Hit today - not sure where to go from here...

[owlgirl]

Hi ladies,
i got hit this morning on my 6 month old cannondale synapse. the back wheel is toast and the frame looks ok, but i bet it's got some cracks. i was trying to merge into a turn lane, and i misjudged how far back a car was that was coming. i started to merge, and i don't think the saw me till the last second. I got hit from the back, flew off and bounced 1 time, but i am fine. it is a miracle. i have some scrapes and my ankle is twisted a bit, but they are so minor compared to what could have happened. i guess i just don't know what to do now about my bike.

I am not sure if the accident is my fault. i have crossed this road many, many times and i have never mis-judged the speed of a car before. i believe the guy was speeding. i walked off the road, and said i didn't need an ambulance to the 911 dispatcher, but an ambulance did come, and i took it because my teammates advise us to do this if you get hit, because it's a lot easier to file a claim against the driver.

i guess my question is, is there a thread with wisdom about filing a claim? and what to do when you are trying to get reimbursed for your bike? i have never, ever been in a car wreck so i just have no idea. i just got my dream bike, and yes i am so happy to be alive, but i bet my bike is trashed. =( do you ladies have any advice?

oh and if this thread belongs in another forum heading please let me know.

[Fredwina]

My advice, having been there and done that, would be to contact an attorney.

[Cataboo]

That's awful Owlgirl, I'm glad you're okay. even if you're not in pain, it might help to take a couple ibuprofen or something - because you might be sore tomorrow.

I'm having a hard time visualizing what you're saying, but it doesn't sound like you were in the wrong - and if you think about it like there were two cars - whoever rear ends the car in front of them, it's pretty much always the fault of the rear ender regardless of what the rear endee did.

[redrhodie]

(((owlgirl))) I'm sorry about your wreck! I don't have any advice about what to do, but take care of yourself. I hope it all works out!

[Biciclista]

get a lawyer. he hit you.

[tctrek]

If he hit you in the back, he was not in control of his car. I am so glad you are ok, but I would agree with the others and have you contact a lawyer. The cost to replace your bike is small potatoes on his insurance.

[SLash]

Owlgirl, sorry about your accident and glad you are okay (all things considered).

Give this website a look: http://www.bicyclelaw.com/

It is the website of an attorney, Bob Mionske, who besides being an attorney is a former professional and Olympic cyclist. The website says he offers free consultations for cyclists that have been injured in accidents and although you don't appear to be injured now, you may indeed be. It wouldn't hurt to contact him and/or look at the website.

FWIW, I was hit by a car several years ago, treated and released at a local ER with no apparent injury (other than road rash, bruising), only to find out days/weeks later that I had suffered a concussion, had a hairline fracture in my pubic bone, plus pelvic torsion and various other aches and pains. I was in/out of PT for almost 9 months.

Sometimes injuries take awhile to present themselves.

Another thing to consider is getting a copy of the accident report if one was completed. I was able to deal directly with the offending driver's insurance company rather than getting an attorney (the driver ran a stop sign and I t-boned her car - she had only had her driver license 2 weeks). They didn't ticket her (no proof, just my word that she ran the stop sign) but her insurance company took responsiblity and after a lot of haggling bought me a new bike and (more haggling) we agreed on a settlement amount.

I hope this information is helpful and that the website/attorney will be of help too. Good luck and take care.

[krisl6]

I have to agree with SLash. Sometimes you don't feel injured right away, but something might turn up later. So take it easy. I was in a scooter accident awhile back (a truck missed a turn and decided to just stop and back up rather than find a safer option to get to the street he wanted to be on). I had so much adrenaline running through me that I felt fine at the time, but later that evening and the next day I was extremely sore and actually had a broken toe (luckily nothing more). Hope you feel ok and can get things sorted out with your bike.

[owlgirl]

Thanks for the advice, everyone. I was hoping not to have to contact an attorney. I do have some friends in the law school here at my university and i'm hoping they can help me out. I have not looked at the website provided by SLash but I will be spending some time doing that today. Thanks for all the well wishes; don't worry, I will be taking it easy for awhile to see if anything else develops. Thanks again for the help!

[Biciclista]

Owlgirl, you need a bicycle attorney; they are very good and know the important details of laws as they pertain to cyclists. I am sure there are good ones in the Bay area.

[indysteel]

Thanks for the advice, everyone. I was hoping not to have to contact an attorney. I do have some friends in the law school here at my university and i'm hoping they can help me out. I have not looked at the website provided by SLash but I will be spending some time doing that today. Thanks for all the well wishes; don't worry, I will be taking it easy for awhile to see if anything else develops. Thanks again for the help!

As a lawyer, I'd advise you against seeking legal advice from law students. They really aren't capable or competent to render it, and if they think they are, then they're not particularly good law students. Remember, there's a reason that you can't practice law until formally licensed to do so.

I would find a competent personal injury attorney in your area and talk to them. If your bike club or teammates have a referral for someone who has experience with bike accidents, then by all means talk to them, but I don't think you necessarily need someone who specializes in bike accidents. Fault is fault, negligence is negligence, damages are damages. It doesn't necessarily matter that the accident was between a bike and a car.

Do you know whether the driver or his car suffered any damage/injury? Did you obtain the driver's insurance information? The insurer will likely contact you and ask for a statement. Do not give one until you have talked to an attorney. If you do give one, do not indicate or suggest that you misjudged the distance or the car's rate of speed. Just stick to the objective facts.

Good luck.

[Onix]

Did police come? Is there a police report? Did you get the guy's insurance information? Any witnesses?

If so...I am not even sure that you need to contact a lawyer?? Unless the guy wouldn't give you his information/refused any responsibility. (I could be wrong--just speaking from my experience).

I don't know where you live, but in Texas...if you are hit from behind (in a car, in a bike, walking, whatever), it is automatically that car's fault. No excuses, questions etc. Even if someone pulls in front of you last minute, they will tell the car that did the rear-ending they were "driving too fast, failure to control vehicle, etc. etc."


It seems all you should do is call his insurance, unless insurance wasn't exchanged?? Insurance will attempt to verify with him the occurence, you should be compensated for health/"vehicle" damages etc.

At least this is how it worked for me in the past.

No attorney needed at all for me. I'm not sure where the line of needing attorney/not needing one is....


Good luck
I hope you are okay!!

[Biciclista]

No attorney needed at all for me. I'm not sure where the line of needing attorney/not needing one is....



Here's the deal: when you are in an accident between two motor vehicles, the assumption is that you both have insurance. Even if your insurance does not pay a dime (because it's the other guy's fault) they will protect you.

When you are hit by a car while riding your bike, you do not have motor vehicle insurance to help you. You are at the mercy of the guy who hit you (if no insurance) or his insurance company.

My husband is a very ethical man who works for the insurance industry. he will tell you in no uncertain terms that you need someone who knows more about this than you to represent you; because the other guy's insurance agents are looking after THEIR best interests, not yours.

You might end up with several situations (like not getting enough money for your bike, like having physical problems later and they tell you it's too late for them to pay your doctor bills) that will really bite you.

I hope that helps

[Eden]

When you are hit by a car while riding your bike, you do not have motor vehicle insurance to help you. You are at the mercy of the guy who hit you (if no insurance) or his insurance company.

Here in Washington this is not entirely true, because we have PIP (personal injury protection). I was hit by an uninsured motorist this summer. Because it was a motor vehicle accident *my* car insurance, even though I was not driving... is the first to kick in. My medical insurance won't pay any of it, unless/until the PIP benefits are exhausted.

This actually is a pain in the butt.... even though the collision was entirely the fault of the motorist (she turned left in front of me as I was going through an intersection on a green), I have had to go through all the insurance hassles. Of course when you go to the ER (turned out I was not severely injured, but my kneed immediately swelled up like a balloon and I couldn't bend it, so X-Rays were necessary) you say yes ma'am here's my insurance card, thank you very much... Not, hold on I need to file a PIP claim with my car insurance. So in the end I had to wait for my health insurance to deny the bills and then send them on to my auto insurance.

Here we are 4 months later and I'm still having to call the insurance company, call the hospital etc. to make sure all the bills are being paid. And my case was *not* a particularly complicated one. I had one ER visit with a set of X-rays to be taken care of. I can't imagine how much more difficult it would have been if I had been injured worse and had follow up care to claim too.

[indysteel]

Your PIP insurance sounds similar to uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. I have it, but you're not required to carry it in my homestate. I had to make a claim against it a few years ago. My insurer paid to have my car repaired but then was entitled to seek indemnification from the uninsured driver. My insurer also had some recourse under state law to see to it that the driver's license was revoked. I have no idea what ultimately happened in my case.

That, however, is different from the situation we have here. Owlgirl will either have to pay out of pocket and/or with her own medical insurance for any damage/injury that she sustained. Her medical insurer has no right to indemnification against the driver's insurer or the driver. So, if she wants to hold the driver liable, she will have to go after them herself, ideally with the help of an attorney. It is possible that the driver's insurer will voluntarily offer her something but it may be insufficient to really cover her losses and will likely be contingent on her signing a release.

[shootingstar]

Your PIP insurance sounds similar to uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. I have it, but you're not required to carry it in my homestate. I had to make a claim against it a few years ago. My insurer paid to have my car repaired but then was entitled to seek indemnification from the uninsured driver. My insurer also had some recourse under state law to see to it that the driver's license was revoked. I have no idea what ultimately happened in my case.

That, however, is different from the situation we have here. Owlgirl will either have to pay out of pocket and/or with her own medical insurance for any damage/injury that she sustained. Her medical insurer has no right to indemnification against the driver's insurer or the driver. So, if she wants to hold the driver liable, she will have to go after them herself, ideally with the help of an attorney. It is possible that the driver's insurer will voluntarily offer her something but it may be insufficient to really cover her losses and will likely be contingent on her signing a release.

Owlie: Aren't you a full-time student? Perhaps you should contact legal aid for California state..as an initial more cost-effective route.

[Fredwina]

Your PIP insurance sounds similar to uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. I have it, but you're not required to carry it in my homestate. I had to make a claim against it a few years ago. My insurer paid to have my car repaired but then was entitled to seek indemnification from the uninsured driver. My insurer also had some recourse under state law to see to it that the driver's license was revoked. I have no idea what ultimately happened in my case.

That, however, is different from the situation we have here. Owlgirl will either have to pay out of pocket and/or with her own medical insurance for any damage/injury that she sustained. Her medical insurer has no right to indemnification against the driver's insurer or the driver. So, if she wants to hold the driver liable, she will have to go after them herself, ideally with the help of an attorney. It is possible that the driver's insurer will voluntarily offer her something but it may be insufficient to really cover her losses and will likely be contingent on her signing a release.
Close
In CAlif, your health ins can legally come after a post-accident settlement. I had to surrender part of my settelment bucks, but I was ok with that.
In the USA, most personal injury attorneys will work on contigency. i.e. the will take a flat rate (most likey a third) of whatever the final settlement with the ins company will be. I found it was more than worth it in several ways to have Legal representation than to DIY:)

[owlgirl]

Ok, so I contacted the attorney Bob Mionske from bicyclelaw.com (who is incredibly kind and generous) and he offered me some advice. Based on my account, it would be hard to get a lawyer to take a case because they wouldn't gain much financially. He told me the driver is supposed to call his insurance company and report what happened, and that the driver might not actually do this. IF he calls, the insurance company will be calling me for a statement. If he does not call, then I should obtain the info from the police report that was made (yes, the cops came and gave me some documentation on where to get the report) and call them myself. I need to get an estimate for the damage to my bike, clothes, med. expenses etc. and present them with that. I am also supposed to find out if the driver was ticketed ( I don't think that he was). So that doesn't help me in any way.

I am not 100% sure the man had insurance, but I believe it's mandatory in CA. I know that I won't receive med. bills for a little while so i'm not sure how to handle that but I know from previous experience how much the ambulance will cost:(

I am a full time student, and i will contact CA legal aid for sure.

thanks again ladies.

[owlgirl]

Ugh, just tried to get that police report. It won't be ready for 7-10 days. grrrr....

again I am so glad that you all gave advice; no doubt I would have been doing all the wrong things had i not asked y'all. Thanks again.