Inexpensive Riding Insurance

See that pic? The one right above this sentence that looks like a Sony Action Cam hooked upside down to the underside of my bike saddle?

That’s what I call my liability insurance.

I gave up mountain biking a few years ago (no offense to off-road riding, I just finally learned it’s really not for me) so now all of my riding is on the road. And because I do almost all of my riding in Nassau County which, in my humble opinion, is home to some of the worst drivers on the planet (I think I’m qualified to reach that conclusion having lived in Staten Island, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Westchester, southern California, and London), I now feel the need to cover my ass as much as possible every time I head out for a spin.

As a bike accident attorney, one of the biggest challenges a client can face is not getting into an accident, but getting hurt and not knowing who to hold responsible. Every year it seems the number of hit-and-run accidents on Long Island is on the rise. 

As a cyclist, I never want to be in a position where I’m lying on the side of the road with a handful of broken bones, a wrecked bike, and no idea who hit me. So in order to protect myself, I made due with a Sony Action Cam and underwater housing I already had. And if you don’t have an action cam, I would encourage you to visit a good electronics retailer, maybe BHphoto.com or Amazon.com, and get creative with what you can strap to the back of your bike.

I used some plastic zip ties I had on hand and strapped the housing to the bottom of my saddle. It was only going to work by placing it upside down, which is fine. Whenever I need to watch a video from a ride, I open it up on my Macbook, select the entire video frame, and then rotate it twice so what was upside down is now right-side up.

Now I ride a bit more relaxed knowing that if some dumbass driver does anything stupid, I’ve got a video recording of the make and model of the car, the license plate, and maybe even the license plates of possible witnesses heading in either direction.

For any cyclist who regularly rides on the road, the approximate $225.00 or so you might spend on a setup like this is worth every penny from a liability insurance perspective.