40 Trial Lawyer • Fall 2022 Bicycle Technology Continued from p 39 ride data. Strava provides detailed information of the ride, including time, distance and elevation. The cyclist’s Strava was still on, recording the event and all it’s aftermath, including his ambulance ride to the hospital. The image of the crash with the Strava tracking the route can be seen in the photo to the right. The orange line was taken from the cyclist’s Strava. Starting at the bottom of the photo, the orange line indicates the path of the cyclist on his bike as he was heading north. He was struck in the intersection, right before the orange line veers across the road to the left. This is most likely when his bike computer, along with his bike, was loaded into the ambulance which turned around and headed north to the hospital. This is not an aerial photo of the actual crash, but the Google maps Strava uses with its GPS. We downloaded the Strava page that included his fateful ride and forwarded it along to the liability adjuster as requested (bottom photo). Lost on liability We represented a very fit triathlete who worked an uneven work week. On his off days, he would do massive workouts and then work 10-12 hour days of work. On the day of his bicycle versus car crash, he had been to the pool to swim, went home and rode his bicycle on a trainer until it was light enough to ride outdoors. But for the crash, he would have gone for a run after, too! He was riding outdoors, and on his way home when he was squeezed out of his lane by a car coming from behind him, forcing him into a parked car on the right shoulder. During this phantom vehicle UIM arbitration we were able to clearly demonstrate our client’s movements during the ride. The map didn’t match Most cellular GPS systems are accurate within a 16 ft. radius under an open sky. https://www.gps.gov/systems/gps/performance/accuracy/ Although the US government no longer limits the accuracy of civilian GPS, the cost to access the higher centimeter resolution dual-band frequencies is prohibitive. Problematically, GPS satellites’ broadcasts from space are degraded by satellite geometry, signal blockage, atmospheric conditions, and the quality and design of the GPS receiver. For crashes in urban areas, the accuracy of GPS units worsens near buildings, bridges and trees. Reflections off buildings or walls can create a phenomenon called “multipath,” which can misplace a GPS user entirely. Further compounding confusion, a GPS device’s hardware may work as designed, however the mapping software used by the device can be faulty. This can arise from inaccurate maps, bad labeling, new roads or poorly estimated street addresses. One example of these different factors coming together occurred with a potential client arriving at our firm. This cyclist Starting at the bottom of the photo (above), the orange line, taken from the cyclist's Strava, indicates the path of the cyclist as he was heading north. He was struck in the intersection right before the orange line veers across the road to the left. The next movement is most likely when his bike and computer were loaded into the ambulance, and the ambulance headed north to the hospital, initially using the southbound lane. This is not an aerial photo of the actual crash, but the Google maps Strava uses with its GPS. The Strava page that included the ride (below) was downloaded and also forwarded to the adjuster.
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