What to do in a bicycle accident?
The feeling of riding a bicycle is the polar opposite of the feeling of having been injured in a traffic collision. Life seems easy; no matter how many problems are going on in your life, you can easily forget about them for the duration of the bike ride. If you are living paycheck to paycheck, as more than half of Americans are these days, you can at least rest assured that riding your bike is not costing you any money. If life seems full of reminders that you are getting closer to death and the world is getting closer to ending, you can be sure that riding your bike is great for your health and the planet.
There are few better ways to exercise, de-stress, and save money than a bike ride. What if someone took that away from you? What if you suffered an injury so severe that you could no longer ride your bike to work, or worse, so severe that you could no longer do your job even if you commuted to work by car? Being broke while you are physically healthy and able to work is plenty stressful, but being broke because a chronic illness or serious injury prevents you from working is a whole new level of stress. Sustaining a severe injury in a bicycle accident can upend your life financially as well as in other ways. The good news is that a Norcross bicycle accident lawyer can help you recover your accident-related financial losses after a bike accident.
Why are Bicycle Accidents So Dangerous?
Motor vehicles collide every day, and in most cases, the pain is purely financial. Filing insurance claims and answering endless, repetitive questions about the accident is certainly a hassle, especially when the check the insurance company sends you at the end of the whole matter is not enough to cover the entire costs you spent on vehicle repairs. Personal injury lawyers can help you get the money you need through an insurance claim as long as you do not sign the settlement offer letter if the amount that the insurance company is offering you is insufficient.
Not getting enough money from an insurance claim, even if your car is totaled, seems like a high-class worry compared to the suffering that accompanies bicycle accidents where a bicycle collides with a motor vehicle. The two cars are a match for each other. No matter how trusty or how state-of-the-art your bike is, however, it is no match for two tons of steel coming at you faster than your bike can travel.
A collision between a car and a bicycle can result in a dented fender for the car and no injuries to its occupants, whereas the bicyclist’s injuries might be catastrophic, even if the bicyclist was wearing a helmet. Bicyclists struck by cars might suffer serious injuries such as bone fractures, traumatic brain injury, and spinal cord injuries, even if the car that struck them was not traveling very fast.
How Can You Get the Money You Need After a Bicycle Accident?
If your injuries resulting from a bicycle accident are not very severe, you might be able to cover all of your accident-related medical expenses by filing a claim with the insurance company of the driver who caused the accident. Texas law requires all drivers to carry liability insurance which pays the costs associated with vehicle damage and physical injuries in accidents that the insured driver caused. In all likelihood, though, the at-fault driver’s policy limit will not be enough to cover all of your medical bills, even if your injuries are relatively minor. The diagnostic imaging, physical therapy sessions, a brief hospital stay, and the services of the physicians who treat you during your hospital stay can quickly add up to tens of thousands of dollars.
Getting an adequate payout from insurance companies after an accident is no simple task, but it is easier and less costly than filing a lawsuit. Insurance companies hire legions of employees whose main task is to find ways to pay as little as possible on claims; an injured person acting on his or her own behalf is no match for them. To maximize your chances of getting an adequate insurance payout after a bicycle accident, you should contact a Norcross personal injury lawyer as soon as possible after the accident. Your lawyer can negotiate on your behalf with more than one insurance company if necessary and can avoid the traps that insurance companies set for unsuspecting claimants.
If you have suffered permanent injuries that require you to retire from the workforce much earlier than you planned, then an insurance payout will not be enough. In this case, you should file a personal injury lawsuit; you can seek damages for your accident-related lost income in addition to your medical expenses.
Gathering Evidence at the Scene of the Accident
Having a bicycle accident lawyer speak on your behalf will help you in an insurance claim or a personal injury lawsuit, but in either case, the evidence from the scene of the accident and its immediate aftermath is what speaks volumes. You should take pictures and videos of the scene of the accident with your cell phone and file a police report. Even more importantly, you should go to a hospital emergency room to be examined immediately after the accident, even if you do not feel like you urgently need treatment. The emergency room report is often the most important piece of evidence in a personal injury case; it proves that your injuries and their associated symptoms are the result of the bicycle accident and not of a pre-existing medical condition.
Contact 770 Good Law About Bicycle Accident Cases
Bike riding is very economical, but bike accidents are financially devastating. You probably do not need to go to court to get the money you need after a bicycle accident, but you do need a bicycle accident lawyer. Contact 770 Good Law, the Law Office of H. Q. Alex Nguyen and Associates, LLC to discuss your case.
