Bicycle Accidents

Bicyclists Have the Same Rights as Drivers. When Those Rights Are Violated, We Fight to Make It Right.

Every year, thousands of cyclists are seriously injured or killed by negligent drivers, dangerous road conditions, and defective equipment. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 1,166 cyclists were killed in traffic crashes in 2023 — a 4.4% increase from the prior year and the highest recorded figure in over three decades. Another 49,989 were injured. Behind every statistic is a person who did nothing wrong.

If you or someone you love was hurt in a bicycle accident, you are entitled to pursue full compensation. At Avrek Law Firm, our bicycle accident attorneys have recovered over $2 billion for more than 63,000 clients over 50+ years of combined legal experience. We know how insurance companies operate, how liability is established, and how to build cases that deliver results.

Your consultation is free. You pay nothing unless we win.

What Makes Bicycle Accident Cases Legally Complex

Cyclists face a significant disadvantage in the legal process — not because the law doesn’t protect them, but because insurance companies treat them as a soft target. Adjusters routinely minimize injury severity, dispute liability, and raise the cyclist’s own conduct to reduce or eliminate payouts. Without experienced legal representation, most victims settle for far less than their case is worth.

Bicycle accident law intersects personal injury negligence, traffic law, insurance coverage, product liability, and — in some cases — government liability. Successfully pursuing a claim requires mastery of all of these areas. Our attorneys handle every layer so you don’t have to.

Common Types of Bicycle Accidents We Handle

Not every bicycle accident is the same. Each collision type creates its own liability questions and evidentiary challenges. Our firm handles all of the following:

Dooring accidents occur when a parked driver opens their car door into an oncoming cyclist’s path. The cyclist has no time to stop or swerve. In most states, the driver bears full liability under traffic statutes governing door-opening safety.

Right-hook collisions happen when a driver overtakes a cyclist and immediately turns right, cutting off the cyclist’s forward path. These crashes frequently occur at intersections and involve catastrophic impact.

Left-cross accidents involve a driver turning left across oncoming traffic and failing to yield to a cyclist proceeding straight through the intersection. Driver failure to yield is the leading cause of fatal bicycle crashes nationally.

Rear-end collisions occur when a driver strikes a cyclist from behind, often due to distracted driving, excessive speed, or impaired operation. These crashes carry a high risk of severe spinal and head trauma.

Hit-and-run crashes — 23% of all cyclist fatalities in 2023 involved a driver who fled the scene. When the at-fault driver is unidentified or uninsured, recovery options include uninsured motorist (UM) coverage and other third-party sources of liability.

Road hazard accidents involve potholes, missing pavement, broken bike lane markings, construction zone defects, or defective traffic signals that cause a cyclist to crash without any vehicle contact. Government entities and contractors can be held liable.

Defective bicycle or equipment failures — when a brake, frame, fork, or component fails due to a manufacturing or design defect, the manufacturer, distributor, or retailer may face strict product liability regardless of driver conduct.

Injuries Commonly Sustained in Bicycle Accidents

Because cyclists have no structural protection from impact, bicycle accidents produce some of the most severe injuries seen in personal injury law:

• Traumatic brain injury (TBI) — even helmeted riders sustain concussions, contusions, and diffuse axonal injuries from high-impact collisions. TBIs can produce permanent cognitive, behavioral, and neurological deficits.
• Spinal cord injuries — partial or complete paralysis resulting from vertebral fractures or disc damage. Lifetime care costs for spinal cord injuries frequently exceed $1 million.
• Orthopedic fractures — broken clavicles, wrists, hips, legs, and pelvic bones are common. Many require multiple surgeries and months of rehabilitation.
• Road rash and soft tissue injuries — deep abrasion injuries can require skin grafting, cause permanent scarring, and increase infection risk.
• Internal organ damage — blunt force trauma to the abdomen can damage the liver, spleen, kidneys, and bowel, requiring emergency surgical intervention.
• Facial and dental injuries — impact with the road surface or vehicle causes jaw fractures, dental loss, and disfigurement.
• Wrongful death — when a cyclist does not survive, surviving family members have the right to pursue a wrongful death claim for financial support, loss of companionship, and funeral costs.

Who Can Be Held Liable for Your Bicycle Accident

One of the most critical — and most frequently mishandled — aspects of bicycle accident cases is identifying every liable party. Limiting your claim to one defendant may leave significant compensation off the table.

Negligent drivers are the most common defendants. Distracted driving, failure to yield, speeding, DUI, and unsafe passing all constitute actionable negligence. In states with safe passing laws, failure to maintain the required buffer distance from a cyclist is negligence per se.

Government and municipal entities bear liability when dangerous road conditions — defective pavement, missing signage, poor intersection design, or inadequately maintained bike lanes — cause a crash. Claims against government entities involve sovereign immunity rules and significantly shorter notice-of-claim deadlines than standard personal injury cases, often ranging from 90 days to 6 months. Missing this window eliminates your right to sue entirely.

Bicycle and parts manufacturers face strict product liability when a defect in the bicycle’s frame, braking system, fork, wheel, or other component causes or contributes to a crash. Under product liability law, you do not need to prove the manufacturer was negligent — only that the product was defective and that the defect caused your injury.

Employers and commercial operators can be held vicariously liable when an employee driving within the scope of their job duties hits a cyclist. Delivery companies, rideshare platforms, trucking companies, and construction contractors are all potential defendants under respondeat superior doctrine.

Compensation You Can Recover

A fully litigated bicycle accident claim pursues every category of loss — not just your immediate medical bills.

Economic damages are quantifiable financial losses:

• Emergency and hospital medical expenses
• Future surgeries, rehabilitation, and ongoing medical care
• Lost wages during your recovery period
• Reduced or eliminated earning capacity if injuries are permanent
• Bicycle, helmet, gear, and property repair or replacement
• Out-of-pocket costs including transportation, home modifications, and assistive devices

Non-economic damages address the human cost of your injuries:

• Physical pain and suffering
• Emotional distress, anxiety, PTSD, and depression
• Loss of enjoyment of life — sports, hobbies, and activities you can no longer participate in
• Disfigurement and permanent scarring
• Loss of consortium — impact on your spousal or family relationships

Punitive damages are available in cases involving gross negligence or intentional misconduct — including DUI drivers and road rage incidents. Their purpose is punishment and deterrence, not compensation.

Wrongful death damages for surviving family members include loss of financial support, loss of companionship, funeral and burial expenses, and in some states, the pain and suffering the victim experienced prior to death through a survival action.

How Fault Affects Your Compensation

Most states follow some form of comparative negligence, meaning your compensation can be reduced — but not necessarily eliminated — if you were partially at fault for the accident.

Under modified comparative fault (the most common standard, applied in states including Texas, Oregon, Utah, and Nevada), your recovery is reduced proportionally by your fault percentage. If you are found more than 50% or 51% at fault depending on the state, recovery is barred entirely.

Under pure comparative fault (applied in California, Washington, Arizona, and others), you can recover compensation regardless of your fault percentage — even if you were 99% responsible. Your award is simply reduced by your share of fault.

Example: A cyclist awarded $300,000 in damages found to be 20% at fault would receive $240,000 in a modified comparative fault state — and the same in a pure comparative fault state. The insurance company will attempt to push your fault percentage as high as possible to minimize their exposure. Our attorneys counter with police reports, eyewitness accounts, accident reconstruction analysis, and traffic camera footage to establish the accurate liability picture.

A note on helmet use: No federal law requires adult cyclists to wear helmets, and the absence of a helmet does not create liability for the accident. In some states, it may be argued as a factor in the extent of head injuries only — not fault for the crash itself. An experienced attorney will minimize the impact of helmet non-use arguments on your overall recovery.

What to Do After a Bicycle Accident

The steps taken in the hours and days after your accident directly determine the strength of your claim.

1. Call 911 immediately. An official police report documents the scene, records witness statements, and establishes the initial factual record. Never skip this step even if injuries seem minor.

2. Seek medical attention right away. Some serious injuries — including TBI, internal bleeding, and spinal damage — do not present obvious symptoms immediately. A gap between the accident and medical treatment will be exploited by the insurance company as evidence your injuries were not serious.

3. Document everything at the scene. Photograph your injuries, the bicycle, the vehicle, road conditions, skid marks, intersection signage, traffic signals, and any relevant infrastructure. Video is better than photos.

4. Preserve your bicycle. Do not repair or discard your bicycle before a legal evaluation. The damage pattern is physical evidence that can establish impact force, collision angle, and equipment condition.

5. Collect witness information. Names and contact numbers from bystanders who saw the crash. Eyewitness accounts are independent evidence that insurance companies cannot easily dismiss.

6. Request traffic and surveillance footage promptly. Intersection cameras, private security systems, and dashcam footage are often overwritten within 24–72 hours. Your attorney can send legal preservation notices to secure this evidence before it is lost.

7. Do not give recorded statements. The at-fault driver’s insurance company will request a recorded statement. You are not legally required to provide one. Statements made before you understand the full extent of your injuries can permanently limit your recovery.

8. Contact a bicycle accident attorney before engaging with insurance. The earlier you have legal representation, the more evidence can be preserved and the less opportunity the insurer has to build a file against your claim.

Statute of Limitations — Your Filing Deadline

Every state imposes a strict deadline on personal injury claims. For bicycle accident cases, the standard statute of limitations ranges from one to three years across most states, with two years being the most common. Avrek Law Firm serves clients across multiple states with the following general timelines:

• California: 2 years (CCP §335.1)
• Arizona: 2 years (ARS §12-542)
• Nevada: 2 years (NRS §11.190)
• Oregon: 2 years (ORS §12.110)
• Texas: 2 years (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. §16.003)
• Utah: 4 years general personal injury (Utah Code §78B-2-307)
• Washington: 3 years (RCW 4.16.080)

Government entity claims carry dramatically shorter deadlines — typically 90 days to 6 months depending on the jurisdiction. Missing a government notice-of-claim deadline permanently eliminates your right to sue, regardless of how strong your case is.

Waiting also weakens your case independent of legal deadlines. Evidence disappears, witnesses become harder to locate, and surveillance footage is routinely deleted. Contact our firm as soon as possible after your accident.

Why Accident Victims Choose Avrek Law Firm

With $2 billion recovered, 63,000+ clients represented, and more than 50 years of combined legal experience, Avrek Law Firm brings unmatched depth to every bicycle accident case we accept. We handle all case-related costs upfront. We negotiate aggressively with insurance companies. And when settlement offers don’t reflect the true value of your case, we take it to trial.

Our attorneys practice across Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Utah, and Washington — with deep knowledge of the specific bicycle laws, comparative fault rules, and government claim procedures in each state.

You pay nothing to hire us. Our contingency fee structure means our interests are aligned with yours: we only get paid when you do.