Crucial Steps to Take After You’ve Been Hit by a Vehicle While Biking
Getting hit by a truck, bus, car, or other vehicle while biking is a terrifying experience. The impact of the collision can cause serious injuries, which may have lifelong repercussions. If you or someone you know have been injured because of a negligent driver, it is important to understand some critical options. Knowing what to do after a crash can play an important role in the victim’s recovery and any potential legal case.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- What to Do After You are Hit by a Car on Your Bike
- How Will an Attorney Help?
- What Kind of Compensation Is Likely After a Car Hits Me?
What to Do After You are Hit by a Car on Your Bike
No one wants to be involved in an accident. It is natural in the first moments after a bicycle accident to feel embarrassed. You have nothing to be embarrassed about. Accidents happen. Often, bicycle accidents occur because drivers are not paying close enough attention.
Get Medical Attention
Your health needs to be your top priority after a crash. Whether you think you have a serious injury or not, it is important to consider whether you should receive a medical evaluation after the collision.
It is important that you have your injuries addressed as soon as possible after a bicycle accident. It is fairly common for people to experience delayed symptoms after a crash or for the injuries to be more severe than they initially thought. In every lawsuit or claim, there are two parts: Liability (also known as the full part of an accident) and damages as a result of the injury sustained.
Therefore, you should not rule out a medical consultation even if you believe you are uninjured or will recover shortly after the crash. Even if you opt out of going to the hospital because your injuries seem minor, you should still consider seeing a physician shortly after the collision.
The one thing you can count on is that the insurance company representing the vehicle that struck you is not looking out for your best interest. They are looking to pay as little money as possible for your claim. To prevail on your bicycle accident injury claim, you will need to prove that the accident caused your injuries. A prompt visit to a medical doctor or hospital following a bicycle accident is your best way to protect a potential claim. If you allow days or weeks to pass by before seeking medical attention, the insurance company will certainly argue that some other incident or accident caused your injuries and not the bicycle accident. Better safe than sorry.
Speak with the Police
The police are supposed to come to every accident simply to document the events, if nothing else. When they get here, this is your opportunity to make certain your version of the accident is properly recorded. If you do not, then the driver who struck you almost certainly will.
These reports carry significant weight in any possible legal proceeding and are essential for you to receive medical treatment after the accident. Do your best to stay calm and give your version of how the accident happened. If there are witnesses to the accident, politely ask them to stay at the scene until the police can gather their information.
Collect names and Addresses
There is no better time to take down the information of possible witnesses to your accident than right after it has happened. You should – at minimum – try to get information of the responsible driver. If you’re able, every witness to the accident you can secure information for can make a substantial impact on the case.
Do not confront the Driver
Gaining the other driver’s address and phone number is a requirement but talking about the accident at that time is a mistake. They may take responsibility. They may not. Anything you say to them may eventually become evidence in a lawsuit. It is best to keep interactions with that person to a bare minimum.
People react differently to accidents. Some drivers are exceedingly kind to bicyclists that they strike with their vehicle, others can be aggressive and hostile. Do your best to keep your cool, speak to the police in a calm manner, and seek medical attention if you are injured.
Take Pictures and Video
Photographic evidence, especially right after the accident, is extremely compelling. You’ll want to take pictures of your bike, the vehicle that hit you, the terrain, and any skid marks. The more photographic evidence you have, the more easily your attorney can reconstruct what happened. Memories fade with time, so it is best to take a photograph of the scene, the bicycle damage, and any damage done to the motor vehicle at the scene.
Call an Attorney
Speaking to a lawyer will help you better understand your legal situation. With your attorney, you can speak freely about the accident, your worries, your actions leading up to it and your goals. The lawyer can take this information and use it to craft their legal strategy.
Some motor vehicle operators try to convince cyclists who are injured in an accident not to hire a lawyer and not to contact insurance. This may be in their best interest, but it is not in yours. You need to stand up for yourself and preserve your rights.
How Will an Attorney Help?
When you hire an attorney for your case, you can expect the attorney to:
Attorneys Will Negotiate with the Insurance Company
If you have an attorney early on after an accident, they can take on the task of notifying and speaking with the insurance company for you. Having your attorney speak to insurance is extremely important, as insurance companies will try to talk you into taking a minimal settlement that may not cover your costs. Negotiating with insurance companies is an art form. The attorneys at Block O’Toole and Murphy have settled nearly $2 billion worth of cases in the last 25 years. Experience and expertise matter. Don’t leave your bicycle accident claim to amateurs; consult with the experienced attorneys at Block O’Toole and Murphy.
An Attorney Will Educate You on Your Outcome
Your situation will likely involve factors that you may not fully grasp. An experienced and skilled attorney will understand these matters well and be able to provide you with potential outlooks for your case. It is bad enough to be involved in a bicycle accident. The future seems uncertain, and you don’t know what is going to happen to you.
A qualified attorney can carefully explain each and every anticipated step of your journey from the date of your accident until your case is over. Knowing what lies ahead can be very helpful when in unfamiliar circumstances. Don’t go through the stress of a bicycle accident injury case alone; get the help you need at Block O’Toole and Murphy.
An Attorney Will Advocate for You
While many personal injury cases end in a settlement, some do go to trial. At Block O’Toole & Murphy, we treat every case as though it is going to trial. By doing so, we very much reduce the chance that that will happen. We explain your injuries in a detailed matter to the insurance companies and defense attorneys. We clearly articulate the economic damages caused by your accident as well as your loss of enjoyment of life.
A good attorney won’t just think about the pain and suffering that is being caused presently by your injuries. We retain medical experts to examine what the lifelong expectation is for your injuries. We also carefully articulate what type of medical treatments you will need and what the cost of those treatments will be over your lifetime.
Essentially, an attorney takes on all the major and minor stresses of your claim so that you can focus on your healing. We often ask that the entire family come in to discuss how your injury has changed the family dynamics. By doing so, we can soothe family members who know they have a law firm fighting for their loved one. By getting to know the entire family, we can tell the story of your life and the impact of your injuries better. The insurance companies know that we are not just going through the motions. They know that we care. And that makes an enormous difference.
What Kind of Compensation Is Likely After a Car Hits Me?
Compensation for any personal injury is meant to cover you for what you lost during the accident. The theory is that the money paid in a settlement or verdict will “make you whole.” Those damages can be extensive when you get hit by a car on your bike. They may include:
- Medical bills: Cyclists are more likely to suffer serious injuries in a crash because they have a lot less protection than a driver or passenger of a vehicle. These injuries are typically expensive to treat, and a personal injury lawsuit can help the victim recover compensation for damages that they suffered as a result of the accident.
- Missed time at work: While you recover from extensive injuries, there is a strong likelihood you will not have the ability to work. Even a desk job can be nearly impossible to perform if you are in extreme pain after a vehicle hits you.
- Property damage: Depending on the bike, finding a replacement is extremely expensive. If you had other personal property, such as a phone or a computer on your person during the accident, it is likely also destroyed.
- Noneconomic damages: These damages include pain and suffering or other damages that are harder to calculate. While challenging to quantify, noneconomic damages often make up the most significant portion of a person’s recovery. These damages can be for both the past and the future.
Your road to recovery may be longer than you’d like, making the possible compensation from a personal injury lawsuit extremely necessary. Our team of skilled personal injury attorneys has spent decades fighting for clients and has built a reputation for compassion and aggressive representation. We will not rest until justice is served. With us on your side, you will not regret it.
New York Lawyers Representing Injured Cyclists
If you’ve been hit by a vehicle or injured in any other way while biking, you may have legal recourse to file a personal injury lawsuit against the liable parties.
The bicycle accident lawyers at Block O’Toole & Murphy have attained top results for clients injured while biking, including a $110 million jury verdict for a cyclist who suffered paralysis after he was hit by a falling railroad tie. This verdict is believed to be the largest single personal injury case recovery ever in the state of New York. This case was tried to verdict by partners Daniel P. O’Toole and Scott Occhiogrosso.
Select results in other bicycle accident lawsuits include:
- $2.5 million settlement in a Bronx case for a client who was riding a bicycle to work when a driver of a double-parked van opened the door suddenly and hit the client. Our client fell to the concrete below and suffered traumatic injuries to his lumbar spine, hip and knee.
- $2.1 million settlement in a Queens case for a cyclist who was knocked to the ground by a garbage truck that was making a turn at an intersection. As a result of the crash, the cyclist suffered spinal injuries and multiple fractures.
- $1.3 million settlement for a Brooklyn cyclist who was knocked down to the ground after being hit by a car. As a result of the collision, he sustained leg, back and neck injuries.
- $1.25 million settlement for a bicycle messenger who was hit by an SUV. He sustained a fracture to the right tibia and fibula and knee injuries, which required multiple surgeries.
Our personal injury attorneys provide free legal consultations to accident victims. To speak with a qualified lawyer, please call 212-736-5300 or fill out our contact form and an attorney will reach out to you.