If a car hits you while riding your bicycle, you should contact the police to file a report and see a doctor. You need to document the accident and get a copy of the police report. Sometimes adrenaline from a crash can mask symptoms, even of serious injuries, so getting a medical evaluation is always a good idea.
Several things can cause a distracted or negligent driver to hit a cyclist and cause significant injuries. Getting legal representation ensures you can hold the at-fault party responsible for your medical expenses and lost wages.
Catalano Law has personal injury lawyers with extensive experience in collisions between cars and bicycles, and they can help ensure you get the compensation you are owed.
Causes of Bicycle Accidents
The most common causes for drivers hitting cyclists include inattention, failure to yield, dangerous road conditions, and darkness. Accidents in these conditions can usually be prevented by careful driving.
Driver inattention
Drivers have more distractions, such as texting and hands-free automotive technologies. These distractions reduce a driver’s reaction time.
Failure to yield
Drivers don’t always know the laws regarding bicycles and who has the right of way and may not yield.
Dangerous road conditions
Poorly maintained roads may contribute to bike and car collisions. If that happens in your case, the jurisdiction responsible for road maintenance may be partially or totally liable for your crash.
Riding at night
More than half of bicycle accidents happen at night. If you ride at night, wearing reflective gear to increase visibility can reduce your chances of being hit.
Most serious injuries due to bike accidents occur in urban areas. Accidents that cause serious injuries also occur most frequently away from intersections where vehicles travel at higher speeds. Insurance companies will try to attribute fault to you, so follow bicycle laws and safety tips.
Seek Medical Attention
After any kind of accident, medical care helps prevent minor issues from becoming serious problems. Some injuries get worse without treatment. People sometimes mistakenly dismiss something severe as a minor injury. People even overlook broken bones that can heal poorly without medical intervention.
You may even have more severe injuries that require surgery but not be aware of their severity. Traumatic brain injury is one example, and delayed treatment is linked to poor outcomes like permanent brain damage, coma, and death. Some spinal injuries can impact your spinal cord later due to swelling and inflammation.
Getting medical attention immediately after your accident also establishes that the accident caused the injury if you need to file a personal injury suit later. Insurance companies often claim that injuries were caused by something other than the accident. Having the appropriate medical records make your claim easier to win.
Hire a Lawyer
A bicycle accident attorney has experience investigating claims using photos of the accident scene, interviewing witnesses, and negotiating with insurance companies.
Hiring an attorney allows you to focus on recovering from your injuries while they deal with the insurance claims process. If the insurance company refuses to offer fair compensation, your attorney will take them to trial.
If your bicycle accident claim goes to trial, your attorney can call expert witnesses to convince the jury of the impact the accident has made on your life, including medical expenses, loss of income, emotional distress, and a change in your ability to perform routine tasks.
If you are partially responsible for your accident, New York law allows you to claim the percentage of the amount you are awarded equal to the percentage of fault attributed to the defendant. This is known as comparative fault and is one way insurance companies try to limit what they have to pay you. Your personal injury attorney can explain how this affects your case and guide you through the legal process.
Arrange Your Free Consultation and Get the Compensation You Deserve
Accident victims may struggle to argue a personal injury claim without legal representation, but a Syracuse bicycle accident lawyer with Catalano Law can get you the compensation you deserve.
We have extensive experience with many kinds of personal injury claims, and we will fight for your rights to a fair financial recovery. We will hold the at-fault party responsible for your bicycle crash and fight to get you compensation for pain, medical care, and punitive damages when they are warranted.
We have over 50 years of combined experience and a 95% success rate with more than 12,000 cases handled. We treat our clients like family and fight for their rights to be fairly compensated by people who injure them through negligent action or wrongdoing.