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Video Summary
Legal professionals from Speaks Law Firm explain that while bicycle and e-bike accidents share some similarities with standard personal injury claims, they involve unique traffic laws and more severe physical risks. Because cyclists are more vulnerable than drivers, these incidents often result in significant injuries that require immediate and professional evidence collection. A critical part of their strategy involves identifying multiple insurance policies, including a victim’s own auto coverage, to ensure total financial recovery. Legal representation is presented as essential because typical victims are unaware of how to properly evaluate claim value or navigate the complexities of bicycle-specific regulations. Therefore, the firm emphasizes that early investigation by experienced attorneys is necessary to preserve mangled equipment and document crucial accident scene details.
Transcription of the Video
Clarke: Jeff, I’d like to ask you about bicycle accidents, ordinary bicycles or electric bicycles, and accidents involving those types of things. First, how are those types of accidents the same as other types of personal injury accidents?
Jeff: Well, you’ve got someone who is responsible. We have to prove someone caused this harm and that they are liable. Then we have to ensure that our clients are receiving the proper treatment; we have an injury, and we have to make sure they are taken care of, documenting their lost wages and their medical treatment. Additionally, we have to find coverage; someone has to pay for these damages. We go out and try to find coverages, build coverages, and stack coverages on top of each other to provide as much policy coverage as we can.
Clarke: How are these kinds of cases different from other types of personal injury cases?
Jeff: The rules are similar but not the same as, say, a pedestrian. A pedestrian has to walk against traffic, while a bike rider has to ride with traffic. Sometimes there are bike lanes on roads that you have to stay in; some roads don’t have bike lanes at all. Sometimes people are riding on the sidewalk, and you don’t have cars riding on the sidewalk, but with bikes, you do. Sometimes they are riding through a park, and a car will go through a park and collide with someone. Bikes are just different. The nature is different, and usually, the injuries are quite severe because you are exposed if you are on a bicycle when a vehicle hits you.
Clarke: Like motorcycle accidents in that respect, there are no seat belts and very few fender benders, so people can be seriously injured as a result of these kinds of accidents.
Jeff: Sometimes there are no helmets, so we want to have our investigative team out there as soon as possible to document lines of sight, how far people could see, what the car’s view was, what time of day it was, if it was raining, and what people were wearing. Many different factors make these cases complicated.
Clarke: What should a person look for when trying to identify a personal injury law firm after a bicycle or electric bike case?
Jeff: If you are hiring someone who handles normal personal injury cases and has not handled bicycle or e-bicycle cases, which is a specific nuance, they may make mistakes because they might not understand all the different rules and the small facts that make a significant difference. We know to ask these questions because we have handled insurance defense and have been on the other side of these cases. We also have investigative teams that go out and gather this evidence.
Clarke: When a person has been involved in an accident on a bicycle or an electric bike, do they need a lawyer? If it wasn’t their fault, could they deal with it themselves and call a lawyer later?
Jeff: We need to be involved early because evidence disappears. Sometimes bikes are mangled and hauled off, and we may not receive a photograph unless our investigative team is on it early. Also, the coverages are different. If I am in my car and I am hurt, I have coverage on my car that can supplement the coverage for the person who hit me. In a bicycle case, you are on your bicycle. What people may not know is that you can access coverage from your auto policy at home, even though you were not driving your vehicle. You can even access coverage from people who live with you who have an auto policy and are related to you at the time of the loss.
Finding these extra coverages to protect you on a bike if the other person has no insurance or insufficient insurance can make a significant difference.
Clarke: Even a knowledgeable person with access to the internet is not going to know exactly what evidence they need to collect, how they need to present it, and to whom they need to present it to enhance the value of these claims. If you or someone you know has been injured in an accident involving a bicycle or electric bicycle, call us, and we will answer your questions and make sure your case is started correctly from the beginning.