Bike accidents can occur in many different ways. One accident may be caused by a vehicle striking a rider while making a left-hand turn, and another may arise from someone pulling out of a driveway without looking behind them. However, in many cases, no matter the cause, bicycle accidents caused by vehicles often result in serious injuries to the cyclist. If you have been injured in a bike accident involving a car, you may be facing hefty medical expenses, overwhelmed, and stressed. The havoc that a bicycle accident injury can cause can feel defeating. Lost wages, medical expenses, and/or a reduced earning capacity can quickly leave an accident injury victim in a mountain of debt. Bike accident injuries can also preclude a bicycle accident injury victim from working due to permanent injury.
What Are Your Rights Following A Bike Accident?
If you have been injured while riding your bike due to another driver, North Carolina law can help you recover compensation from these damages to ensure you have access to all the care you need to move forward with your life. If you have been injured in a bike accident due to another party’s negligence, you have the right to sue for compensation. The experienced attorneys at Tatum & Atkinson, ‘the Heavy Hitters’, will take aggressive, immediate legal action to help accident injury victims recover maximum compensation for their damages. Call our North Carolina bike accident attorneys at (800) 529-0804 or contact us online to receive your free, no-obligation consultation.
Bicycle Accident Injuries
When involved in a collision, passenger vehicles and trucks have significantly more protection than bicyclists, so when an accident occurs between the two, the biker’s injuries are much more likely to be severe.
Bike crashes can lead to serious, life-altering injuries, such as:
- Broken bones: Broken bones and fractures can easily be sustained in a bike accident. The severity will vary from case to case. Cyclists may experience breaks or fractures to the legs, arms, elbows, knees, ankles, spine, or other joints. Spinal fractures can lead to severe impediments. Broken bones may take months to heal properly and will usually require physical therapy and sometimes surgery to heal.
- Head and neck injuries: Traumatic brain injury (TBI), spinal cord injuries, paralysis, disfiguration, scalp, and facial lacerations may occur
- Limb and joint injuries: broken bones, nerve damage, flesh wounds, and scarring can occur in a bike accident.
- Urogenital injuries: injury to the genitals and urinary tract due to impact with the bike can occur in a bicycle accident.
Whether your bike accident injury was severe, life-altering, or relatively minor, you have the right to seek fair compensation from the liable party.
What Are the Most Common Causes of Bicycle Accidents?
Although bicycling is a favorite pastime for many, crashes between bikes and cars are common. As bike accidents can lead to severe injuries, you should contact an experienced lawyer immediately if you or a loved one have been injured in a bicycle accident.
Accidents between bikes and vehicles frequently occur in many ways, including the following:
- Open car doors: When a car driver opens their door quickly without looking first at the surrounding area can easily knock a cyclist off of their bike.
- Right or left turns: Many bike accidents occur while a car driver is taking a left or right-hand turn and is not looking out for bikers or pedestrians, striking the cyclist who had the right of way.
- Red lights & stop signs: Motorists attempting to beat red lights and who fail to stop for stop signs may strike a bicyclist while speeding through the intersection.
- Lack of understanding of bike laws: Frequently, drivers do not understand that bike riders follow the same rules as vehicles while out on the road and that they need to give the same respect to biker riders as they do to other motorists.
- Reckless maneuvers by drivers: Hit by a delivery truck, Uber, or Lyft? These drivers are often pressured to drive quickly and maximize their earnings on the road, which can lead to dangerous consequences.
How To Prevent Bike Accidents
To prevent accidents, these are some bike riding safety tips:
- Always wear a federally-approved helmet. Learn more about finding the right helmet here.
- Ride an appropriately-sized bicycle
- Always follow traffic laws: stop at red lights, ride with the flow of traffic
- Choose to ride in residential neighborhood as opposed to busy roadways
- Wear bright clothing and ensure that your bike has reflectors
- Keep a safe distance from parked cars
- Avoid listening to music or using your phone while biking
- Use proper hand signals when riding in traffic
- Use extra caution when crossing intersections
- Use extra caution when there is a large truck or bus nearby which may have a larger blind spot.
What Is Your Bike Injury Claim Worth?
The value of any personal injury claim will vary widely depending on the unique factors surrounding your case. For example, the severity of injuries and the nature of the accident will play a significant factor in determining the value of your claim. Therefore, only after all of the case evidence has been obtained and analyzed may the actual value of your case be accurately determined.
When our law firm works to determine the value of your case, we will consider the following factors:
- Medical expenses
- Future medical expenses
- Lost wages
- Reduced earning capacity
- Emotional trauma
- Pain and Suffering
- Property Damage
- Disfigurement or permanent scarring
- Mental and/or physical disability
- Loss of consortium
- And more
Our law firm has fought hard to help many clients obtain full compensation for their injuries caused by someone else’s negligence.
Steps To Take After A Bicycle Accident
It is important to note that every action you take following a bike accident may have a significant impact on determining your options and rights in the days and months to follow. The following steps are suggested to help you protect yourself legally following a bicycle accident and preserve evidence.
- Following a bike accident, the first thing you should do is seek medical attention for anyone injured. If necessary, request an ambulance when phoning the police following the accident. If you do not need to be taken in via ambulance, see a medical professional as soon as possible following the accident, even if you feel ok. Some severe injuries may not present with symptoms for hours or days following the accident.
- Contact the police so that they may arrive at the scene of the accident and take a report. Do not leave the location of the accident until the police arrive.
- If possible, take photographs of the accident scene, including the vehicles, your bike, the surrounding area, and any injuries.
- Obtain the names, addresses, and phone numbers of any witnesses.
- Take your bike into a bike shop to assess and document the damage done to your bike,
- Report your accident to your car insurer.
- Obtain a copy of the police report when available.
- Seek advice from an experienced bicycle accident lawyer to be advised of the best course of action.
Bicycle Accident Attorney
Bike accidents can be confusing and stressful. The experienced attorneys at Tatum & Atkinson, ‘the Heavy Hitters’, specialize in car accidents, including bicycle or motorcycle crashes. These accidents can be lucrative for bicycle accident injury victims. An experienced attorney will have the know-how to maximize compensation for your pain and suffering, injuries, lost wages, and other expenses. If you or a loved one have been injured in a pedestrian accident, don’t delay reaching out to the law offices of Tatum & Atkinson, ‘the Heavy Hitters, ‘ today to see what we can do for you. You will receive a free, no-obligation case evaluation with one of our experienced bike accident attorneys to discuss what your legal options are and what steps to take next.
Here at Tatum & Atkinson, the ‘Heavy Hitters’, we accept bicycle accident cases on a contingency fee basis. This means you will never have to pay attorneys fees out of pocket, and we will not get paid unless you win. Contact us today by calling us at (800) 529-0804 or contacting us online to receive your free case evaluation to see what we can do to help you.
