Phoenix Bicycle Accident Attorney

A bicycle accident can cause serious injuries that put you out of work and result in thousands of dollars in hospital bills. How will you pay for these damages? If someone else negligently caused your accident, you might not have to. Almost every bike accident in Arizona stems from someone’s failure to fulfill a duty of care. If this is the case, contact a Phoenix bicycle accident attorney right away as you may have the option to file a personal injury claim in pursuit of financial compensation. If you or someone you love has been injured in a bicycle accident, contact the legal team at Knapp & Roberts to discuss your case with our talented Phoenix personal injury attorneys. We can break down your rights as a biker in Arizona, investigate the cause of your accident, and take the necessary steps toward obtaining fair compensation. You won’t pay any attorney’s fees unless we win. Let our Phoenix bicycle accident lawyers tell your story. Call (480) 991-7677 for a free case review.

Arizona Bicycle Accident Resources:

• Arizona Bicycle Laws
• Arizona Bicycle Accident Statistics
• What are the most common injuries associated with bicycle accidents?
• How do I prove negligence in an Arizona bicycle accident?
• What type of compensation can I receive in an Arizona bicycle accident claim?
• When should I contact a Phoenix bicycle accident lawyer?

Arizona Bicycle Laws

Navigating Arizona’s streets with motor vehicles rushing by can be difficult. Adhering to the state and city’s bicycle laws can put you in control as you navigate the roadway. It can also help you avoid comparative fault (and a smaller recovery award) for a collision. As a bicyclist, your rights and responsibilities are similar to those of drivers. You must obey all traffic laws, follow road signs, and yield the right-of-way whenever applicable. Stick to the righthand side of the road as much as possible, and don’t ride on the sidewalk in business districts. Improve your safety as a cyclist by making yourself visible and predictable. Use arm signals to show your intent to stop or make a turn. Wear bright colors and make sure your bike has the required equipment: white light on the front of your bicycle and a red light or reflector on the rear of the bike. You have as much right to the road (other than highways) as motorists. If a driver runs too close to your bike, cuts you off, or ignores the right-of-way and causes an accident, that driver could be liable for your damages.

Arizona Bike Accident Statistics

Reviewing Arizona bicycle accident statistics can spread awareness of this danger and prevent future collisions. Keeping track of how many people are stuck, injured, and killed by distracted and negligent drivers holds others accountable and lets victims know they aren’t alone. In 2017, 1,490 crashes in Arizona involved bicyclists. Bike collisions in Arizona caused 1,371 cyclist injuries and 32 deaths in 2017. The majority (93%) of these accidents occurred in urban areas, such as downtown Phoenix. Maricopa County recorded the greatest number of cyclist crashes in 2017, with 1,083 total and 22 fatalities. Arizona is the fourth-deadliest state in the country for bicyclists, with an average yearly death rate of 3.0 (per million residents). Bikie accidents are preventable, but the lack of bicycle riders staying in bike lanes, lane splitting, and failure to stop at a stop sign are some of the main causes of bicycle accident injuries in the Phoenix area.

What Are the Most Common Injuries in Phoenix Bicycle Accidents?

When a motor vehicle collides with a bicycle, the latter always suffers the worst damages. Bicyclists may sustain injuries to any part of their bodies, but some are more common than others. Injuries to the lower extremities, where the vehicle initially collides, are frequent, as are head and brain injuries when the biker’s head strikes the vehicle or the asphalt. Some of the most common causes of bike accident injuries in the United States are as follows:

• Face, eye trauma, and head injuries
• Traumatic brain injury
• Bone fractures and broken bones
• Sprains, strains, and dislocations
• Soft-tissue injuries
• Pelvic injuries
• Organ damage
• Spinal cord injury
• Road rash

A bicyclist may suffer serious physical and emotional damage in a traumatic bike accident. He or she may experience significant pain and suffering in addition to financial losses for injury treatment and bicycle repairs. If you can prove someone else’s negligence caused your collision, you may be able to recover financial compensation for these damages. Proving negligence often takes an investigation of the crash by a Phoenix bicycle accident attorney or insurance company.

Contact the Arizona bike accident attorneys today to discuss your bicycle accident lawsuit for your free consultation.

How Do I Prove Negligence in an Arizona Bike Accident?

Arizona is a fault-based auto insurance state. After a traffic accident or bike accident, victims seek financial recovery from the at-fault party’s insurance company. The police will investigate your collision and assign fault based on the facts and evidence available. If a driver ran a red light and crashed into you, for example, that driver would be at fault. If the stoplight malfunctioned, on the other hand, the city or product manufacturer could be liable. Under Arizona law, the following elements must be present for you to prove negligence in a bicycle accident case:

1. Duty of care. The person or entity you believe is at fault for your wreck (the defendant) must have owed you some duty of care at the time of the collision. Drivers owe all bicyclists and pedestrians duties of care, including duties to obey traffic laws and yield the right-of-way when necessary. Other parties also owe bicyclists duties of care, such as a bicycle manufacturer’s duty to produce safe vehicles. Identifying someone’s duties to you may take help from an attorney.
2. Breach of duty of care. You need evidence that the defendant breached, or broke, his or her duty of care to you. A breach of duty can describe any action or failure to act that falls outside the defendant’s duty of care to you at the time of the collision. Common breaches of duty in bike accident claims include texting and driving, driving drunk, speeding, running a red light, reckless driving, and a city’s failure to maintain reasonably safe premises for bicyclists.
3. Causation. Identify the proximate, or main, cause of your bike accident. Then, explore causation. You must be able to demonstrate to a judge or jury that the defendant’s breach of duty caused your accident. Causation is a direct link between the defendant’s negligence and your damages. For example, if a distracted driver crashed into you, but you wouldn’t have been there being it not for a pothole blocking the bicycle lane, the pothole might be the proximate cause of the collision, not driver distraction.
4. Damages. Finally, you must show that you suffered real, compensable damages in the bicycle accident. Without damages, you won’t have any reason to file a claim, since you didn’t suffer any losses. Compensable damages in Arizona include physical injuries and pain, emotional suffering, mental anguish, past and future medical attention, medical bills, lost wages, and property damage. Showing your bills, photographs of injuries, and testimony from a physician are all ways to prove damages.

Proving negligence in a bicycle accident case often requires a thorough investigation of the accident, including returning to the scene of the crash. Victims can benefit from the assistance of police officers and lawyers while proving liability. Our Phoenix accident attorneys can preserve and collect evidence, gather statements from eyewitnesses, hire expert witnesses, and take other important steps to help you prove your case. The sooner you contact us, the sooner we can start on your crash case.

What Damages Can I Collect in a Phoenix Bicycle Accident?

When most victims call us, they ask about the damages or monetary awards, they may be able to receive for their bicycle accident claim. High-value and catastrophic injury cases benefit the most from attorneys, as insurance companies may try to offer much less than the true claim value. However, hiring a Phoenix bicycle accident attorney can help you collect damages in any type of personal injury claim. You may be eligible to collect an award for the following damages:

• Medical costs. Seek to recover the full value of all medical expenses relating to your accident – both prior to and long after your personal injury claim. Keep your medical bills and records as evidence of your losses. Future medical expenses are something your physician and lawyer can help you calculate.
• Missed income. Most bicycle crash victims have to miss at least some time at work during injury treatment and recovery. If you lose wages because of your crash, you have the option to seek compensation for your missed income. You may also have the right to recover future lost earnings for a temporary or permanently disabling injury.
• Pain and suffering. Arizona civil laws permit accident victims to seek financial recovery for intangible losses, including physical pain and suffering and emotional distress. A jury assigns values to these non-economic losses based on the story you tell in court. Hiring a lawyer to represent your case can maximize this type of recovery.

You may also be eligible to recover damages relating to property repairs, loss of consortium if you lose a loved one, and punitive damages if the at-fault party was particularly negligent or reckless. Hiring a top-rated Phoenix bicycle accident attorney can optimize your chances of securing a fair recovery award. Review our past case results to see what we’ve accomplished for our clients. Then, schedule a free consultation to discuss the potential value of your case in more detail.

When Should I Contact a Phoenix Bike Accident Attorney?

A Phoenix bicycle accident Lawyer at Knapp and Roberts can make all the difference to your Phoenix personal injury case. Hiring a lawyer can enable you to focus on healing while your bicycle accident attorneys handle the complexities of your claim to get you the medical care and compensation you deserve. You won’t have to worry about hiring investigators, gathering evidence, building a case, filing a claim within the deadline, or going up against major insurance companies in pursuit of a fair recovery. Your Phoenix trial attorney will do all of this for you and more. The sooner you contact a bike accident attorney, the sooner you can obtain the financial assistance you need to move forward. Contact Knapp & Roberts right away after suffering a serious injury, losing a loved one, or if your Arizona bike accident involves a drunk driver or hit-and-run. From your very first phone call, you’ll experience the Knapp & Roberts difference. We genuinely care about your case, your family, and your future. Contact us today for a free bicycle accident case evaluation.