Virginia Bicycle Accident Lawyer

How is a bicycle accident different than a motor vehicle accident in Virginia? Number one, the injuries are usually worse, and number two, the proof of who was at fault is far more difficult or complex. How we get to the differences in those two cases would be to make a thorough site inspection to determine where the position of the vehicles were at the time of impact and what the speed of the motor vehicle was because usually, those are the precipitating factors that most heavily weigh on why you were hit while you were on a bicycle.

Some of the most common mistakes I see people make who have injury claims from a bicycle accident in Virginia are simply not getting proper legal counsel soon enough in the case. The other types of mistakes I see are not following your doctor’s specific recommendations for treatments following an injury from a bicycle accident in Virginia. That simply means if you’ve been injured on a bicycle in Virginia, you probably have some pretty severe injuries and not looking after those properly is going to severely compromise the value of your case. Most important, though, is to find somebody with the proper experience to handle the investigation of your bicycle accident case in Virginia.

How do you go about selecting the best attorney to represent you in your bicycle injury claim? That question depends on what kind of experience the attorney has in handling bicycle claims. My office has handled a number of very serious accident claims for bicycle operators over the years, and we’ve had some excellent results in helping our clients get fair compensation for those injuries. The experience of the attorney is key to being able to get proper recovery, whether it be from another bicycle operator swinging by at a high speed too close to an oncoming bicyclist and knocking them over as they pass by, or being struck by a passing car or truck on the highway while they’re operating their vehicle in proper lane of travel in the right direction. Those types of claims take a lot of investigative expertise and careful attention to detail. If you hire the right attorney who has that experience, you can count on having a successful recovery too.

When I’m asked if it’s okay for a bicycle injury victim to talk to an insurance adjuster after a bicycle accident in Virginia, my normal answer is no, it’s not a good idea. That’s because the insurance company has very little need to find out from you what happened in the accident. They have their own insured to be able to get information from, and they have access to the police reports to be able to get that same information from an impartial party. The need to speak with you directly is relatively minor, but they do it anyway because they want to try to take advantage and get in early to find any compromising information they can about your case. It’s always a good idea to have a lawyer on your side before talking to the insurance company after your bicycle accident claim.

Occasionally, I’m asked, “If I’m partially at fault as a bicycle operator in a collision, do I still have a valid cause of action for injuries from that collision?” The simple answer in Virginia is, no. The reason is because Virginia is one of only four states in the United States that has the doctrine of contributory negligence as a complete bar to any recovery from your injury claim. In those cases where you’re partly at fault, there is no basis for recovering under Virginia law.

Occasionally, a potential client will ask if they have a claim if they were injured on a bicycle because of a pothole in the road. Unfortunately, in those type of cases, the typical answer is you really don’t have that type of claim because of the obviousness of the condition of the road. If you see a pothole coming and you’re driving at a bicycle speed on a roadway, it’s normally possible to see those coming. That’s why the commonwealth is not going to pay you for that type of a claim.

Occasionally, a client will ask me, “How long do I have to file a lawsuit for my case?” Just like any other motor vehicle collision case, you have two years from the date of your accident in which to file a lawsuit in court to preserve your claim. That does not mean that you have to prove your case and have it concluded within two years. No, it simply means you have to file the lawsuit and start the litigation process within two years of your accident date.

Occasionally, I’ve been asked by clients who have been involved in a bicycle accident in Virginia, “What is the value of my claim?” This is a process that depends on how severe your injury was. It also depends on how bad the misconduct was of the person that hit you. Those two things can be added together to come up with a value, but generally speaking, if you have a muscle strain injury, the value is a little less. If you have a fracture or other permanent type of injury, you could have a far higher claim value in that type of case. Certainly, it depends, though, in part on how bad the conduct was of the person that hit you because, if you can establish that they ran a red light or they were a drunk driver, the jury will give the severity of that misconduct a far higher value in compensating you for your injuries.