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San Jose Tackles Accident Risks of Bicyclists with Leashed Dogs

In September, a San Jose resident died when she got entangled in a dog leash as she was walking down a trail. The dog was being pulled along by a bicyclist, when 62-year-old Beverly Head got entangled in the leash. She fell, and stuck her head on the pavement, sustaining serious head injuries. She was rushed to the hospital, but died the next day. The accident has San Jose authorities considering how to deal with the issue of bicycle riders with leashed dogs.

San Jose councilwoman Nancy Pyle is to hold a meeting tomorrow to seek suggestions and ideas from the public about how the city should handle risks from bicyclists riding with leashed dogs. Everybody agrees that what happened to Beverly Head should never happen again, but there seem to be plenty of diverse suggestions about how to handle the issue. Head’s husband has urged the city to reconsider current laws governing the safety of San Jose trails, arguing that these are insufficient to prevent the kind of  freak accident that killed Head. Under current rules, owners are required to keep their dogs under control at all times. Dogs must be kept on leashes of up to 20 feet.

Beverly Head’s husband Bob wants the city to ban bicyclists who pull dogs on pathways.  According to him, the safety of walkers using the trail, as well as that of the small dogs that are forced to run along the bicycle, are at risk from such behavior. Because of the uniqueness of the issue, the city’s Animal Care and Services is looking across the state of California to see how other cities have dealt with similar problems. However, they have come up with any significant ideas. No other cities have faced such problems before, and accidents like the one that killed Beverly Head, seem to be unheard of.

So far, the majority of the people in the city are not calling for a ban on bicyclists riding with their pets. However, they do believe that the solution could lie in strengthening existing leash laws, and requiring that dog owners keep the dog as well as the leash under control. Others feel that little dogs must not be tied up to bicycles, and fines must be imposed on anyone violating rules. Opponents of any ban on bicyclists with dogs insist that any solution will be far more complicated than a ban. They insist that accidents like the one that killed Head can happen just as easily to someone who is walking with a leashed dog.  There are also calls for separation of paths between walkers who want to stroll and bicyclists who might speed by with their little dogs running right behind them. For now however, all of these are ideas.

There are no simple solutions here.  But at the very least, San Jose must look at some kind of separation between bicyclists biking with their dogs, and people who want to use these trails to walk slowly. As California bicycle accident lawyers, we believe that it’s important to ensure pedestrian safety in a situation like this, without encroaching on bicyclist rights.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of bicycle accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

The Reeves Law Group is not acting as legal counsel for any party in the matters discussed in this posting.

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