Florida State Troopers continue to investigate a motorcycle accident that claimed the lives of two people, according to WDBO.com. The accident occurred in Daytona Beach at the end of the annual Biketober Fest. An unidentified man and woman were thrown from their bike and killed after colliding with a pickup truck and died instantly. A separate car accident occurred on I-4 in DeLand when two motorcycles slammed into an SUV and were killed. The motorcyclists were not wearing helmets.

“It’s a huge festival and heartbreaking that in ends in a tragedy like this,” says Biketober Fest participant Fred Brupbacher.

The drivers of the vehicles suffered minor injuries. Maybe these motorcycle festivals should do more to emphasize basic safety rules. What do you think?

Law Offices of Wooten, Kimbrough & Normand, P.A.—Orlando wrongful death attorneys.

Florida State Troopers continue to investigate a motorcycle accident that claimed the lives of two people, according to WDBO.com. The accident occurred in Daytona Beach at the end of the annual Biketober Fest. An unidentified man and woman were thrown from their bike and killed after colliding with a pickup truck and died instantly. A separate car accident occurred on I-4 in DeLand when two motorcycles slammed into an SUV and were killed. The motorcyclists were not wearing helmets.

“It’s a huge festival and heartbreaking that in ends in a tragedy like this,” says Biketober Fest participant Fred Brupbacher.

The drivers of the vehicles suffered minor injuries. Maybe these motorcycle festivals should do more to emphasize basic safety rules. What do you think?

Law Offices of Wooten, Kimbrough & Normand, P.A.—Orlando wrongful death attorneys.

"Keep those lids on the kids!" was the call to action at last week's free bike helmet ("lid") giveaway. Thanks to an energetic doctor in a white lab coat, uniformed police officers and a local bike safety lawyer, Herndon Virginia's Hutchison Elementary School sixth graders learned about using their heads, protecting their brains and then received complimentary bicycle helmets.

With the "hands on" help of Dr. Paul Aravich from Eastern Virginia Medical School, Fairfax County Police Officers, and bike safety lawyer Doug Landau of the Herndon law firm Abrams Landau, the students got rubber gloves and were encouraged to hold and touch real human brains, skulls and spinal cords. The focus of the program was making good choices, including the choice to wear head protection when cycling, skate boarding, roller blading, long boarding, mountain biking and other wheeled sports. According to the Virginia Department of Health, bicycle helmets, when worn properly, reduce the risk of a serious brain injury by almost 90%. The Herndon school children were encouraged to wear a helmet when biking. After the school assembly, a new Bell Sports bike helmet was given to every child in the Hutchison Elementary School sixth grade, along with information to take home in a drawstring backpack.

Mr. Landau is known as "the Athletes Lawyer” because of his representation of injured bikers and other injured athletes. Landau is a competitive triathlete, who is a three time winner of the Herndon Super Sprint Triathlon, a USAT Triathlon All American and World Championship qualifier. Mr. Landau is sponsoring the event in cooperation with the Virginia Trial Lawyers Law Foundation and Mr. Henry Tragle, an outstanding local triathlete and father of 2, who was injured on his bike. Fortunately Mr. Tragle's brain was protected because he was wearing his helmet during the fateful training ride near his Loudoun County home. Mr. Tragle won this year's Reston Sprint race and was runner up at last month's popular Reston Triathlon.

Doug Landau hopes to visit other Reston, Herndon and Oak Hill Virginia area schools in order to protect other students and prevent disabling and fatal head injuries to these young cyclists. If you or someone you know or care for would like Mr. Landau to come to their school to discuss bike safety and traumatic brian injury, please e-mail or call us at ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd. (703-796-9555).

Being in the business of helping people who have been injured I am always on the look out for ways that injuries can be prevented. I would love to see less people hurt.

- The AG of Massachusetts, Martha Coakley, went to bat for the motorcyclists of that state by forcing Insurance companies to give back after over charging premiums.

- Fairwarning reports about a settlement by a Wisconsin Farm Co-op for not protecting their employees in grain bins.

- They also recently looked at the safety of table saws.

- Listeria infection tied to tainted cantaloupe has caused a miscarriage in Iowa.

- Boingboing had a interesting innovation that should help the colorblind with understanding what color the stop light is.

Now that the 2011 Multisport season is drawing to a close, and highlights, victories and prizes tallied, one of the "low points" requires discussion in the context of biker and athlete safety. Volunteering at the Annual Reston Triathlon packet pick up is generally a jolly experience at South Lakes High School. Herndon Virginia bicycle safety lawyer Doug Landau jokes with triathletes about their head protection, especially those that are "fragrant," "colorful," "battle scarred" and unique. However, the Landau Law Shop has seen the havoc a bike crash and traumatic brain injury can cause to even elite athletes. Normally, when the Reston Triathlon helmet inspection team tells an athlete that their helmet is unsafe, the participant understands and either gets another one from home, a friend or buys a new one. The reasons can be that the helmet: has cracks from prior impacts, is delaminating due to age (or being left in a hot car too long !), or is beyond its "useful lifespan."

The Reston Triathlon Association ("RTA") volunteers are not used to arguments when it comes to racer safety. However, this year a participant fought with Landau and the Race Directors over the decision to remove the sticker from his helmet after it was discovered that while the helmet appeared compliant, the strap that held it in place was broken. This defect could cause an eye injury. The senior inspector invalidated the helmet because it would not be secure on the biker's head. Despite pointing these dangers out, the irate athlete argued with race officials, lecturing them on the fact that he had completed an Ironman even in this same helmet, and no one had said anything about its being unsafe.

The angry biker then removed the straps that hold the back of the head to the helmet and tried to re-submit the non-compliant equipment. The race safety volunteers explained that in the event of a bike crash, the helmet would slide forward and/or backward and afford little protection from permanent brain injury, or worse. The Reston race team asked the would-be bike racer to put the helmet on so that they could show him how the safety was compromised. He refused. Checking the results, it appears that the cyclist did not finish the race, for unknown reasons. Moral of the story: Do not argue with safety inspection volunteers who are simply trying to protect you and other sports participants from unnecessary injury and disability.