A Conversation with Brad Tucker

I’m the person who reads or watches a documentary about a true story and then promptly looks up other news stories about the event, what has happened since the documentary aired, and other cases that were mentioned to offer context to that initial event. If you are anything like me, you likely wanted to know a little more about people in my book such as the attorney who handled my case, Brad Tucker of Colorado Bike Law. Here are a few questions I asked Brad after he read DEGLOVED:

Adelaide: You work with injured cyclists all the time and I know my experience is not unique. What parts did you read and go, "Oh yea, heard that before"?

Brad: This is easy. Unless I am working with a deceased cyclist’s surviving family, everyone, and I mean everyone, tells me how lucky they are. They usually tell me that in our very first conversation, but if not, it isn’t long thereafter. This is something that really frustrates and angers me. Think about it – one of us is out enjoying a healthy activity and gets creamed because of someone else’s preventable carelessness and we are conditioned to feel lucky because it wasn’t worse. This is unacceptable.

AP: We met when I first got out of the hospital and again when we went to mediation in January 2015. Most of our conversations during the case were via phone. Point being, you didn't see the day-to-day of what I was going through, although I'm sure you understand it better than many. Was there anything that surprised you in my book about recovery that wouldn't have occurred to you?

BT: I don’t think I realized how quickly, and well, that you were recovering from the physical injuries. Unlike you, I wasn’t the slightest bit surprised that you were diagnosed with PTSD, and of course the scarring and associated treatment was always front and center. I guess thinking back, I don’t recall having an awareness of your initial lack of acceptance of the PTSD diagnosis. Given what I read in your medical records, and how you were reacting to certain things, it seemed likely to me that you were either suffering from the consequences of a permanent traumatic brain injury, PTSD, or both. I’m sure that I would have told you that the PTSD diagnosis was really the best case scenario, because at least with that you can get better over time.

AP: You were the first lawyer in Colorado to focus specifically on bike law. Can you explain what led you to protecting cyclists specifically?

BT: In 2002, I had been practicing law for 12 years and had built a successful law practice and career. I was fortunate enough to be in a position to offer some of my time for volunteer legal work. I thought long about something that I was genuinely passionate about and I decided that securing and enlarging cycling access and increasing safety was my number one cause. It was at that time I began volunteering with Bicycle Colorado and providing volunteer legal counsel. It started when I walked into the Bicycle Colorado office and asked for Dan Grunig - who had just taken over as executive director. I introduced myself, told him what I was interested in doing and that I wanted nothing in return. Dan put me to work immediately, and I have been volunteering ever since. One day shortly thereafter, Dan asked me if I had ever considered representing cyclists and I loved the idea. Dan had a friend (ironically, a triathlete) who had been hurt in a cycling crash and asked if I would take her case, and I did. She was an absolutely wonderful young woman to work with. That's where it all started, but initially it was just as an extension of my passion and it was a way to involve cycling in the practice of my law firm. I just kind of dabbled in bike law at first but I very quickly went from dabbling to being very busy with it. Now it is definitely the predominant part of my law practice. It has gone past my wildest imagination. I never thought this would be the biggest part of my job. As you mentioned, when I started doing this nobody was doing this in Colorado. The environment has changed so much over this time. Back then, when I would be speaking with the insurance adjuster about my client’s case, the number one question I got was “what were they doing riding a bike on the road?!” That used to infuriate me, but I quickly came to realize that a calm and professional explanation would best serve my clients. I had to educate a lot of insurance adjusters back then! With the help of Bicycle Colorado people are beginning to see that bicycles do belong on the road, and that it can and should be a safe place for a bike. Times have changed a lot, but we have a long way to go at the same time.

AP: Can you explain how the vulnerable road user's bill became a topic that was championed by Bicycle Colorado? You and I had conversations about how drivers who cause serious bodily injury needed to lose their license, but how does that take off within an organization like Bicycle Colorado and Colorado Congress? (Brad is President of Bicycle Colorado.)

BT: Well Adelaide, as you know, you were a huge part of making this happen. You are one of three examples that I can specifically point to, that involve new bicycle safety laws that came about as a result of the crashes of my clients. Like almost all cyclists, I had been extremely dissatisfied by the lack of justice that resulted when careless driving resulted in devastating consequences to a cyclist. In our legislative work with Bicycle Colorado, we had previously spoken with elected officials about getting some changes made. Your situation served as the inspiration, and provided an incredibly compelling story to use as we appealed for a change to be made. The injustice of the defendant having been able to legally drive on the evening of your crash, while you were forced to temporarily abandon your chosen form of transportation was one that should easily have offended anyone. We were able to use the phrase, “driving is a privilege, not a right,” that all of us were taught as teenagers as an argument in favor of this change. As you know, but as was not reflected in the book, it took us more than one try to get this bill through the legislature, and signed by the Governor. I proudly have the photo of you, me, and others with Governor Polis at the signing ceremony hanging in my office!

AP: I know more people have bought bikes since COVID-19 and taken to the roads. What is your one piece of advice that you always bring up to cyclists? (Mine is to make sure you have auto insurance, even if you don't have a car. And health insurance.)

BT: Be as visible as you can be. Most of my clients are riding alone when they are hit. Almost never are they in groups of four or more. As we take up more mass, we become more visible to motorists who might not be conditioned to specifically be looking for us on the roads. Of course, it isn’t always practical to be riding with others, so aside from that, the use of brightly colored clothing, and front/rear blinking lights adds to our visibility. You mention insurance, and that is a huge issue. If you are a crash victim who doesn’t have auto insurance, and you are hit by someone who is uninsured, or is driving with a state minimum $25,000.00 policy, there is usually nothing else to go after for your damages. If you have large uninsured motorist coverage policy limits on your own auto policy, you can protect yourself and your family when the at-fault driver has little to no insurance coverage. I can instantly recall one case that settled for $1.1M rather than $100,000.00 solely because of the UM/UIM coverage that the cyclist had on his policy. I guess I’m saying try to be as visible as you can be so that you don’t get hit, and then protect yourself with insurance coverage if you do get hit.

AP: What has been the personal toll that you have experienced by representing so many injured cyclists when it is also your passion to be out riding?

BT: Especially when reading the parts of your book that detail the PTSD, I became very aware of the extent to which my exposure to so many crashes has impacted my own ability to fully enjoy riding on the roads. In my law practice, I have represented literally hundreds of cyclists. Think about that. That’s hundreds of injuries – some of them quite severe – and hundreds of crashes at hundreds of locations. While my practice is statewide, the bulk of the cases are along the front range, and as a result, these crashes happen at the places I ride. About ten years or so ago, it dawned on me that I almost never go for a ride without riding through at least one location where one of my clients has been hit. I think about those people every time that happens. I would love to tell you that you by far suffered the worst injuries of anyone I have represented, but there are others who fared worse. I remember one man who was so badly injured that the physicians didn’t know how to treat him because they had never had a patient survive such horrific injuries. He got through it, and is doing the best he can. I suppose he also “feels lucky”, which I get, but it still makes me mad. I think it is an inescapable conclusion that the cumulative effect of my work has taken some degree of a toll on the joy I experience from road cycling. I still ride multiple days a week, and I can’t ever imagine not riding, but the trauma of my clients stays with me. Even still, I can’t imagine not doing this work.

AP: What makes you feel really upbeat about the future of cycling? When you have tough days at work, do you worry about the future of cycling?

BT: Cycling’s future is very bright! More people are riding, motorists are becoming more conditioned to seeing us on the roads, and that translates into safer roads for all of us. When I think about all of the good things in my life, they almost all can be traced back to cycling. I owe so much to cycling, and I plan to keep doing what I can to give back to it.