Collisions between cyclists and cars are particularly dangerous and may lead to injury. In many of these accidents, one party’s negligence and inability to follow the rules of the road is the cause of the collision. If you were recently involved in an accident with a biker and a vehicle, and feel that the other party is at fault for the accident, you may have a right to compensation for any injuries or damages you sustained. After an accident, reach out to an experienced bicycle accident attorney to discuss your potential rights to an injury settlement.
What is an Accident Settlement?
The injuries or damages that one party experiences in a car accident might be the fault of another driver involved in the accident. The driver at fault for the accident may be liable to pay for another person’s medical expenses or lost property that resulted from the accident. Most of the time, the driver at fault’s insurance will make this payment on their behalf, unless the driver is uninsured. However, this payment may not truly cover all the medical expenses associated with the accident and may not cover other costs such as lost wages or disability.
Drivers that were recently injured in an accident may need to pursue legal action against the driver at fault and their insurance company to receive full compensation for said expenses. The compensation won from a car accident case is frequently referred to as a settlement. Because accidents between bicycles and vehicles are so dangerous, the value of these settlements can be substantial and worth going to court over. To win a settlement after an accident, you’ll want to hire an experienced accident injury lawyer who has handled cases like yours in the past and isn’t afraid to take your case to court if needed.
What Can an Accident Injury Attorney Do For Me?
Scheduling a consultation with an accident injury lawyer is the first step towards receiving the settlement you deserve following an accident. You’ll receive advice from this initial meeting on how to proceed with receiving compensation and get an idea of what you can expect from your case and from hiring an attorney. Here’s how an accident attorney will directly assist your case and move you towards settlement following a bicycle accident injury.
Assemble Evidence of Fault and Injury Costs
After an initial consultation to discuss your case, a bicycle accident injury attorney will begin work towards gathering evidence that supports your right to compensation for injuries resulting from the accident. Proving fault for a bicycle and car collision includes gathering police reports, speaking with insurance agencies, and collecting photos taken directly after the incident. After an accident, you should gather as much evidence as possible by taking pictures and recording license plate numbers, even if you think you are at fault.
Your accident injury lawyer can also help you increase the amount received in a future settlement by collecting information on the extended costs of the accident. This includes collecting medical expenses from healthcare providers, calculating and assigning a value to lost wages, and measuring the cost of a disability. The assembly of legal evidence is essential to increasing the value of your settlement and ensuring you receive the compensation you deserve following an accident.
Negotiate With Insurance Companies
Your insurance provider may assign an initial value to the accident that is far below the actual long-term costs. No matter who your insurance provider is, it’s the insurance adjuster’s goal to keep this figure low, to make sure the company makes as much money as possible. Negotiating with insurance adjusters is not a process that you should take on alone. Any accident injury attorney has experience dealing with these companies, which is an essential step in increasing the value of your case.
Take Your Case to Court
Not every bicycle accident injury case goes to court, and instead, settlement occurs through negotiation. An experienced accident injury lawyer isn’t afraid to take your case to court when necessary and can advise you on how to proceed through this process. If your case does go to court, the evidence-gathering process for assembling your case becomes significantly more important. Your lawyer will present this evidence to the judge on your behalf in order to help you win the maximum possible compensation.
How Are Bicycle Accident Cases Unique?
Collisions between cars and cyclists can be particularly dangerous because the cyclist is significantly less protected than another motorist. In many bicycle accident cases, it can be difficult for the driver to disprove that they are at fault for injuries or damages. However, liability does not automatically rest with the driver. Cases with shared liability occur frequently, and a cyclist that does not follow the rules of the road may be partially at fault.
For car accidents that result from reckless behavior from cyclists, the liability may rest entirely with the cyclist. For example, if a driver must serve to avoid a reckless or negligent cyclist and crashes as a result, the cyclist may be at fault for the accident. However, it can be difficult to prove that anyone other than the vehicle driver is fully at fault in most cases.
When biking or driver near cyclists, it’s essential to lower the risk of collision by driving within the law, slowing down, and carefully observing the presence of bike lanes. There are many other risk factors that can increase the chances of an accident. Collisions between vehicles and cyclists are too often deadly and can have extended legal consequences that affect insurance policies.
Conclusion – How an Attorney Can Help You Following a Bicycle Accident Injury
If you were recently injured in a bicycle and vehicle collision accident, you should reach out to an experienced bicycle accident injury lawyer as soon as possible. Most attorneys offer free consultations to assess your case and discuss your rights to compensation for any expenses that you have incurred as a result of the accident. A bicycle accident settlement can help you manage medical bills, lost wages, or any other long-term costs, which can ultimately help you fully recover from the effects of the incident.
