about this notice issue because I’m not sure I quite understand. Can you give me like a real life example of how this plays out? MIKE: Absolutely. I had a client one time who hired us a year after she was hurt.
23:00	MIKE: She was left paralyzed- really horrible, horrible injuries. And she was in a coma for a period of time and her insurance company denied her claim. The defendant had the 25 we talked about, which was insulting and made him under insured. She didn’t have a lot, but she had something; but her company wouldn’t pay it because they never… she never put them on notice within 30 days. Now, she had what we call, I think, justification, right? She was in the hospital in a coma at the time. So, but a year later is a problem.
23:31	MIKE: A month later is a problem. And 30 days is typically what these contracts say or as soon as practical. So, I just wouldn’t wait. I would call 1-800-LAW-NEED right away whenever this happens. And like I said, these policies extend to your family. So even if your child, God forbid, is on a skateboard, this policy can apply for him or her. A scooter, whatever. It doesn’t have to be a licensed driver in your home. It doesn’t have to be in your car. But notice is key and it’s typically 30 days.
24:02	VERONICA: So, these are among those cases that you handle where somebody says, nope, can’t help you. And Mike is like, yep, you can. MIKE: Yeah, we try for sure. I mean, we’re talking about really, really injured people. And at no fault of their own often. And… who haven’t had a chance to tell their story because they were taken away before they had that opportunity.
24:27	MIKE: So, there’s something… on our side, it’s incredibly rewarding to win in a situation like that, but it’s certainly helpful to listen, too. And so, I mean, we can’t help everyone in that situation because pedestrians even have responsibilities. They have to be in a crosswalk you know. We can’t help everyone, but certainly we would try. And any time any friend or family member encounters this, call us right away.
24:57	VERONICA: All right, fair question. I mentioned… I don’t want to seem like it’s one side doing wrong all the time, right? Or the other. I mentioned earlier, I saw this video of this guy using one of these scooters. I don’t even know what city it was in. Zipping across the crosswalk, ignoring whatever lights are on his side. And he gets hit by a car. What’s my responsibility as a rider, after I’ve signed this waiver?
25:20	VERONICA: Or did I sign away my rights with that waiver and if I didn’t, what are the sort of parameters that I have to be in for you to say, you have… Veronica, I can help you, or is there something that I could have done out there where you say, sorry, kiddo? MIKE: Well, I mean, cars weigh what, 4,000, sometimes 10,000 pounds. So, they have a little bit of, I would say, a higher responsibility of their situational awareness versus a kid or a scooter.
25:53	MIKE: But you’re right. I mean, you do have to abide by the rules of the road if you’re on a scooter. You do have to go with the flow of traffic. You do have to have situational awareness. You know, maybe I’m biased, but I would like to help somebody who’s hurt who was on a scooter or a bike if I can. Because like I said, the automobile weighs so much, the truck weighs so much. They have, I would argue a higher responsibility of discovering, if you will, a pedestrian, of discovering a scooter.
26:25	MIKE: And so, if they’re driving with full attention and they’re driving safely, these things can and should be avoided. VERONICA: Tell me a little bit more about when you were talking about the ways that we can protect ourselves or our family members. You mentioned the notice issue with insurance companies. And you talked about uninsured motorist coverage. Is there something else that you get a chance to look into or that you could even recommend for us to have?
26:54	MIKE: Yes, add med pay. It’s called medical payment coverage to your policy. Medical payment coverage will pay your medical bills. Oftentimes in a situation like this. But the most important thing I think is uninsured motorist coverage needs to be stackable. It needs to. Otherwise it only helps you if it’s a pure hit-and-run where we don’t know who the defendant is. And now that happens, of course, and that actually happens in bike cases as well.
27:23	MIKE: Those are interesting cases because you need to be able to prove that you didn’t just fall on your bike, right? So, in order to recover in a John or Jane Doe hit and run, if you’re on a bike, you have to show damage to your bike that’s consistent with being hit by a motor vehicle. So again, preserving the evidence, preserving the bike, let one of us come out, get pictures of this bike really quickly. Preserve the evidence, but uninsured motorist coverage would cover that, of course, but having a stackable kind available to stack perhaps on top of what the defendant has, I think is really key.
27:59	VERONICA: Question about the actual machines themselves. The electric ones in particular, the e-bikes, the scooters, what about product liability? Ever had a case or an instance that you know about where maybe a failure in the machinery caused somebody to get hurt? Maybe they maybe had stalled on them and they fell on their faces or something. MIKE: Yeah, well, it certainly can happen. There’s been situations where a brake may not work properly.
28:29	MIKE: And all that comes down to preservation of evidence, right? I mean, somebody needs to get there and talk to the actual… we don’t often own these, right? We’ve rented them. So, we need to get a hold of the owner immediately and ask them to preserve that particular bike. That particular scooter. So, it can be examined. And certainly, there can be issues with brakes, with the battery, of course. So yeah, that comes into the ability to really… because if it gets picked up and taken away and disappears, you wouldn’t have a case.
29:04	MIKE: So, make that call to us right away so preservation of evidence can begin immediately in something like that. VERONICA: Gosh, they wouldn’t be able to look at their records and say, oh, you were on scooter A123 on this particular day? It just like goes into a pile and vanishes. MIKE: Yeah, oftentimes if it’s continued use it overrides whatever data it had saved. So that’s why it needs to be taken out of service immediately. VERONICA: You have been a biker on the streets of Atlanta from time to time.
29:32	VERONICA: Can you give me just a thumbnail of what that experience was like on your two wheels? MIKE: Yeah, I had a great time on the Braves parade downtown. We had a group of kids get dropped off at my house all on bikes. We biked to a local park. We met another group of dads and kids, and then we biked up to the old Turner Field. And then we biked up to midtown, or downtown, to watch the parade. And I think there was maybe 40 of us in about 5 days. VERONICA: Was it scary?
30:03	MIKE: It was… you know, it wasn’t as scary as I thought and I’ll tell you why. We have a dad who is an avid biker and he mapped out a route that had bike lanes. And so, we talked to the kids about going no more than two abreast each. Being in the bike lane and it was really clean and easy. It was… I say that, but I had a very… I couldn’t breathe. I was very out of a shape. But safety wise, we felt very safe. VERONICA: And you were like, why didn’t I bring the car? I should have driven the car and met them there.
30:34	MIKE: I almost thought about getting picked up. Yeah. But we made it happen and I felt safe and the kids loved it. It was a really cool experience. VERONICA: Mike Moran, Montlick injury attorney talking micromobility safety. Stay with us, the Montlick closing argument is on the way. You’re listening to our podcast, Lawyers in the House with Montlick. If you want to listen to our radio show live, you can hear it every Sunday, 8 a.m. on 95.5 WSB.
31:06	VERONICA: Welcome back to Lawyers in the House with Montlick, I’m your host Veronica Waters here with Montlick injury attorney Mike Moran. We’re talking micromobility safety today. And at the end of 2022 the National Association of City Transportation Officials found in their analysis that Americans have taken a half billion bike share and scooter trips since 2010. And that is a remarkable number when you think about the fact that as Mike mentioned earlier in the show, a lot of people see these things for the first time when they come into a city.
31:35	VERONICA: When you think about the suburbs around Atlanta, when people hear Lime and Bird, they’re thinking about a fruit and an animal, you know. So, Mike Moran has done many of these cases when people get hurt. Mike, what is the secret here as we launch into today’s Montlick closing argument? What’s the secret to winning these cases? MIKE: Getting involved right away, make sure when you call someone that you’re actually speaking to the attorney that’s going to work for you. I know if it was me, I’d probably be going to that scene right away.
32:05	MIKE: And I’ve been known to just with my simple iPhone travel in the same path as that bicyclist or on that scooter. Capture how it looks at the same time. If it’s ambient lighting at night, if it’s broad daylight, get to work right away while the evidence is still there, things change, intersections change overnight, you’d be surprised. Witnesses go away. So, my best advice would be to call our law firm right away.
32:34	MIKE: I know you have bigger things to think about – injuries or maybe injuries to a family member. But let us remove that burden from you. Let us preserve some evidence right away. It’s also essential in cases like this. VERONICA: You know, Mike, you told me, I don’t know if you’ve been, like, a mystery solver all your life, which is, I know part of… part and parcel of what’s going on in these cases. But you did tell me before that you knew as soon as you got into personal injury that it was where you needed to be. MIKE: Yeah, it’s fascinating. It’s difficult.
33:03	MIKE: You’re only working for really hurt people. And they are in their time of trial, for sure. But it’s incredibly rewarding if you can turn it around for them. And at least become their voice. VERONICA: When you talk about being out there on the scene, Mike, I know that you’re doing a lot of the hands-on work, but you’re not going it alone. MIKE: Oh no, we have we have resources at my firm. We have investigators and we have other people that we can bring in if need be that have expertise to help us win a case.
33:34	VERONICA: I love it. Thank you so much to Mike Moran, Montlick injury attorney here with us today. Micromobility may be the wave of the future. It helps ease congestion. It’s affordable. It’s environmentally friendly, but it can be a danger on two tiny wheels if we don’t know the rules of the road, and if we’re not quite used to getting used to each other and keeping each other safe out there. This is Lawyers in the House, I’m your host Veronica Waters, we’ll see you next time.
34:06	You’re listening to our podcast, Lawyers in the House with Montlick, catch us live every Sunday, 8 a.m. on 95.5 WSB.

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